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An Open-and-Shut Case For Dressing Doors Differently
Q: Our sun porch has six windows plus a French door that leads out to the patio. My furniture is mostly traditional, so I'm thinking of using pleated draperies on the windows. But what should I do with the door? It opens into the room, so more …Read more.
Ask Michelangelo: To Wallpaper a Ceiling, it Helps to be an Artist
Q: We have a quirky room, a sun porch with six, large arched windows and a cove ceiling — lots of different angles. I would like to wallpaper the ceiling, too, but I don't know how to handle the curves. Any helpful hints?
A: Wallpapering …Read more.
Wood You Believe? Yesterday's Timber Leads a Second Life
Q: Our son and his two young children are moving in with us after his divorce. We had planned to move ourselves, but now we'll stay put and add a great room for the kids. Our house is Tudor-style, so we want the new room to blend with the old things,…Read more.
Treat Windows with Accordion Shades to Gain Privacy
Q: I don't have a clue about what to do with the six windows in our dining room alcove. We are right on the street corner, so we need something for privacy, but I refuse to keep the windows covered all the time. Suggestions, please!
A: You have a …Read more.
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Home Designers Don't Have to Dress Out-of-Reach WindowsQ: What should we do with the slanted wall at the end of our dining room? It has a big picture window on the bottom and a half-round window at the point where the ceiling angles meet. Can I treat them separately? Or do I even have to dress that upper window? A: The answers are yes and no. Yes, you can treat dissimilar windows differently in the same room, provided they are as dramatically unalike as yours. And no, you really don't have to dress that little decorative window at all — as long as you aren't bothered by glare, fading and invasions of your privacy. Your problem is a common one, given the tendency for builders to design tall walls with oddly shaped windows. In one way, that makes sense, also given their tendency to build rooms with cathedral ceilings. Both can make a room feel spacious and gracious, heating and cooling bills aside. Happily, those out-of-reach windows have also inspired curtain and shade designers to new heights. For example, Hunter Douglas makes coverings such as pleated shades and wooden shutters, which can be fitted to most unorthodox shapes. Some can even be opened and closed; go to www.hunterdouglas.com for ideas. In addition, designer/author Nancee Brown suggests draping the arch with a floor-length scarf, caught in the center and at each side. Or gather a "sunburst" curtain on a rod that's custom-fitted to the window shape. However, Brown has chosen to go bare on the window that is pictured (from her new how-to book called "Can't Fail Window Treatments," published by Creative Homeowner). High up, just under the apex of the ceiling, the half-round (or demi-lune) window is a grace note in the family room. The designer underscores it with the line of decorative plates that emphasizes the triangular motif. In this context, it makes perfect visual sense to dress the picture window and sidewall windows separately, hanging simple, gathered draperies on wooden poles. Q: What's the news about what's old? A: If you're already a collector, you know that antiques, like all decorative objects, come in and out of fashion. Journalist Wendy Moonan (Architectural Digest, New York Times) signaled that now's a smart time to buy that George Nakashima table you've yearned for; heightened interest in the mid-century master woodworker has "flooded the market, so prices are down." What's still premium? Swedish furniture as well as 18th-century French and English antiques. To which Clinton Howell added, anything in lacquer by 20th-century Irish modernist Eileen Gray. A chair recently sold for $20-some-million. Howell said, "But remember, she worked in real lacquer, which was poisonous!" Designer Eric Cohler, known as "The Mix Master," says his work is about "frisson, the tension that comes from mixing styles." His example: four 18th-century Chippendale chairs around a Saarinen table. Check them out at www.ericcohlerdesign.com. "Poetry," Cohler sighed. "It's all about embracing the past and bringing antiques into the future." People want something with "gravitas," he explained, "antiques add gravitas."
Rose Bennett Gilbert is the co-author of "Hampton Style" and associate editor of Country Decorating Ideas. To find out more about Rose Bennett Gilbert and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com. COPYRIGHT 2009 CREATORS SYNDICATE INC. 
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