Fast forward to retro-today, and I think that swiss dot curtains would be a perfectly lovely choice for sheers in a bedroom, maybe tucked behind pinch pleats (optional). There is nothing quite like the sunshine dappling through sheer draperies. The dots give the sheers just that little extra textural- and for us, retro-something.

The look: kind of softer retro… yes, grandma retro, in a very sweet way. Heck, keep the frilly valances and excessive poufy gathers at bay, and in fact, I declare Dotted Swiss: A timeless design choice.

The go-to source for dotted swiss seems to be Country Curtains, which is based just one town over from me here in the Berkshires — yay for the home team. Country Curtains has dotted swiss in both white and ivory. And, you can get matchy matchy with your pillow shams and dust ruffles; yes, in the girl’s bedroom do it.

Link: Dotted Swiss curtains, pillow shams, dust ruffles at Country Curtains.

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hi pam,

a few friends and i have been facebook fans of yours for a while now, using it for inspiration. i have a 1968 ranch in a suburb of boston. we’re putting the finishing touches on the two windows.

they’re nearly side by side and measure 32″x16″.

we were hoping to find this kind of shutter (above), but haven’t had any luck finding them in the right size. we are completely open to a different way to go. we’d like them open by day and closed by night. we can’t justify spending the $ on custom built for the basement. any ideas for a manufacturer or a different solution?

thanks, john

Readers, what are your window treatments ideas for  
 John’s Tiki Rock n’ Roll basement windows?

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Jeff!

When I wrote about the lovely scallop-edge picture frames that Eva Zeisel designed when she was 104, Jeff piped up to let us know that he has found a source for ready made scalloped pine trim. Use this trim — like he did — to make a cornice aka valance to cover the traverse rods or other workings of your window treatments. Holey moley, look at how Jeff has begun using these designs to recreate classic midcentury cornices for his home — and look at his breezeway family room — gorgeous!

Continue for Jeff’s big discovery — the ready-made source for five scallop wood molding designs straight from the 1950s. And, I found a sixth, from another wood place.

Jeff wrote in his comment:

Pam, speaking of those scalloped 50s cornice boards, I originally had them throughtout the house, and with the help of pictures, have been able to start replicating them- best of all, I found a source for 8 foot strips of scalloped trim, done in both the traditional scallop, and the one punctuated by darts- different widths as well, and CHEAP!

I chased him down and he said:

Here’s the link: Randall Manufacturing – Look under “scallop strips” to see the lineup.

Different widths as well.  I think they were anywhere betweent 8 and 16 bucks an eight foot strip, and available individually at our local hardware store-  it’s not widely distributed, since in the metro Detroit region with a thousand hardware stores to choose from, only Durst Lumber has it in stock locally.  Needless to say, between me and some other retro weekend warriors, they’re constantly cleaned out!  I’ve attached some photos of my first install in the house –  the breezeway linking the living/dining area to the garage.  I did a double strip on these creating a “hi-lo” effect.  The rest of the house will be getting them soon, as all the windows originally had them-  some are nine feet long!.  You can use the photos if you like.

Thanks, and enjoy-  Jeff

Thank you, Jeff. Note, I went online hunting and also found this one — A slightly more detailed 1-3/16″ high design from Blumer and Stanton — if you want more layering somewhere!

The room you have created is amazing. I want to sidle right up and have you mix me a mai tai. Of course, I also wanted to know more about those fabulous draperies. Jeff said:

Those are an amazing vintage Tiki barkcloth I bought years ago from a sale, held onto them about 10 years before being able to use them here-  still vibrant and strong,though the linings are a little “off white” as you can imagine.
I have two 9 foot runs on both sides of the breezeway.  The imagery includes treehouses, tribal masks, “Zulus” caricatures of palm trees, huts, Mayan temple figures.  I’ve never seen it before or since, and there is no selvedge to determine who made the fabric, but suffice to say, it’s pretty fabulous, isn’t it? LOL.  I’ve attached a few photos of the fabric, flattened out-  just one left over panel, sans lining.

Cheers, Jeff

Estate sales, peoples: Look to the windows. Often estate sale organizers don’t even think about the window treatments. Be super nice and maybe you can buy them right off the windows. This has been a successful strategy for me several times. If you are able to get a lot of panels, these are not difficult to piece together into custom widths; you need only basic sewing skills.

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