Before & After: Living room up lift with ripple fold draperies!
A few weeks ago I visited Renee’s place. She has a great sense of style with beautiful pieces of furniture and some wonderful plants alongside personal mementos making her home feel welcoming and special. The walls are painted in a fresh lime green that is just the right amount of zest without being too overpowering. The room itself has an organic feel and coherence with the artwork, pillows and sofa. It just really needed its final touch to feel complete and cohesive.
Renee’s place is a rental which she loves and says she will stay forever. She stated why not get myself nice drapes if I am going to stay here! I couldn’t agree more!
The ‘before’ had a curtain pole which was only as wide as the window so the curtains were covering part of the window space making it look smaller and darker. The style of curtains she had were rod pocket, meaning that the pole is slid through a channel sewn into the top of the curtain. Renee’s complaint was that they were near impossible to open and close and she wanted to freshen and liven things up to suit her style better.
The ‘before’ showing her rod pocket curtains which cover part of the window.
Another ‘before’ shot showing the other side of the room.
A pulled back view to show the entire wall.
She wanted to use a bright and airy semi-opaque fabric and stated she would rarely close the drapes normally.
After discussing what her goals were I told her 2 ideas to start. First if she wanted to use the existing curtain pole I suggested we go much wider, at least 8”-12” wider than the window on both sides. This helps to keep all the window space open so the stack back is not covering the glass, and also it makes the room look wider, as if the window itself it wider. I told her if she wants a more traditional look like a pinch pleat we can go this route and just replace the pole with a longer one and new rings or traversing hardware.
The second option was to go a bit more modern and fresh, go ceiling mounted and wall to wall with the ripple fold style. As I started to explain this her eyes started to widen and she had a big smile! Ok I could see this was lighting her up! I told her it will feel really fresh, light and airy and the room will even feel so much bigger and more luxurious! She was all in without a doubt. Ok we were settled! I had a sample of the track with me and showed her how the ripple fold style operates.
The ripple fold hardware system. The top of the curtain snaps into this track which keeps the folds held in place and maintains the ‘S’ curve whether open or closed, always maintaining it’s fullness.
The ‘S’ curve creates a lovely contemporary column effect with the drapery
Something I’d like to point out is that ripple fold draperies are a beautiful style treatment that always looks ‘full’, even when pulled closed. Unlike other more contemporary styles like the grommet top (where the rod sits within the grommet holes), the ripple fold maintains it’s fullness of an ‘S’ shape because of the specialty hardware used which holds the shape whether open or closed. The downside of the grommet drapery is that when it is pulled closed to cover the window it just looks like a flat sheet of fabric, which doesn’t look very intentional or stylish.
The ripple fold style is very commonly used by designers and adds a lot of elegance and ease to a space, while still being able to go sheer or totally opaque depending on the light control needs.
The design of this treatment for Renee was to go wall to wall and floor to ceiling, and it turned out great!
In the midst of installing the project.
Once we installed these it just felt like a complete fresh breath of air in the space. It totally set the scene for the rest of her decor, and played so nicely with the zesty walls and organic natural vibe she has going on.
You’ll notice we also moved some of the smaller plants to let the space feel more airy and open, and she loves the fresh new take on the space.
Here’s what she had to say:
“ Absolutely love my curtains. They are beautiful. What a wonderful addition to my home. My space is warming my heart. I am grateful. Thank you thank you thank you! ”
It never ceases to amaze me how much of a transformation draperies makes to lift our spaces and make our rooms feel complete and special. This was such a fun project to work on!
Now for the before & after, what do you think?!
Interested in getting started on your next project? I’d love to help!