Dear Joe:
I have been in my condo for about a year. At one end of the living area, there is a double door that leads out to a small balcony. On either side of this door, there are two very small windows, about 12 inches from the door. I have been trying to figure out some sort of treatment for all of this, but can't come up with anything. I have noticed that this set up on many other condos, and wonder how you would handle it.
Jason
Dear Jason:
Yes, I have indeed encountered this set up quite frequently. It seems to be a popular one for condos and townhouses.
There are several options here.
One option is to cover the entire wall with traverse draperies. With this treatment, you can open the drapery panels just enough to use the door or open them to reveal the other windows as well. The advantages are that draperies close down the door and windows for complete privacy and the entire wall of fabric unifies the space when closed. There is also a protection from the extreme cold or heat when you have all of these openings closed off with fabric. Frequently I will have several panels made that can be moved anywhere on the track and opened at several points for the customer's choosing.
Another option is to use Roman shades. The two for the side windows would be contained inside the window frames, the ones on the doors are surface mounted on each door individually. The shades can be made of fabric or other materials such as grass cloth. The advantage here is a cleaner and more tailored look than full draperies. Also, each shade is controlled separately, so you have many options for setting them to your choosing. This same set up would apply to other types of shades as well, including rollup shades and horizontal blinds.
A third idea is to combine these two options. I have used individual blinds ( all matching ) for the windows and doors, then added drapery panels on either side of the doors. These panels were mounted on a rod and could cover the entire door. This gives a little more of a dressed up look. The one caution here is that you have to have enough space on either side of the doors so that they can open without interference from the pulled back draperies. Sometimes the drapery panel ( s ) will have to be able to all pull to one side to facilitate opening the door.
The key to choosing a treatment here is how you want to use the doors and windows and what type of style you like.
Dear Joe:
I need some shelves in my living room for a few books and decorative things. I don't have space for a full bookcase and it seems too bulky. I had thought about wall mounted shelves, but hate that look of metal brackets and cheap laminate. I only have about a 28" wide space to use. Anything that I can do that would have more style?
Shelved
Dear Shelved:
I recently solved this problem for a client. We had a very limited amount of space left over on one side of the sofa .
I bought 24" individual wall mounted shelves at a local home furnishing store ( we used six ) . The shelves are made so that the mounting screws are hidden behind each shelf, and come in various sizes and styles. I started the shelf placement about 18" off of the floor and mounted the rest equidistance from each other in a straight vertical line. The effect was a very light and tailored look that was open and did not intrude on the floor space.
Please send you questions to jos.riceinteriors@att.net . In the subject box, fill in "WCT Design."
Joseph Rice is an interior decorator who offers full decorating services. With 25 years of experience, he specializes in drapery treatments for "hard-to-treat" windows. You can contact him at the above e-mail address, through his Web site at www.josephriceinteriors.com or by phone at 773-271-2361.
