A couple more Window Seats........

I made this cushion, pillows and shade for a closet/dressing room. Oh, to have that much space! I love the how the light can come through the Relaxed Roman shade but still provide privacy. This one was for a child's room. There was a nice mix of fabrics and textures...colors and trims.Having just a valance works well with the blinds.

Swags and Jabots

When I first started making Window Treatments the most commonly asked for style was Swags and Jabots. (Today it is Pinch Pleat Panels...before that Roman Shades..and before that it was Balloons. )The sheer Swags above help to create a very inviting bath. The Swags are draped, in two colors, over a decorative pole with gathered panels on the side.

These Swag are draped, along with a center Jabot and gathered panels, on a fabric covered pole. The rosy sheer fabric makes for a very feminine touch.

The Swags and Jabots below are mounted on 3 small boards and trimmed with rosettes.

The Swags in these pictures are called Bustle Swags. They are free hanging, usually set with a drapery pin, and hooked in a ring over Panels. A trim applied along the hem adds kind of an outline around the Swags.

Below are Draped Swags with Jabots ,again edged with trim.

These are more traditional Swags and Jabots. Lovely in the silk shown below, which is interlined to add softness. Jabots can be mounted either over or under the Swags.

A fun, yet somewhat formal candy-stripe.

These Swgs and Jabots are beautiful in the chocolate brown silk and elaborately trimmed. A very formal look.

Another formal silk and fringe look, this time with the Jabots mounted over the Swags. This is a beautiful Dining Room.

This Dining Room is formal but features a fun purple wall color that is repeated as the lining for the Jabots and in the fringe that is applied at the hem of the Swags the and edges of the Jabots. The client designed this style herself and was very happy with the results.

We Could All Use a Little....

Love these hooks. I found them at Sundance.

SPRING!!

I am so happy to see the crocus spikes popping through the mulch. It's on the way. Spring , that is. It's been one of those winters here in New England. Snow has been on the ground for a very long time now. While I do love the Winter...I am always ready to see it leave. I have big plans for the garden this year. I even have two new raised beds waiting to be filled. I am going to try this year to get my peas in by St. Patty's Day. I have always heard that it's the best time to start them , but I've never been able to get them in so soon.

Our girl Zevon had an unplanned play-date today when a roving dog from a few streets over stopped by. Our last dog was a wanderer....what a love she was ,though. She would see our boys getting in their football equipment and show up at the field. One time my friend picked us up for church and then went back to pick up her son. Fritz,the usher, was leading her out by the collar as we walked in. Almost everyone in town knew her. Even the grouchy lady down the street had a soft spot for her. I know it's irresponsible to let a dog wander like that. She just loved her family and was always watching out for us. She was a beautiful black lab.

When we got Zevon we had an electric fence installed. Best idea ever. She trained easily with it. We've never had to worry about her leaving .Well, Dolly had a much younger family to look after and no electric fence so I can forgive her wandering. Zevon will be five on June 29th , she no longer wears the fence collar, and she's always there when I call her.

Window Seats

I have always loved window seats. They are like an invitation to curl up with a book. I admit I need little to persuade me to curl up with a book....... This one above I did for one of my favorite clients. She's never afraid to mix a lot of fabrics and she loves trims. I think in this case she just gave me the fabrics and told me to just mix and match and make the cushion and pillows.

A window seat can also work in just a tiny nook. Okay, so I wouldn't be able to curl up here, but the little girl this belongs to can!

I love this window seat. It's really deeper than it looks from the picture.This one I could curl up on. I can see myself cracking open Wuthering Heights for the umpteenth time. The mix of very light cushion with the warm red of the Roman Shades and the pillows makes it very inviting.

This one is all fun with navy blue and kelly green, then topped off with polka dot relaxed Roman Shades.

Winter's Passing

This was a cheery sight outside my kitchen window on a dreary day.Winter is slowly ending...it's cold and rainy today....but I can feel the promise of Spring coming!



We had a great day yesterday. Went to the ICA in Boston (What a beautiful place!!) to see the Shepard Fairy Supply and Demand exhibit. Our son had already seen it but went with us anyway. Thank you. Enjoyed it immensely, and it was nice to have a younger voice via our son to guide us through. If anyone out there has access to this, I highly recommend it. No matter what your political leanings are it provokes thought. It is in Boston through August. Our daughter will be home from Scotland in late May and I'll be going with her again.

After the museum we went to Redbones in Davis Square in Sommerville. A really fun place....very casual and great barbecue. Our son's girlfriend joined us for dinner...just love her! We sat at the counter facing into the kitchen. It's a tiny kitchen with a wood burning grill and five or six guys moving around like a well-oiled machine. It was REALLY busy and we got there at 5:00. Delicious!

We went back to our son's apartment in Cambridge to pick up my niece (His roommate...I love it!) because we were all going to the Ryan Adams show at the Orpheum. My husband and I have been to so many shows there over the course of our many years on this earth and I am sure the biggest change that has happened is that there is no longer smoking . It's a rare old gem of a building. Some people love..some hate it. I am a lover. The show was terrific. Our seats, however, were not. I'm okay with being in the balcony...second row from the back...and sitting with my knees up to my chin. What really is not okay is having a group of people sitting behind you having a full on..loud,louder,loudest conversation. A girl sitting beside them asked nicely if they could respect the fact that we were all trying to enjoy the show and their loud and constant talking was affecting the enjoyment of everyone. Most everyone around us ,us included, gave a group "here! here!'' to her . The answer back? "That's why they have the big speakers..get over it." There was some more back and forth and they continued on. Rude . Inconsiderate. All those things. We ended up going downstairs at intermission, thinking we would just hang around the lounge area and listen to the rest of the show. We were lucky enough to be able to walk onto the floor area and see the show from the back. Thank you rude, selfish, inconsiderate concert-goers, it was a great spot to be.

I'm always happy that the younger part of our family is willing to hang out with us. We're very lucky that way.


I am so ready to be looking at green grass and flowers again. Can't wait to get the garden going again so we can looking at this.....

And this.........

And this..........

And this again!!!!

Federal Valances

These pictures show what a difference a slight change in installation can make. These Federal Valances are made to mount on three seperate boards. The first two pictures show them mounted with all three boards at the same height.This gives a different look from the usual Federal where they are mounted on a single board and the fabric is straight across the top.

The next two pictures show an installation done differently. The center board is mounted slightly higher than the two side boards. I prefer this to the first style. The client preferred the first style.

Federals look and hang best when the hem is edged with some type of trim, whether it is fringe or even a self-pipe. I've often finished the hem with a contrast fabric or a bias cut border of the body fabric. They most often are a formal treatment but with the right fabric they can also be casual.The Pinch Pleat panels under the valances add to the formal feel of this room.

Flat Romans

I make a lot of Roman Shades.They work as a stand alone window treatment or as a layer under panels. They are my favorites; when lowered they provide absolute privacy and can be raised to any height to allow maximum exposure. There are many styles of Romans. Flat romans are just that- when lowered they hang straight and flat and when raised they fold into neat pleats. These Flat Romans have a contrast banding on the side and a small attached valance.

These pretty green and pink Romans are made for a bedroom/bath suite. The green stripe in the bath is banded at the bottom with the pink from the bedroom.....and the bedroom pink is banded with the bath green.

You can make a big statement using very little fabric.

You can see how neatly they stack up when they are raised. A wooden cord tassel

finishes off the end of the cords.

These Romans were made to provide privacy at night and the client wanted them to almost disapear during the day. They don't take away at all from the lovely view.

These cute inside mount Romans are trimmed at the hem with fringe. Depending on the fabrics and trims used a Roman Shade can be formal or casual;traditional or contempoary.



Flat Romans seemed to be the perfect choice for this cozy bay. The window seat cushion and pillows are the right finishing touch.

Here are a couple more examples of simple contrast banding at the hem adding a subtle but important touch to the shades.

The ease of operation of a Roman shade in any style is helped immensly by using a cord lock. With a cord lock you can lock the shade in any position. When cords hang long and young children are likely to be around you should also mount a cord cleat to hold the cords out of reach.

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Etsy

For some reason I have not been able to add my Etsy shop to this blog.It is igetthewindow.etsy.com Hope to add the link soon!

And we have lift off!!