It’s difficult to say exactly when a house project ends as there are endless opportunities to add finishing touches. For this project, we decided we needed to dress up some of our windows with period drapes and protect our guests’ opportunity to sleep in by adding sun-blocking blinds.
Unlike my grandmother, who made curtains for all the windows in her spacious 1920s home (as well as dresses for all her granddaughters), I do not sew. Neither does Nils. So we worked with Mike Favreau, owner of Custom Window Decorators, to help us imagine and recreate window treatments that might have hung in the Red House during the Federal era. We learned the meanings of words like swag, valance and jabot!
Mike came to our house to measure and help us choose fabrics for window treatments in the four historic rooms – the dining room, parlor, and two upstairs guest rooms. We picked an oatmeal colored homespun for the dining room and then discovered we had some old drapes of almost the identical color and texture. Mike was able to use the old fabric to make new drapes, which delighted us. Whenever we could, we have reused old materials – handmade bricks, repurposed barn board, wonky interior doors and furnishings.
The valances in the bedrooms hide sun-blocking shades with an old-fashioned O-shaped pull.
Other finishing touches include a cafe curtain in the laundry room, a blind with images of birches, inspired by the trees outside, and a little black cat bookend that helps hold a door open.
For the basement family room, we consulted another expert, my daughter Marisa, who has a flair for interior design. Inspired by boho design principles that mix different patterns, materials and organic elements in an eclectic style, she created a unified look by layering old rugs over the tile floor and arranging an assortment of furniture around a centered coffee table. With mood lighting, it works!
One response to “Post 72: Finishing touches”
Perfecto!