A Solution to a Tricky Window Situation 

 

This week, I wrapped up my last client installation of 2019 — a fresh traditional living room for a young couple with a toddler and a beautiful 1940 colonial revival home, aka Project #HGDshinglestyle.

I hope to have it and a couple other interiors from this year photographed in the spring, but the project made me think of a type of window treatment with which some of you may be unfamiliar.

You see, at some point in Project Shingle Style’s history, the ceiling had been dropped 4-5″, we think to put plumbing into a “new” master bathroom above. The result was that the crown molding came down to *wrap* the window trim. See below.

 

 

The easy answer to dressing this window is to use an inside-mount window shade of some kind. If this were to be a casual family space, a typical Roman shade would have fit the bill beautifully.

But, the wife really had her heart set on beautiful drapes, and as the ceiling was only 8′ high and the windows not terribly wide, doing some sort of feminine shade like in this post would not have had the desired dramatic effect. So, how to do drapes?

 

Even if the crown molding only came to meet the window trim, hanging a drapery rod would be impossible because, with the drop from the rod to the rings, you would see trim in the space in between. Not good. That got me thinking about —

 

Board Mounted Window Treatments

 

Most people, myself included, most often think of board mounted window treatments as regards cornice boards (aka pelmets) or valances.

 

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Board mounted cornices and valances look beautiful in combination with drapes, where the drapery rod is hidden by the board-mounted window treatment.

 

 

Historically, cornices could be crazy ornate. This book is basically a window treatment encyclopedia and shows just what artists drapers can be when given the chance! Recently, simple box-like cornices in conjunction with drapes have definitely come back into vogue. I really love this fresh classic trend.

A few more images for inspiration.

 

Source. Designer unknown.

 

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While cornices over drapes didn’t end up being the solution to my recent window dilemma (with 8′ high ceilings, I just felt a cornice or valance would bring the ceiling down even lower), thinking about them did start me down the board-mounted window treatment path.

 

You see, one of the beauties of board mounted window treatments is that boards can be cut to fit around millwork. Look at the fun cornice below by Sara Gilbane Interiors and how it mounts on top of the crown molding.

 

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That got me thinking — why not do board mounted drapes????

 

Now, board mounted drapes have gotten a bad rep because they are often used in situations like the below.

 

 

An otherwise beautiful dining room. However, even if window treatments aren’t going to be operated regularly, I personally at least like them to look like they could. There’s no way in heck that those look operable.

 

Honestly, I wonder if a rod could have been mounted in the white space between the bottom trim and the top crown molding (looks like it’s just painted in between to give the illusion of height). I bet they could have mounted a road all the way across and cleared the demi-lune window trim with a 6″ projection on the rod. But hard to say not being there. 🙂

 

Because a board mounted drape doesn’t slide on a rod, in order for it to actually be operable, it has to be swagged with a tie-back of some kind. Some gorgeous examples below. I had a hard time finding sources, so if you know these designers, please inform me!

 

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Solution found!

 

Pardon the iPhone pics!

#HGDshinglestyle

 

Of course, it made me think about how to treat the other windows in the space. You can totally have different styles of window treatments in the same room, as long as they all relate to one another. The easiest way to do that is to use the same fabric. Duh.

 

For the windows in between the bookcases, I also wanted to mimic the beautiful curve on the board mounted drapes. Enter, good old fashioned, elegant as h*** swags.

 

#HGDshinglestyle

 

For the French doors, I used the same 2-finger Euro pleat on the header as I did with the board-mounted panels and used a rod for full functionality. I also used the same tape trim on both sets of panels.

 

#HGDshinglestyle

 

Board mounted drapes definitely aren’t for every situation, but they are a handy option to have in your arsenal, whether for tricky situations like this or just for the beauty of them. 😉

 

A pin to remember me by!

 

I’ll be off for the next couple of Saturdays for the Christmas holidays. Merry Christmas everyone, and I’ll see you in the new year!

-Amy