As a business owner in the window treatment and design industry, I think it's important to belong to associations the specialize in the education and promotion of  professional window treatment designers.  This allows me to network with my peers, stay current on color and design trends, and make sure the products I sell are up to code when it comes to safety.  Because of this, I am a member of two groups - KWA which stands for the Kentucky Workroom Association, and WCAA  which stands for Window Coverings Association of America.     
     This week, I've been attending the WCAA 2011 Inspire conference.  The conference, located at the Galt House in downtown Louisville, brings together business owners and window treatment vendors from all over the United States and Canada.  It's a place to learn what's new in the industry, meet other designers and workroom professionals, and check out the best that our vendors have to offer.  I've met one designer, Lee,  who is attending from Oakland, California with her husband.  Another designer that I sat with at lunch today is from Delaware.  She's here by herself, so we were able to get to know each other a bit.  Since we each attended different seminars in the morning sessions, we compared notes on what we had learned.  She spent the morning in drapery fabrication classes - I spent my time in marketing classes.  My most interesting contact came from my new friend from Bowling Green.  Her business is a little farther along than mine, and we made plans for me to stop by her business next time I'm in town.  We have daughter's that attend the same college, so we had something in common instantly other than draperies.
      I'm sure the highlight for all of us in attendance today was the keynote speaker for our lunch, Sarah Richardson from HGTV's "Sarah's House".  Sarah spoke about her design philosophy, and shared several funny stories about challenging rooms and clients.  She was very down-to-earth, and even let all of us take pictures with her after her presentation. 
    Tomorrow, I'm taking a class on challenging windows, then spending the afternoon on the vendor floor checking out what's new.  And I'm most excited about getting my scissors sharpened for free!  (I know, this makes no sense to most of you, but if you spent as much time with a pair of scissors in your hand as I do, you'd understand how important it is to have them well-sharpened)

A Cornice Window Treatment

My customer knew she wanted a cornice for her newly painted dining room. The only other decisions to make were the style of the bottom cutout and the fabric to use. The style we chose has a center point which I think works well on a double window. The customer suggested we change the style a bit by making the side pieces longer than the pattern specified. In picking out the fabric for the cornice, we took into account the fact that the room is painted a beautiful shade of red (my favorite color!), and she has a navy leather sofa in the adjacent great room, and touches of red, blue, and gold in her kitchen. We picked this large-scale print from Carole fabrics because of the colors that were incorporated into it, and the scale of the print. This particular print is called Laurie and the color is Sapphire.

What will this really look like?

So often, clients will say to me "I just can't quite imagine what this is going to look like". They worry that the fabric we've chosen won't work in the room, or that the design won't compliment the rest of the house the way they had hoped. But now, with the help of Dream Draper, a software program developed by Evan Marsh Design, I can take a picture of their blank window, upload it to my computer, and choose from hundreds of design and fabric options to show the client a pretty close rendering of what the finished product will be. Each design can be sized to fit the client's window, and colored in with the fabric of their choice. We can make changes to a design - raise or lower long and short points, change fabrics or detailing, or tweak in any number of other ways. We can also help with the layout of your room with a feature called "Space Planning". We can even paint your room "virtually", so you can see how your room could change with a different color on the walls.

Roman Shades with new ladder-tape technology

Amy has a beautiful living room/office painted a deep cranberry. She has recently purchased several new pieces for the room including a leather chair, computer desk, and comfy chenille sofa. The only thing missing was the finishing touch - great window treatments! Bright sunlight coming through the windows was an issue for the room - especially in late afternoon. Privacy was also a concern since these windows face the front of the house.

The solution Amy and I came up with was an operable Roman Shades with a decorative valance. My favorite way to fabricate Roman Shades is to make them reverse-mount, meaning the lifting mechanism is in the front of the shade. The advantage of making your shades this way is that the shades fit tightly to the casing of the windows, meaning the R-value is better, and there is no light peeking through the sides.

We chose a faux-silk brown plaid with a tiny cranberry dot that matches the cranberry color of the walls. The fabric was dressy enough to work well in a living room, but not so dressy that it competes with the decor of the rest of the house.

The last detail to mention about these shades is that they are made with ladder-tape - an acceptable option for compliance with the new ANSII standards for Roman Shades. The tape was fairly east to work with, and ensures that a small child cannot get caught in the lift cord mechanism.

A new look for a well-loved side chair

When my friends, Drew and Sarah, recently did some updating to their living room, they decided to give an old side chair that Sarah had from college days a new look. The original plan was to create a slipcover out of a khaki denim fabric, but as I got into the project I realized that because of the curve of the chair and the way they back was tufted, a slipcover just wasn't going to work. So instead, I reupholstered the chair, and I think it came out well! My favorite part is the cream cording around the back edge of the chair, and the cushion. A small detail like this can really make a piece pop.

Just got my new "Southern Living" magazine for March, and am starting to like it again! After several years of searching for a new layout, they have gone back to the way things used to be and it's so much better. Travel section first, then gardening, home decor, and great recipes in the back. And I know it's a small complaint, but the feel of the magazine as well as the font is better. As an added bonus, I just checked out their website, and they've got several great videos that show ideas on how to choose the best fabric for your decorating project. Check out www.SouthernLiving.com/home-garden/decorating.

Love love LOVE their recipes. Makes me want to nest just thinking about them :)

New Fabrics in for Spring!

I've just received several new fabrics from Greenhouse Fabrics. There are several beautiful faux-linens and faux-silks as well as some upholstry-weight fabrics. Spring is just around the corner - could your home use a little spruce-up?

Call today to receive 20% off your next order with Sycamore Creek Interiors!