Melissa Rieke Photography

44th Symphony Designers’ Showhouse

Today lets talk about WINDOWS!!  The nursery room at the showhouse is FULL of light!  There are 3 HUGE East facing windows and 3 HUGE west facing windows!  All the windows presented quite a challenge for me in designing the layout of the furniture in the space…but they play into the light and airy almost dreamy feel that I was going for so well!

When doing a room in all white you want to be sure you have layers and texture and tactile things of interest that draws one in and makes you feel cozy and alive!  I was so lucky to have Hunter Douglas donate the shades in my room!  They added the perfect touch of texture that I was needing!  Hunter Douglas has so many amazing designs…these aren’t your mothers blinds anymore…you could spend hours and hours choosing just the right look…between fabrics, and trims, colors and designs…these blinds are completely and undeniably custom in every way!  You will get to view many of the different lines in the showhouse when you come to tour!  Buy your tickets here.

I wanted to stay simple with my blinds as I wanted them to be able to grow with room…and also add to the design instead of competing with it.  At first I was going to just do the blinds and nothing else…let the windows free…let the beautiful trim work show thru…and the beautiful blinds!  And I was leaning towards a white fabric with some texture.  Then I came across this fabric that has a very similar look to a light colored burlap.  I knew right then these would be perfect.  I chose the Alustra Woven Textures style of blind…they are light filtering, in a roman shade style, with the excluseive Chelsea roller system.

I was so excited to see them installed as they really helped at texture and depth to my white on white room design.  I love that they filter the light…but still offer a slight glow that adds to the dream effect!!

Once the shades were up I knew I need something a little extra to soften the room a bit.  I was struggling with not wanting to cover the beautiful trim around the windows…or completely hiding the shades.  I struggle with this in my own home.  I searched for fabric…searched for drapes…it is very hard to find a 108″ drape off the shelf.  I knew I wanted it to be flowy, airy, light…and not heavy or overpowering.  I found a few fabrics I liked…but could only get them in 15 yards…and I need 36 yards to do each window!  I finally after talking with several people in the craft stores, searching high and low…and pinteresting all night…I figured out that KING sized sheets are 108″ long!!  And 112″ wide!  PERFECT!  So I purchased 6 Sheets…cut them in 1/2 and hung them by clips from windows.  I wanted to still show the trim so I hid a tension rod underneath the covered header of the shades…and simply clipped them on.  Easy Peasy…and I love how it turned out.  You would never know they were sheets.  You would never know I didn’t hem the edge I cut (all three of the other edges are already hemmed).  They material is very similar to muslin which I was thinking of using…but 1/2 the work with no sewing involved.  The thing that took the longest was Ironing them!  My iron was mad at me…it hadn’t been used that much since it was given to me as a wedding gift!  HA!

Ok…tell me what you think!  Do you feel the dreamy effect?  Do you love the Hunter Douglas Blinds?

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I can’t forget to mention in this post how gorgeous the Organic Bloom Frames are!  The make my images stand out in style and add EVERYTHING to this room!

Also…you can see my finished Armoire there…as well as the Pouf…and the rocking horse!  It is all coming together!

 

BUY TICKETS TO TOUR THE HOUSE HERE.