...A DECORATOR CAN SAVE YOU MONEY....

I have a wonderful client...I'll call her Heather. She wanted a window treatment consultation for her adjoining living and dining rooms. She explained that they had been living in their home for several years with sheers as the only window covering. When I walked into Heather's lovely home, I was immediately struck at the spaciousness of the open floor plan. I noticed they have lovely carpets in the living and dining rooms, and chocolate brown leather furniture and a couple colour blocked walls. Their space is very warm, cozy, and comfortable, but I was having a difficult time with the colours not relating.

However, I was hired to solve their window treatment dilemma so I suggested, the demise of the sheers and instead a layered treatment in both rooms as the goals were privacy, sun protection and decorative. The solution... 'top up-bottom down' honeycomb blinds which would control the amount of light penetrating the room during the day, but would also provide the privacy sought at night. Side panels on a decorative rod would add the finishing touch to each of the windows.

I set to work sourcing fabrics for the side panels. This is the part of my job that often brings me the most pleasure. I'm a visual / tactile person and truly enjoy the finding the perfect fabric to accompany any room. But, this was proving to be more difficult than I had anticipated. 

Here was the dilemma...custom window treatments can be one of the single most expensive decor elements in a room. They can also have a huge impact on the overall look and personality of the room. Well chosen fabric and well constructed window treatments should have a healthy life span. I was not interested in compromising my client's bank account to satisfy a quick but ultimately unsatisfactory end to this job. 

I simply don't work that way.

I explained this to Heather on my last visit.  She responded by saying that they were going to be painting all their walls in the next couple of years, at which point, I strongly suggested that they not invest in the side panels at this time, but wait until the they were ready to paint. The existing carpets, would be the determining factor, not only for the paint colour choice, but for the window treatments colour as well. Interestingly, at this point, Heather wondered aloud, if the reason, they had delayed their window treatment commitment for so long, was because perhaps they knew something wasn't quite right with the overall look of the space, but were not quite sure why. 

Again, I cannot stress enough, how a professional decorator can answer those questions .... and perhaps save you money. 

Note: I have written about and used photos in this post, of her home with 'Heather's' permission and consent.