Day 142: Drapery Panels!
Day 142 of 365 Days of a Happy Home!
Are your windows naked? Or perhaps they are drafty? One of our favorite types of window dressings are drapery panels. I use pleated panels a lot, but have been know to use other styles as well. I like to hang the panels from rings using hooks in the back of the panel (no clips...they break!). I will often hang the rings on a smooth wooden rod painted the color of the trim in the room. What follows are some drapery panels we've made and installed for our clients. What do you think?
These cotton linen panels are made from a Kravet fabric with pinch pleats. They are in a dining room and help to muffle sound. The drapery rod and rings were painted the color of the trim (Benjamin Moore Kendall Charcoal) which is a close match to the grey in the fabric.
This fabric is rather sheer. The client wanted to have privacy but still have filtered light in the room. This fabric from Pindler & Pindler was perfect for these sliders. At 118" wide, our workroom pleated up a full width for each panel and we used 2 panels to cover the door.
Again we used a Pindler & Pindler double width fabric (which means no vertical seam in the middle of these panels). The sheer fabric allows for privacy and filtered light in this living room.
This client never intended to pull the drapes shut. Our intention is to soften the space with panels at either end of the matched cornices. We doubled the panels in the corner to make it look like you could shut them if you wanted to. The decorative trim on the leading edge of the panels is a nice touch.
The medallion pattern on these drapes plays off the blue in the sette and the dark grain of the floor.
This was a tricky space. We had a kitchen that opens to the dining area and the front entry hall. All of the spaces have sliders out to a deck. We wanted to introduce pattern, but not the same pattern in all 3 spaces or lots of different patterns. The panels at the slider in the center of the picture have stripes of fabric in colors that are a nod to the spaces on either side. We also kept the panels off to the side for easy access to the deck. At night they just pull shut for privacy.
Panels are useful on interior french doors for privacy. In this dining room we treated these doors like we did the windows with linen pinch pleat drapes hung from iron rods and rings that match the door hardware.