Window Treatments bring warmth to newer home

Posted on August 17, 2018July 30, 2020 by Laura

Curved bottom Cornice Valances Add charm and character to boring decor in new home

Curved bottom cornice valance window treatments add charm to boring decor

My client had a newer home that lacked style and warmth. There were roller shades installed, but they didn’t really add anything to the rooms they were installed in. We were working with gray paint, rust colored roller shades and an aqua colored sofa. All of these had to be taken into consideration when creating the perfect window treatment for the client’s main living area. Challenges included a room that was an odd shape and an open floor concept home. The room we focused on first is the first room that you see as soon as you enter the home, so it needed to say “wow”. The solution was curved bottom cornice valance window treatments with nail head embellishments and contrast banding.

A paisley pattern with rust, aqua, grey and cream brought the charm and warmth the client was looking for. A blue dotted with rust and cream accents fabric was used for the welt cording trim detail edging around the valance. Nail head accents added a special touch of character to the window treatment pieces. Also the curved bottoms added charm and character to the space.

Custom Window Treatments with curved bottoms

We selected a paisley print fabric that included all the main colors in the room. We also selected a nice area rug that mirrored the same color scheme and placed it at an angle to make the room seem larger. The shape of the valance was curved at the bottom. To add embellishments we added nail heads to the banding area. We didn’t want to make the window treatments gaudy, so we only added a few of the nail heads. The cornice valance window treatments were just enough to add something to the overall look without being too over the top.

Curved bottom cornice valance window treatment — Curved bottom cornice valance adds charm and character to boring decor

Here is another close up image of the nail heads.

Close up detail of curved bottom cornice valance with nail head details.

Unique curved bottom valances for living room area windows — Living room windows after window treatments installation

Below is an image of the room before we installed the window treatments and the area rug.

Room Image before window treatment installation

Image taken of window before valances were installed

Stroheim’s Trim Story

Posted on October 18, 2016 by Laura

Enhance your space with the finishing touch of Stroheim’s new Ori Linen trim collection. With an exquisite ability to absorb dye and create a gentle unevenness, this collection creates a three-dimensional relaxed look that elevates it to the next level. Ori Linen is available in 16 beautiful colorways. View the entire collection online at Stroheim.com
Sharon Cash has been the trim goddess at Stroheim and has inspired many to want to add trims to everything from pillows to drapery headings.

Meet the talented face behind the trimming collections for Fabricut, Stroheim, Vervain and Trend…Director of Trimmings, Sharon Cash.
She’s been a student of all things trimmings for over 20 years and from an early age has been influenced by couture fashion and the contemporary art world.
When designing and developing trimmings, Sharon loves to mix-and-match materials and construction methods to create specialty items, and also takes a page straight from the fashion world to incorporate a “high-low” mix.
We asked Sharon to compile a list of her favorite trimmings from the two collections she collaborated on with Barry Dixon for Vervain.

Here are Sharon’s Top 10 Barry Dixon Trimmings:

temeric-metallic-gold-trim-from-stroheim

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stroheim-trim-story-7

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stroheim-trim-story-9

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Drapery and Curtain Lining and Interlining

Posted on June 9, 2016 by Laura

Two sided drapery curtain with interlining

Drapery Lining on Curtain Back — Drapery Lining showing on back of curtain

Lining and Interlining what is the difference?

Most people know about and have heard of lining but what is interlining? In the image above, the lining that is sewn on the back of curtains or drapery is shown. But interlining wouldn’t show, it is typically a layer in between the face fabric and the lining. Interlining typically is made of 100% cotton and is the consistency similar to flannel.

Drapery Lining image — Drapery Lining on the bolt roll

Some fast facts about interlining:

A standard weight would be 9 oz per yard such as the one used in this drapery application:
Interlining can range from 5 oz up to 20 oz per yard (commonly referred to as bump cloth)
Common uses in window treatments include using with silk fabric to add body and fullness.
A french blackout is created using interlining
Another use is when fabricating roman shades

Interlining Facts — Interlining can vary in thickness depending on weight per yard

Benefits of Interlining:

Interlining improves the drape and hang of the curtains
Gives a luxurious look and feel to the window treatment – adds body and fullness
Protects the main fabric from harmful sunlight rays
Provides window insulation – reduces direct loss of heat/air conditioned loss through the window, saving energy and keeps the room warmer/cooler
Helps with noise reduction

Disadvantages of Interlining:

Depending on ounces per yard it can add considerable extra weight to window treatments
Additional Hardware required — Ensure that the hardware being used is sturdy enough for the weight of the curtains and that the fixtures used to attach to the wall will support the weight. Using molly bolts or inserts rated for the appropriate weight will alleviate any problems.
Not suitable for all climates – in a humid/damp areas I wouldn’t recommend using bump as the natural fibers will absorb and hold the moisture from the air which could affect the main fabric.
Extra cost – lining itself – cost to purchase as well as the additional labor cost.
Usual cleaning methods not recommended — I do not recommend washing or dry-cleaning interlined drapery – just vacuum regularly and open the window to air them out.

Modern Design Needs a Way to Block Harsh Sunlight

Posted on June 3, 2016 by Laura

When you think of modern design and spaces that are designed in a way that is modern, you usually don’t think of window curtains adorning the window openings. In the Mile High City, the sun can be brutal and cause damage to your furnishings. Watching your favorite television program or playing your favorite video game can be difficult when the sun is blasting across the screen or worse, right in your face, making it impossible to see the images.

Modern Styled Curtain Rod Hardware by JAB-Anstoetz

Keeping the fabric lightweight and using elements that repeat in the space such as metals, acrylics and wires can provide function to window curtains and not impede on the modern style you are trying to achieve.

Window Curtain Rod Hardware for Modern Designs — Sometimes a simple white curtain panel is all you need

A plain white linen drapery panel with blackout lining can provide just the right amount of protection from harsh sunlight when trying to sleep in on a weekend. Modern styled rooms typically do not have curtains. We’ve shown here a few options from JAB-Anstoetz and Brimar Inc that are modern style and provide functionality for window coverings.

Window Curtain Rod by JAB — Window Curtain Rod Hardware by JAB adds to modern motif

Custom Bedding Shams Pillows

Posted on June 2, 2016July 30, 2020 by Laura

Are your walls white and you just can’t get excited about your bedroom decor? Add some color and a punch to the room with Custom Bedding shams and pillows. Accessorizing with designer fabrics that add charm and interest can add that extra pop to your bedroom decor and bring attention to your bed making it the focal point of the room.

Fabric covered headboard — Add color to your room with a fabric covered headboard and pillows

Use layers of custom decorator pillows to add that extra pop of color on the bed and make your room look like a posh hotel or five star resort that makes you want to stay.

Use artwork and accessories in the room to repeat colors you want to draw attention to. Don’t have any accessories? Try adding a small table in the corner or near the door to display glassware or a colorful lamp.

Thibaut Adds color to bedroom with fabric drapery — Thibaut Designer Fabric Collection adds pop to bedroom window with curtains.

Take note of the contrast in the colors of the room giving it the light and airy feel.

Designer fabric from Thibaut collection adds color to bedroom with custom drapery pillows and duvet — Thibaut designer fabric adds beauty to room with window curtains duvet and custom pillows

Notice the white wall accessories stand out on the painted walls and repeat the white in the custom duvet and custom made pillows on the bed. Even the curtain rod with rings repeats the white color of the accessories. The gray color in the custom window curtains repeats in the custom duvet and the painted wall has the same color as the drapery as well.

We carry the latest designer fabrics from several Fabric supply companies and Thibaut is just one of many that has beautiful selections to compliment your current decor and furniture. We make custom bedding in our local Denver metro full service designer workroom and sell it directly to you. We bring the collections to your home and showcase the design possibilities with your current colors.

Give us a call at 720-394-3715 to set up your in-home shopping experience.

We’d love to help you with your custom home furnishing needs.

Designer Fabrics used for Drapery Curtains and more

Posted on May 23, 2016 by Laura

Fabrics offered by A Creative Touch in Centennial CO are supplied from various popular fabric suppliers such as Duralee, Fabricut, Robert Allen, Wesco, Kasmir, Kravet and more.

Within the Fabricut company are the divisions of Stroheim, S. Harris, Trend and Vervain. Within the Duralee company are the divisions of Highland Court, Bailey and Griffen, Clarke and Clarke and B. Berger. The wide array of available fabric selection means you have choices for every style and every budget.

Today we’ll focus on a collection from Duralee’s Highland Court division by designer Laura Kirar of New York New York.

A designer with the soul of an artist, Laura Kirar blends diverse influences to create relaxed and elegant designs that resonate with meaning. Her passion for artistic exploration in all mediums informs her most recent furniture collection for Duralee.

Laura Kirar Pillow Group — Fabrics from Laura Kirar designer for Duralee fabrics

Laura Kirar Chair — Laura Kirar designer for Duralee fabrics Chair

Laura Kirar collection — Laura Kirar Collection for Duralee division Highland Court

Laura Kirar Duralee 3 — Highland Court Fabric Collection by Laura Kirar

The eclectic pieces represent a passionate commitment to discovery and reveal Kirar’s love of travel and dedication to supporting indigenous crafts around the world. From a singular chaise to ocean-inspired side chairs, a distinctively beautiful chest, and beyond, they embrace wide-ranging influences, including Art Deco, Moorish, and European detailing.

Laura Kirar Duralee — Highland Court Fabric Collection by Laura Kirar

Laura Kirar duralee2 — Featured Fabric Chair made from Laura Kirar Highland Court Fabric Collection

Photography shot by Josephine Rozman.

Duralee Fabric Designer Uses Color to Express Seasons

Posted on May 19, 2016May 21, 2016 by Laura

One of the fabric suppliers A Creative Touch Draperies & Interiors in Centennial Co, uses is Duralee. Recently Duralee commissioned an award winning designer to help with a collection of fabrics that is just, in my mind, amazing!

Her collection combines bright colors with white backgrounds giving it a clean, modern, chic look with the vibrant colors added in for a pow! The designer is Eileen Kathryn Boyd.

Eileen Kathryn Boyd Designer for Duralee

Her use of color will make you smile!

In the photo below, the use of yellow with purple and aqua just sing of Spring!

To see the complete Duralee Eileen Kathryn Boyd’s collection.

Eileen k Boyd yellow and purple

Eileen K Boyd collection from Duralee

Eileen Kathryn Boyd has her own blog with so much to offer anyone that loves color.

The drapery and pillow fabrics are shown below:

Eileen K Boyd 15386-246hi — Duralee pattern 15386-246

Drapery yellow 21009-610hi — Duralee pattern 21009-610

Eileen K Boyd 15379-618 — Duralee Pattern 15379-618

The chair cushion and pillow fabrics in this photo are included below:

Eileen K boyd purple chair

Here are a few more designs put together with Eileen Kathryn Boyd fabric collection;

duralee_eileen-kathryn-boyd-collection-for-duralee

The drapery fabric is shown here:

Eileen K Boyd print 21008-204hi

The bench fabric is shown here:

Eileen K Boyd Bench 15390-588hi

Designer John Robshaw Duralee Fabrics Collection Highlighted

Posted on May 18, 2016May 21, 2016 by Laura

If you love fabrics that look handmade and are imperfectly printed with a tribal feeling, then the Collection by John Robshaw from Duralee just might be a collection you’ll love. As a lover of the old world techniques, John travels and connects with artisans from many different cultures. He prefers to use imperfect printing techniques that provide a human touch element similar to the old style of printing used in days long gone. He uses the color Indigo liberally and often mixing it with reds, oranges, and browns. John impacts communities overseas where he builds relationships with his artisans and gets involved in their daily lives by attending weddings and other family celebrations.
John enjoys blending colors, processes and designs from each culture. He redesigns them and mixes up the processes in unique ways yet he is able to retain their essence. In piggybacking these designs and techniques with each other or with his own ideas, what emerges is new and fresh, and yet retains that sense of tradition and of the handmade.
The Duralee collection offers something for every color choice.
The image below capitalizes on the tribal aspects of his designs by showing off animal prints, tribal symbolism and old world printing techniques.

John robshaw 21035-108hi

John Robshaw 15453-193hi

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John Robshaw previewing selections from his Siam Collection.

Curtains and Drapery Panels with Plantation Shutters

Posted on May 18, 2016July 30, 2020 by Laura

Office Window Treatment

A client had shutters on a bay window in an office that was pretty dull and boring. She wanted to add an office window treatment to bring some style and color to the boring space. Nearby in another room, there were some plaid wing back chairs. These chairs inspired the color scheme we were trying to work with. She wanted to make a statement with the window treatment since that room was the first room seen when entering the house. She selected a beautiful Wesco fabrics embroidery design that is simply stunning. To do justice to this fabric, interlining was used to add body and then because this window is Southern facing and has intense sunlight, we added 3 pass blackout lining as well. This ensures that little imperfections in this beauty wouldn’t show when light filtered in through the shutters. To keep the fabric flowing nicely and show the most of the beautiful embroidery details, we didn’t add any pleats to the drapery panels. This keeps the look simple and allows the most of the design pattern details to show up.
To bring out the deep red tones in the embroidery fabric selected for the office window treatment, the drapery curtain hardware selected to accompany the office window treatment was a 2″ diameter wooden rod from Select Drapery Hardware in Black Walnut. Pineapple end finials symbolize luck in any decor, so we went with them for good luck!
The results were stunning and of course the client was very happy with the final product. She said she loves to go in the office and read so she can spend time looking at the beautiful floral embroidery fabric on her office window treatment.
She is still able to open her shutters without interference.
And the fabric, style and hardware do make a statement in her home.

Go check out her review on houzz.com.

Window Treatments hanging from What?

Posted on May 17, 2016May 18, 2016 by Laura

There are many different ways to hang a window treatment these days. Unique ideas can really help to achieve that “wow” factor you are going for. This post will focus on unconventional as well as conventional ways to hang window treatments.

Drapery Hardware can vary from a knob to a full length drapery rod with finials, rings and brackets. Materials used to manufacture the hardware range from metal, stainless steel, resin, and wood.

The ways to use these elements in window treatment designs are only limited by your imagination!

The Helser Brothers have come up with some Old World Style wrought iron scrolls in their Artigiani Collection using two back to back finials attached to a vertical finial mount bracket. The design shown in this dining room area curved bay window alcove with a multi-layered tray ceiling calls for something special. Silk, chenille and wrought iron definitely answer that call. Note the use of the paint on the tray ceiling calls attention to the eye and draws you upward toward that beautiful scroll hardware. The use of interlining with the silk adds body to the panels.

Go check out the entire Helser Brothers Line of drapery hardware on their website.

Adding drama to a particular area of a home can be done with the use of silk, fullness, interlining, and long lengths.

This design was found on CustomCreationsbySheri from Dysert Iowa. These dramatic silk drapery panels are punctuated with an overlay valance creating depth. The full length panels with a contrasting pleat insert bring drama and warmth to this formal living room area. The rounded shape of the window grouping is framed by the wooden rods with finials. The multi layered design has the panels hung by a rod pocket versus wooden rings. The overlay valance is also hung by a rod pocket instead of rings. Notice the placement of the pattern on the overlay valance.

The following window treatment design for a dining area, focuses on the use of pattern and color to bring interest to the otherwise plain decor. The drapery hardware used is a small diameter metal rod with metal rings and a corner joint that makes it a one piece unit allowing the crown molding to be highlighted and uninterrupted. Note the width of the drapery wouldn’t allow the panels to cover the window space if they were drawn. These drapery panels remain stationary, but provide just enough pizazz to complete the room.

To see more designs from this Texas based designer, visit their site here.

For a modern sleek look, it can be a challenge to find a hardware piece to compliment the space without overdoing it. One of my “go to” drapery hardware companies is JAB. Most of their lines are contemporary and modern. A favorite of contemporary clients is the Metropolitan line. JAB is a European company with roots in Germany.

The image below depicts the JAB stainless steel flat curtain rod with a low profile and clean lines.

The following image was found on Pinterest and is an idea of how to solve a window treatment for an arched window frame. The sheer is mounted to the wall with small rings that are screwed into the plaster. There are small sewn portions of the fabric that are gathered onto the rings with a piece of thread wrapped around each ring. Many more variations of this can be accomplished with heavier fabrics that are lined. The dips in the fabric can be spaced closer together so that minimal light shows through at the top of the design. Hooks can be attached to the back of the treatment and attach to each of the rings.

The image below was found on google and represents another variation of using knobs to attach a valance to the wall. The soft flowing folds are just enough to block out harsh rays of sun that come in through the upper portion of the window, yet still allow plenty of view.

This image was found on Google.com.

Knobs like the ones in the valance example can be purchased as “tiebacks” or “holdbacks” from the Kirsch Designer Metals Collection. They are available in two sizes 3″ and 4″ diameter.

Finials can also be used as knobs when attached to the Kirsch finial adapters as shown in the image below found on this site of a curved bay window with stationary drapery panels mounted on the finials. This design eliminates the need for a rod with multiple bends and curves. It is a bit labor intensive during installation as there are 5 to 6 finials on each panel and there are 6 panels.

The image below is an example of more panels on knobs. These knobs are 2″ projection and are made of resin.

The image below uses resin holdbacks mounted on 6″ posts for a traditional style window treatment that was needed above plantation shutters. Dupioni embroidered silk swags that are hung from holdback posts provide a less structured approach to the scarf type window treatment. Pieces of wadded up wrapping paper were used in longer lengths of the scarf to add body and to make it stay in place.

Hopefully this post has inspired you to think “outside the box” when it comes to the use of different types of hardware to mount your window treatments for a look that really says “wow”!

Custom made curtains, drapery, shades, valances and more

Category: Drapery Panels