J & A Family Room:: And We Have Draperies!!

When it comes to decorating, window treatments are my favorite things.  Specifically, I love draperies.  I think they are the one single thing that can make the most impact in a room.

So I was thrilled when I finally got to install the draperies in John & Alice’s family room!!

Remember this fabric that I got from Fabric.com for around $5/yard (with a coupon)?

Well the draperies are made, they’re installed, and I couldn’t be more pleased!!

I still can’t believe that fabric was $5-ish per yard!!  It’s so pretty, and I love the large scale damask pattern.

And what a huge improvement.  Do you remember what was originally on these windows?  Let me remind you.

It was a shirred cornice stretching across all four windows, with 2” faux wood blinds on each window.  Yep, it was certainly time for an update!!

I do have a confession to make.  I didn’t make these draperies.  I ended up handing the fabric and lining over to my drapery fabricator, Faye, who sewed them up in a snap for me.

The fact is, the painting in the kitchen and family room (kitchen cabinets, trim, fireplace, doors, window sills, bookcase) took WAY longer than I had expected, and we really needed to get draperies up.  These windows face west, and in the afternoon and early evening, the sun pours through the windows, and the room get incredibly hot.  Since the drapery panels are lined with blackout lining, they should help reduce the amount of heat coming through the windows during the late afternoon/early evening, and in turn, reduce electricity costs.  (See?  You NEED draperies!!  They can save you money!)

When Faye delivers draperies to me, they’re always perfectly folded (and perhaps even steamed?) along the pleats, which is great because they hang perfectly.  There’s no having to wrestle with fabric and lining to get the folds to hang right.  There’s no having to tie the panels back for a couple of days to “train” the folds to stay in.  But when they’re hung, they initially look like this…

I love that they come “pre-trained” to fold perfectly, but the accordion look is a bit harsh.  So I then have to pull out my steamer and steam the folds to get them to relax a bit.  Here’s what they look like after steaming.

See the difference?  Isn’t that nice?  Pre-trained draperies that fold perfectly along the pleats and have nice, soft folds.  Beautiful!!  (That’s one of MANY reasons it’s worth the money to pay for professionally made draperies.)

It was so late, and so dark by the time I finished up with all of the steaming (and this room has very poor lighting…something that will definitely need to be addressed with table and/or floor lamps), so none of my full view pictures turned out.  I’ll have to share those with you later.  Perhaps I’ll save it for when the room is finished.  After all, I’ve got to leave SOME mystery for the big “ta daaaa” at the end, right?