One thing leads to the next

This morning I had an appointment with a client who wanted window shades in her sunroom addition that would block the ugly neighbor's house without obstructing her beautiful large windows and the amazing view she has to the Mississippi River. We quickly chose a textured shade that was very simple for only the windows facing the neighbors house. It will let light in during the day if she wants privacy and at night it will be opaque for ultimate privacy. After we decided on that, the client brought up that she would like to replace her drapes in the family room. So we choose the fabric for those and worked with the custom drapery designer that was at the appointment with us. From there we moved downstairs to the family room where she mentioned that she was tired of the fabric on some large throw pillows and she rarely used them because they didn't go anymore. So we ended up choosing a new fabric to cover the pillows and also to replace the cornice window treatment she had in her office so that the fabrics would be coordinating now. We also chose a new paint color for the family room as well. We ended up replacing much more than we had originally set out to do (which usually happens) and it was such a fun meeting because of it. This client is one of those clients that is really up for anything. So fun! Of course it was a refresher for me as well to remember how to properly measure for window treatments. Here is what I normally do:

First, measure the width of the window from the outside of the trim and/or the inside of the trim depending on where you will be mounting the hardware. Second, measure the length of the window. Measure above the window to the ceiling and below the window to the floor. Also measure the wall space to the left and right of the window. While you are doing this make sure to note any special architecural details and angles if they are bay windows. Make sure to check that there are no obstacles in the way of placing hardware such as a cabinet door opening in the kitchen or a window that is close to the wall corner. When figuring out how much fabric I need for the fullness of draperies and curtains, it works best at 2-1/2 or 3 times the width of the curtain panel to get desired fullness. And there you have it-pretty simple!

Images from here.