BALLOON VALANCE OF SORTS

I delivered these balloon valances (the other is not visible in pictures) a couple weeks before Christmas.  When my client saw them up, she said, "I don't like them.  I don't like khaki."  Well, that upset me greatly, though I did my best to remain calm.  It would have been very helpful to me if she or the designer had mentioned this kind-of-important fact to me before I made them.  And when I saw the picture of it, I thought, 'she's right, they really don't look that good.'

The solution was to unmount them from the boards, which would involve removing the million staples I had used to make sure it was nice and secure,  and reverse the pleats so that the turquoise that ended up inside the poofs would be out and the khaki that she did not care for would be inside.  I literally thought, and worried, about this all through Christmas.  And when I got back, I texted her and said that, of course, I would happily fix them.

Turned out, though that the designer had fooled with them and was able to somehow pull enough of the turquoise out of the pleat that the client was happy.  I had to admit when I saw it that it wasn't bad.  Yes, the khaki is still prominent, but at least the prettier color is now showing.

Although it is not so evident in the pictures, this fabric is really quite lovely.  And incredibly expensive!  It is from Designers Guild and, at wholesale, it is $250 a yard.  The fabric alone for these two windows was $1000!

  I learned a valuable lesson on this job...make sure the likes and dislikes of certain colors are communicated clearly to me.  I make what I am told to make, but I do not want a client to be unhappy with something that I've done, whether my fault or not.  And while it would have been a huge pain to 'fix' these balloon shades, I would have done it.  Even though my client was not initially happy, in the end, she was.  And that made me happy!

EURO SHAMS AND DOUBLE FLANGED THROW PILLOWS

More pillows for the master bedroom...

The same fabric as the balloon shades was used on these Euro squares.  Because the fabric is not an even pattern, there is no way to center the stripe so that it is a mirror image.

But they can be turned so that either the black stripe is in the center as in the previous shot, or the white/silver is.

The double flanged pillows in the front add color to the room.

In the wider view of the bed, the roman shade is visible.  Both of these fabrics are Designers Guild.

EXTRA LARGE CHAIRS

This is the same chair I did back in the spring for the home of the designer on this job.  At the time she had me make a permanent pattern because this is a chair she likes to use in all the homes she does.  It is super big, but then again, the homes she works on are super big.  Perfect fit!

The fabric, a heavy linen, is photographing as aqua, but it is really a much more teal green than it looks here.

Since the house is still in the process of being finished, it looks very empty.

The back of the chair, with large buttons, since the size I usually use would have needed about 20, and would have looked ridiculous.  And because the chair is very rounded, the buttons are actually needed to make the slipcover fit properly.

A couple weeks later I was back at the house delivering other items, and took these shots.  By then, pictures had been hung and accessories added so it was looking more like a lived-in home.

The window treatment fabric has yet to arrive, but once it does, there will be balloon valances on the windows that look into the courtyard of the house. The fabric is another gorgeous Designers Guild stripe like nothing I have ever seen.  I look forward to making them and posting the finished room.

BALLOON SHADES

Another gorgeous fabric from Designers Guild Limited.  This one is called Caviglia, color Noir.

This is the master bedroom of a renovation I have been working on with Cara Clancy here on Coronado.  This is the second time I've made balloon shades with this exact fabric.  The first time was for Cara's own home.

The larger shade is 72" wide, the smaller is 36".  All are lined with blackout, which make them exceptionally heavy.  I originally wanted to split the larger shade, but Cara wanted no light leakage that would have occurred because it is one large pane of glass.  I have to admit, she was right.

This is to the right of the corner window, beside the bed.

The french door got a flat-stitched roman shade.  And the window in the hallway leading into the master bedroom also got a big balloon shade.

The roman shade half closed so you can see the fabric better.  As beautiful as these fabrics are, they are quite challenging to work with as the repeat is huge and not necessarily even.  There is no centering of one stripe with a mirror image on either side.  Still, it all looks lovely in the room.  And, as always, the most important thing is the client is happy!

DESIGNERS GUILD PILLOWS

I've been working a lot with Designers Guild fabrics lately.  Cara Clancy, designer extraordinaire, uses them a lot in the houses she does.

This pattern is called Hiranya, color Fuchsia, and though I am not a huge fan of orange, the hot pink more than makes up for it.

This pattern lent itself well to the double flange style that Cara is so fond of.

One of the challenges with Designers Guild fabrics is the repeat is usually quite large and really works better in draperies, where the entire repeat is visible.  Given that, I still thought they turned out nicely.  And Cara loved them, which was the whole point.

AN OVER-SIZED CHAIR AND DESIGNERS GUILD FABRIC

It's hard to tell from the pictures, but this chair is HUGE!  I mean, it was so big that I wasn't sure it would make it through my front door.  It did, by about a half an inch.  And if that weren't enough, the repeat on this lovely Designers Guide fabric was also quite large, something like 36".  A normal chair usually takes around 10 yards of fabric, even when matching is involved.  A larger than normal one might take 11.  This took 14 yards, and because I had to center all the cuts, there was a lot of wasted fabric.

I did a pretty good job of getting it all matched.

Buttons down the back are really more decorative than anything else.

Because the chair was so big, larger buttons were called for, as well.

This is the chair in its new home.

It looks so much better here than in my workroom/living room.