A Tale of Two Fabrics and Covering Doors and Windows on One Wall

We see this scenerio quite often: french doors flanked by windows. It's a beautiful look, but if you need privacy or sun control you may become quickly overwhelmed with questions.

The client has a covered patio behind these doors, but the area is accessed from the french doors in the dining room, just around the corner. To allow for a better seating arrangement, the sofa is placed in front of the doors just as it would be if it were a regular window. There is room to walk behind, however, so the right window is easily accessible.


It didn't take long to find a great looking fabric for this home. It already had the fun, coastal style colors we just love---blues, greens, some aquas here and there and a little chocolate brown to anchor the light colors. The fabric book went home with the client and she double checked the colors and slept on it for a couple of nights.
In the meantime, we did a drawing with our Minutes Matter program, showing the client an idea with the fabric as roman shades for the side windows and drapes for the doors. The idea was great, but after returning the fabric books she decided that the strong pattern in the fabric might be too much of a good thing. As much as she liked it, she was afraid of becoming tired of it too soon. We had to agree that does happen sometimes with stronger patterns, and even with strong colors.

OK, off to find inspiration!

Courtesy Erin Paige Pitts Interiors

Being a blogger, I look through a number of other blogs. Although I didn't know about Erin Paige Pitts, this picture was posted through yet another blog (it does get complicated at times), and I had to show the client. As if proving a point to all of us, it gave the idea of using two fabrics on the wall in the living room. What would be wrong with using the pattern on the windows (as roman shades), and a solid to match the background in the patterned fabric, for the drapes. That was a little easier said than done, but thanks to our fabric company, Kasmir Fabrics, we requested that they find us a match. Within a couple of days they had a couple of matches, we chose our favorite and the order was completed by Kasmir's workroom.

Ah, the finished product! I will again mention our friends at Helser Brothers provided the hardware. Note the clean look of their French Pole. We have used it once before and were so happy to use it again.


Here's a closeup to show how the panels look on a French Pole. Because of the way the rod makes a rounded corner, there are no sharp edges to the drapery panels, and you can have a pleat on the side, which gives a nice full look. If Helser Brothers are looking, note the bracket isn't round anymore. Apparently I didn't understand the total width of the circle, and a 3" circle won't fit into a 2" gap. Thanks again to our installer, Jason, who was able to make it work. Whew, that was a close one!

If you have a window challenge stop by MLI and let's solve the problem.