Hi! I’m Janine, co-owner of Tonic Living, a modern fabric retailer specializing in custom drapery, roman blinds, pillows and other options to dress windows and sofas worldwide!

Ken Simpson, the owner of Fieldstone Windows, and I became acquainted in the last year and realized that our businesses were complimentary and that we should “get together”… his windows + our fabric that is… it’s the perfect marriage! So what better windows to start with than the ones in his very own showroom?

Here it is currently, an old historic home converted to a showroom. It’s a lovely, lovely space to work with, the finishing details are just about all in place; the architectural ceilings, wood trim and GORG-JUS windows with sweeping arches at the top, stained glass and quality hardware … Buuuuut…. The room needs a little work, some “tie-ing together” if you will.

So here’s what I propose:

Soften the Edges

Window coverings do this very easily, however we don’t want to obscure the windows or inhibit any of the natural light coming in. Because of that, and the fact that privacy isn’t an issue, we’ll just create “stationary” or “accent” panels for both windows. While the windows are a little different from each other we want to unite them, in this room, with the same fabric and treatment. I pondered doing a roman blind for the one single window but that would mean we’d cover up the arch up top and that’s a detail I’m not going to be responsible for covering!

We’re going to create floor to ceiling drapes by putting a curtain rod under the bottom of the crown molding. You’ll see the arch on the smaller window means we’ll have to have the rod as high as possible on the bay window so that they’ll be hung at the same level creating a nice visual horizontal line.

Build Storage

You can see that the there is a serious need for some storage here too so what we’re going to do is have a custom window seat built by one of Ken’s contractors to fit this larger bay window and create a seating area plus storage underneath. Here, he and his sales people can stow samples and materials for when they meet with clients. Naturally we’ll need to create a lovely bench cushion to cover this window bench – right?

Tie it Together

With the classic Sarah Richardson chairs shown (Chloe) being recovered in solid navy linen with a white contrast piping and the area rug being switched out for a sisal rug with navy banding around the edges we’re going to do the drapes in a solid linen with the dramatic Samoan Plantation in Gem (By Iman) as vertical bands on the inside leading edges.

If we went for full panels in this fabric it would be too competitive with the stained glass that also has these colours in it. And to layer in texture and softness we’ll repeat some of the pattern and add a few more with pillows in varying sizes and shapes.

This “top pinch pleat” is the style we’ll finish the top of the drapes with and we’ll choose a classic, matte black hardware for the drapes to hang on.

Connect the Rooms

There’s also the front foyer or entrance that is pretty darn bare and needs some help in the welcoming department, after all it’s where the first impressions are made.

Because it’s adjacent to the main “meeting room” we’ll use the same patterns here too. And in this case we’ll go all out and use the larger scale floral fabric on both windows but this time with valances that look like a roman blind, just like this style.

Under the larger window we’ll put the cool old church pew that Ken already has in the showroom and will dress it up with some pillows to warm things up.

Choosing a fabric that speaks to you (for some this is a “woosh” inside your core!) and translating it into beautiful drapery for your windows is an incredibly impactful way to set the tone and finish off your space that you settle into at the end of every day.

We’re looking forward to making these changes at the Fieldstone Windows & Doors showroom; we hope you’ll check out the “after” at a later date!

P.S. Check out my Pinterest board “Project – Fieldstone Windows & Doors” to see other ideas i’ve collected for decorating this space.