Tuscan Inspired Dining Room and "A Village"

 You know the saying:  It takes a village . . .that's how it felt on this project.  The design and fabric was chosen by Victoria, an interior designer, who was already heavily involved in the decorating of the beautiful Tuscan styled home.  We had a long conversation about the style and all the details that go into making a custom window treatment.  She provided a wonderful drawing with all the necessary measurements, and the job was put into action.  The first time we saw our latest client's home was as we pulled into the driveway to install these dining room draperies.  

Victoria took several fabric books with her after our first meeting, and returned with the choice above.  This beautiful fabric, from Kasmir, did  pose a new challenge, as it is nearly an upholstery weight fabric.  I wanted to check in with Connie (she would be fabricating this weighty treatment), to make sure our design would be doable.  We went over the plans and she said, yes, it would be just fine.  Now to decided on the hardware:

As soon as I showed the Helser Brothers catalog to Victoria, she knew they would be able to duplicate the look she wanted.  The Sofia finial was one of the larger finials available, and appropriate for the scale of the room and the fabric.  We also had the sofia made into holdbacks, and all were done with the "Canyon" finish.

 

Dining rooms can be difficult to photograph, and this picture just doesn't do justice to the room.  You can barely see the lovely tassel/beaded fringe, but in real life, it really adds a spark to the treatment.  Also note the details of the header, here's a closeup:

The pleats are a goblet style, although they don't appear to be as large as other goblet styles, the amount inside the pleat was enough to give a nice amount of fullness without obscuring the pattern in the fabric.  Another thing to note is the slouch between the pleats.  That was achieved by making the regular spaces nearly double in width and also leaving the top 2" of the pleats opened at the top.  This open pleat helps make a more graceful slouch rather than a pulled look which can sometimes happen to this style.  Another thing I really like is the fact that it causes the drapery panel to hang very close to the rod, and not leave a large gap between them.  Go back and look at the overall picture, and you'll notice what I'm talking about.  

So back to it takes a village: Thank you Victoria for trusting us with your design, to Connie for listening to every detail and doing your outstanding work (she surely got a workout with this one!),  to Helser Brothers for providing the quality hardware, and to our installer, Jason, for making sure it all actually hangs on the wall!

Whew!