Dining Room
before
How to enjoy your deck on a drizzly day
How can you enjoy your deck on a drizzly day? With custom curtains of course.
This lovely back yard with a covered patio was well used as a place to relax and enjoy the company of friends and family. But here in the Pacific Northwest it is often difficult to enjoy the mild temperatures of spring and fall with a misty rain or breeze blowing across the yard.
These curtain panels are made from indoor/outdoor fabric to stand up to the rain and sunshine. We also added a contrast band of fabric at the bottom to keep any signs of dirt to a minimum.
When closed the panels create a warm cozy room that still has a view of the yard.
The homeowner put up pipe for rods and found IKEA kitchen S hooks work well to hang the panels. Small grommets at the top make it easy to hang the curtains and to take them down if the weather gets too wild.
Here is a view from outside the patio. There is a 1/2″ chain in the hem to keep the panels from blowing too much.
This room is now ready for entertaining, enjoying a cozy fire or relaxing with a good book and a glass of wine.
A Design Idea
It all started with a photo on Pinterest from Better Homes and Gardens and a local interior designer.
She had a client looking for ideas for a roman shade for her bathroom. The room was in the middle of an upgrade and remodel. The homeowners were keeping the design and character of this 1920’s home to period. White subway tile covered the walls of the walk-in shower, with small hexagon black and white tile is on the floor.
I showed the photo to the designer, she shared it with her client – they loved it. “But can you make this a top-down-bottom-up shade?” Yes.
Since then, this photo of the finished shades has been one of my most repinned photos on Pinterest.This same designer has shared the photo with several other clients. I have now made 4 sets of these shades. Some open both directions. Some only pull up from the bottom.
After making the first few sets, I have finally figured out a simpler way of laying down the twill tape. I use an iron on adhesive tape.
First ironing the tape to the back side of the twill. Then after removing the paper backing,
I iron the twill tape in place. The twill tape is then carefully topstitched in place.
I would love to try other designs of twill tape or other trims.
London shades
London shades have been in my workroom for several weeks now. This is the first time I have made this design. It has taken some thinking, reading, designing, and lots of practice to get them to this stage. It is one thing to have a pattern, it is another to make that work for your customer’s windows. One finished, three more to go.
