Decorating a breakfast room: Final results

A picture should be worth a thousand words, but seeing the breakfast room in person makes a lot of difference. Did you notice the lamp to the left? The shade is the same fabric as the roman shades! This particular picture is blurry, but the colors are more true to the actual room. If you didn't see the before pics while we were working on ideas, click here.

The picture above shows off the fabric, but the wall color is distorted. The deep set windows allowed for an inside mount on these roman shades. We installed them even with the trim on the bottom of the transom. The patio door (not visible in the pictures) has an outside mounted roman shade, but the shade is mounted on the 3/4" side of the board so it lays against the glass.

The client lived in the house for several weeks before deciding they enjoyed the view from the bottom of the window, and the light from the transoms, but needed something that would add that needed weight to that side of the room, along with softness and color. Roman shades also offer total privacy when lowered.

The darker fabric required a light blocking lining so fading would not be an issue. It is also something we like to use on roman shades to prevent the sun from shining through and showing all those rings on the back! That's all part of putting together a custom job---sorting out the details!

Decorating a breakfast room: What would you do?

OK, so you wanna play decorator, huh? Well, now's the time to chime in with your comments. Here's a little background on the room above: Privacy isn't much of a concern in this room since it faces the woods. The concern we had was sun control. Sometimes the transom style windows are great for letting in light, or they can let in too much sunlight and fade everything in sight. The home is still new and we suggested dressing these windows after the client has lived there for a month or so.

OK, below is the first idea. These are roman shades mounted all the way into the transom. They could be raised and lowered for controlling sun. The sheer cafe curtains on the iron rods are there to break-up the space, add a new texture, and are semi-private.
These renderings were done pretty quickly, so be forgiving of the roman shade that is on the ceiling, or the window missing the cafe curtain---you get the idea.

After a couple of weeks, a lamp was placed on the built-in sideboard along the wall with a shade very similar to the new fabric we chose for the other renderings. Client likes the light from the transom so the roman shade is started below the break in the windows. The bottom is left open.


The next idea was to forget the roman shades and have full view with only cafe curtains on the bottom third of the window. The thought behind this was that the chairs are counter height anyway, so the view over the top of the curtains would be unobstructed. Of course this rendering and the others could be made with any fabrics, sheer or not. Much of that decision also depends on the colors we use next door in the living room.

The renderings are all done with Minutes Matter Studio. We will soon be getting the newest upgrade which will make our jobs even easier and your potential rooms even more realistic. We could go on and on about the software, and tell you how great all the people are associated with the program, but that's information for a "post" by itself.

How to Dress a Window: Finale

As promised, the final results. The golden hued cabinets, accents of cobalt blue glass, and the terra cotta colored tiles on the floor all influenced the choice in fabrics. The treatment was hung as high as we could go to give more height to the shorter window, and to not take away from the view. Out of view is the new light fixture over the kitchen island which also draws your eyes upward and toward the window. A new paint color is being considered for the kitchen---more of a pale golden-yellow.
The addition of placemats from the striped fabric and the blue linen will be the real Finale, and add a real custom look to the kitchen and breakfast area.