Bedroom Drapes and a Painting
Well! It has been since June that I posted about the changes I was making to my bedroom. I named the changes, ‘French Influence’ based upon the inspirations I found in Betty Lou Phillips’ books. In her ‘Secrets of French Design’ she gives you insight into details in French Decor. One thing I love about her writings is that she gives you a history of French Decor influencers.
In the segment of her book,
The Best Dressed Windows”
she describes,
‘Central to the salons that harbor them, billowing window treatments sreen unappealing views, guard privacy, filter direct sunlight, and, not the least, solicit admiring glances.’
Before,
I had this valance, which is matched by a valance over the door opposite that leads to the Sleeping Porch now Dearest’s office. ( I will replace the valence on the door with a short curtain) Initially I was going to take down the valance and replicate it with a lighter material that would better coordinate with the new fabrics and colors in the room – from French Influence I – painting the dresser; French Influence II – painting the bed; French Influence III – painting the nightstands; and French Influence IV reupholstering the settee and Great-Grandpa’s chair.
After reading Betty Lou Phillip’s points on Window Dressing, I decided to sew a curtain panel for this window in the corner instead.
The suggestions made by Betty Lou Phillips include:
- ‘To preserve natural light, curtains extend beyond the width of the window 12-15 inches on each side, mirroring the scale of the room rather than upsetting its proportions.”
- “calculate fabric at two-and-a-half and more oftan than not three -times the distance from one end of the curtain rod to the other – including returns-the space from the face of the rod to the wall. There’s no skimping on fabric”
- ‘light streaming in windows silhouttes the beauty of lace. But when it comes to airy sheers or gauzy fabrics that the Frenc call voilage-voile, organdy, muslin, batiste-quadrupling the window’s width ensures privacy.”
- “Au courant stripes-which Napoleon loved to tout-makes their own fashion statement”
- ‘Working together, lining and hidden interlinging block light, absorb sound, help prevent sun damage, and turn a casual window treatment into couture.”
- “Weights stithced in deep, deep hems insure that curtans drape gracefully and then turn under in soft folds”
- “Curtains simply brush the floor or ‘break’ no more than three inches”
- “Tassels…elegant tiebacks and trims have nothing to do with modesty”
- “In French eyes less-than-perfectly-straight seams, a pattern that fails to match, or fringe sewn in a questionable manner is any window treatment’s undoing”
- “Mount curtains as close to the molding gives height to a room”
What points I did take into consideration:
- The drapes extend beyond the length of the wall by 3 to 4 inches.
- lace lining attached to curtain
- straight lines and fringe added for detail
- I extended the curtain’s width just to the edge of the rods – filling the corner
What I didn’t do was to extend the curtain to the ceiling for two reasons.
1. The plaster walls crack – hence the painting design. 2. The line of view across the room is accentuated by the picture rail – window treatments follow along those lines. The room’s height is already pretty tall at 10 feet.
Can I share how much I LOVE the light look this curtain panel now brings to this end of the room! The lightness of the color and the floral pattern go beautifully with the wall color and with the surrounding decor – artwork, florals, and the area rug.
The Painting
Our walls are filled with artwork from the masters – wonderful finds many years back at an auction – I love how each has a blue background, with the exception of two prints. The one that hung above the fireplace.
Each of the paintings that didn’t have blue in their color happened to be ballet scenes – I thought they were charming. But, after changing everything around and making blue a central color in the bedroom’s decor, I decided to change the artwork over the fireplace and painted this rose bouquet – to compliment the additional colors in the room and the presence of roses in the fabrics and rug.
I am really loving the romantic quote from the movie, “Pride and Prejudice” it is a favorite of Dearest and I . The words are actually a dark blue rather than black.
I haven’t painted roses in a long while – I like the outcome, but I do need to get back to painting more.
I used the frame from the ballet painting changing the brown to the aged gold by using various shades of gold acryllic paints as well as copper and bronze.
One more fun change. I made this little bolster for the settee. I played around with ruffling the material and created the graphic with these phrases in French, ‘I love you, I never wish to be parted from you from this day on and I adore you’.
Am I finished? Almost. There are a couple more minor changes to make. When I do, I’ll give a full review of the complete bedroom transformation.
