Edmonton Drapery

By Kelly P. Kramer

Usually the most beautiful rooms feature a fairly simple drapery color palette. Choose a range of no more than four or five main colors, or limit your drapery to tone variations on one main color. A monochromatic color palette is especially elegant when there is a mix of drapery textures and patterns.

Designers know that fine drapery and a few well-chosen accessories are better than several ordinary ones. Customize your window drapery treatment with beautifully detailed trims and tassels. Layer your drapery with a delicately patterned sheer fabric under soft flowing draperies. And be sure to use generous amounts of fabric so your drapery looks full and lush. In the 1990’s drapery became sparse, with just bamboo blinds or plantation shutters, however, today lush drapery styles are coming back!

Some great ideas for drapery include:

Exquisite gossamer drapery – far different from the familiar frilly or harsh-textured polyester drapery – drapery patterns now have subtle iridescence and are interwoven with unexpected materials, or have embossed or printed patterns.

Velvet is a continuing drapery trend. Velvet is considered the best material for drapery, because of the way it catches the light.

Sheer Drapery in dramatic colors like cocoa and smoke are a trend, as is combining two tones of sheer drapery.

Ready Made Drapery vs. Custom Made Drapery:

With ready-made drapery, you're limited to the drapery sizing. Many new homes have nine-foot-high ceilings – and ready-made drapery tends not to be long enough. Ready-made drapery is usually not as full or rich-looking and the drapery may not be lined

Choosing your own drapery fabric, rather than buying a ready-made drapery, also enables you to make coordinating cushions or cover a chair with the same drapery material. With custom-made drapery, you can also ensure that the drapery lining coordinates from one room to the next so your drapery provides a continuous look from the outside of your home.

If you want your window to seem larger, you can run drapery along a track along the wall. Hanging you drapery as close to your ceiling as possible will make your ceiling seem higher. Drapery can be as important in your room as your art work.

Another great decorating idea is to match your throw cushions to your drapery fabric. Or even cover one of your chairs to match your drapery. This brings the whole room together. Designer Scott Yetmen advises "in design, nothing should be an afterthought".

In order to properly care for your drapery it is important to understand the inherent limitations of certain drapery fabrics as well as the invisible influences of the environment in which the draperies hang. These will affect the life and appearance of your drapery.

For instance, constant exposure to the bright rays of the sun will weaken the strength of most drapery fibers over time and can also cause varying degrees of the drapery color fading or streaking. First signs of sun damage may include hem threads on your drapery. Water stains are another drapery life threat - condensation on your windows will occasionally cause drapery fabrics to become water marked. There is no guarantee that such drapery water stains can be removed; however, in some drapery fabrics, this can be accomplished. Maintenance of your home drapery products involves routine vacuuming with the dust brush attachment on your household vacuum cleaner, as well as washing or dry cleaning your drapery once every six months. After months and months of exposure to dust, cooking or tobacco smoke residues, and other environmental pollutants, your drapery will need to be professionally and thoroughly cleaned. Dry cleaning is recommended for your drapery and sheers.