Window Treatments
After painting the dining room and master bedroom, it was time to think about window treatments for both rooms. We chose Beverly Hafemeister of Vintage Valances in Cincinnati, OH, who specializes in historic window treatments for museums as our consultant/supplier. Several trips were made to the Cincinnati Design Center with Beverly to discuss appropriate designs and select the fabrics that would be used. She then fabricated the curtains. You can see the results below.
Click on the thumbnails to get a larger view of each picture.
For the girls' bedroom, we chose a style of window treatment documented in an 1834 book on architecture that is very simple but looks elegant.
For the women's workroom, we chose another pre-1850 documented fabric and window treatment. See below for an updated photo of this room, as we plan to add a lambrequin at the top, behind the side panels. We especially liked this documented 1835 fabric with its cactus motif since we have a 100+ year old Christmas cactus in the house that belonged to Rebecca Wylie.
The women's workroom completed, with bishop's sleeve-style curtains and lambrequin in a contrasting material across the top.
This style window treatment was described in an 1859 issue of Godey's Ladies Book, as a good choice for a young gentleman's room, so we reproduced it in the boys' bedroom. The fabric is a documented reproduction from the 1830s.
We liked the window treatments in the dining room so much that we elected to repeat the style in the guest room upstairs. The fabric is a documented reproduction from the early 19th century.
The curtain in the boarders' room is a simple style hung on a wrought iron rod.
We chose a plaid cotton fabric to remind visitors that plaids were available and were popular in the 19th century.
Red silk draperies that went to the floor had been hung in the parlor in 2000. Since they didn't have the right look once the room was stenciled, Beverly re-worked them into something that we think looks much better in this room.
A closer view of the parlor drapes.
For the dining room, we chose a blue and cream print in linen to pick up the blue walls below the chair rail. This is a historically documented reproduction fabric from the early 19th century. The south windows mirror these.
The simple style fits nicely in this room that was used both as a dining room and "family room" when the Wylies occupied the house. A single panel of fabric draws up diagonally to one side, creating a nice swag when open.
In the downstairs master bedroom, we chose a cotton print in blues, greens and browns that goes very nicely with the green walls in that room. Prints similar to this were very popular in the early 19th century.
This style of window treatment has once again become popular and is today called a balloon curtain. A single panel of fabric draws up into soft gathers by means of 4 cords on the back side of the panel.
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