Roman Shades with Grosgrain trim

Here are the Roman shades that were shown in the last post after installation! The wide, chocolate brown grosgrain ribbon on the creamy white linen fabric was a totally genious decision. I'll be posting pictures of other window treatments and pillows for this job in their new home in the next few days!

"House Beautiful" Fabric

This is how a job can look before going out the door to be installed! Here the window treatments and pillows are gathered on our drapery horse in the shop. The fabrics look great together and were carefully chosen by the decorator...in this case, Susan Lesourd of Chattanooga. Notice the main print fabric she chose? It is featured on page 124-125 of the December/January 2010 issue of House Beautiful. In the magazine, its shown in a blue/brown colorway. It is great stuff with a fabulous feel to it.

Window Treatments Dramatic & on Display!

Well, while we are on the subject of dramatically colored and high impact draperies.....
We had a comment posted here on the blog by a recent shop visitor wanting details of a top secret drapery project we had squirreled away in a corner. Since the cat is partially out of the bag, I've decided to post a "teaser" shot of this venture. This is a fabric swatch of some amazing window treatments we are making for display. The fabric is a pumpkin-colored stylized print from Duralee. It is very young and fresh. It will look sublime against our brownish-gray walls.

They are part of our new Spring collection that we are unveiling late February or early March at The Brick Path Mercantile. For those who don't know, "The Mercantile" is our design showroom & store located at The Galleries at Southside. The Galleries is a home decor mall located in the 1400 block of Cowart Street in downtown Chattanooga (It's 2 blocks West of the Historic Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel and Train Station.)

We will be be stocking a fresh batch of distinctive pillows (some outlandishly striking) that we've dreamed up (as well as elegant traditional ones.) Past purchasers of our pillows have enjoyed and appreciated the luxury of the 25/75 down/feather pillow forms as well as the zippers on the covers that allow for removal for cleaning.

The collection will also include our standards like the beautiful white table cloth and napkin sets, tea cozies, neck warmers, and unique grommeted bags we call Astro Bags. New will be some out of the ordinary shopping bags you won't be able to resist! We have more "Chattanooga Made" items that we will be putting out as surprises...but for now, they will remain that - surprises!

Window Treatments - Red Drapery - WOW!

These incredible red, faux silk draperies were designed by a local decorator for a client in North Chattanooga. Becky Wilson of Galleries at Southside wanted a dramatic dining room in this adorable, light filled home that was built in the 1930's. When Becky showed me the fabric sample, I suggested she line and interline them with a product called Bella Notte Duet. It is a light-blocking lining/interlining combination that has the bonus feature of turning window treatments into something closely akin to a ballgown...with a crisp, flowing elegance. We chose this mainly so that light wouldn't pass through the red fabric and cast a red glow into the room. The bright red color is an energetic choice that will make for lively dinners... but an overly bright red glow would have created an almost "surreal" effect that might have been a bit over-the-top! This is the type of technical advice a workroom like ours can offer designers, decorators and homeowners. Unless you've had the experience with certain products and materials, it is easy to make a decision with an unexpected consequence --- like an unearthly "science fiction" feel to your dining room!

Also, note the beautiful iron hardware Becky selected and the long, thin wrought iron wands used to open and close the drapes. They become a design feature instead of a strictly utilitarian characteristic.

Roman Shade with Contrast Banding

This is a Roman Shade that Lori made for our West workroom. This is called an "inside mount" as it sits inside the window frame. If light leak isn't a consideration, this type of mounting has a great look and can show off great-looking window framing. (A good choice if you have a beautiful window that you hate to cover up!) The contrasting bias trim gives this shade a perky look.

Dining Room Embellishment

A pair of white monogrammed slipcovers for its captain's chairs is exactly what a dining room needs! Covering the two end chairs in a dining room setting can add a bit of uniqueness, glamour, and personal flair. A nearby Signal Mountain design shop (Design Style) had us create these slipcovers in a fresh white linen and set it all off with a perky raspberry welt cord trim.
The initial was embroidered at a precious little shop here in the Riverview community of Chattanooga called Charlotte's Webb. We trust and recommend them often to our customers who want something stunning. We usually cut the blank for the embroidered panels and send the customers there in person to pick out exactly what they want. When the stitching is complete, we cut it to the pattern and insert it in the slipcover.

In this case, we never saw the second chair. We made a duplicate of the first and the designer placed the slipcover on the chair that had never left the home. We were told the customer was estatic. Lori's eye for detail in shaping the covers to perfection is the stuff legends are made of! The oversized contrasting buttons are a fun touch. The decorator, Janice Roberts, went the extra mile to track down buttons that were exactly the right size for the look she wanted.

Slipcover for 2 cushion Club Chair in Linen

Actually, there seems to be some cotton in this fabric. When cotton is added to a linen, it can add a lot of positive features. You still get the linen look, which is beautiful ...but you also get less wrinkling and less "stretchiness." Most of us know how it is when wearing a linen suit; you have to be careful how you buckle your safety belt in the car so as not to have that big mass of crinkling at your waist.

Adding cotton to a fabric also makes ironing and pressing easier. We washed this fabric before creating the slipcover and there wasn't a wrinkle in site! In fact, this hasn't been pressed at all.

On a side note: The chair is sitting on a device we think is very handy. It is a rolling pneumatic lift that has a plywood platform mounted to the top (you can see the silver handle on the far side.) We can raise and lower a chair to the appropriate height to prevent back strain. What a handy dandy thing this has turned out to be for us! We always love the creative part of what we do, but want to make the actual manufacturing process as smooth and painfree as possible.