Retro Renovation

Over the past two weeks or so, I’ve been collecting examples of beautiful barkcloth designs from listings on ebay. Vintage barkcloth pinchpleats are nearly essential, in my book. A second choice is sheers, either alone or in combo with barkcloth. The pinch pleats are a must, though - the pleats really enhance the, well, “drape” [...]

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I feel as strongly about pinch-pleat draperies as I do about wallpaper — you need these in your mid-century house, trust me. But, custom-made pinch-pleats can be wicked expensive. To the rescue: California Kathy with some great sounding recommendations.

Hi Pam,
I love checking in every day or so to see what great things you have to [...]

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Wednesday night, 6:15 p.m…..I kind of had a bad day today, the very first bad day in a long time, as I am a pretty upbeat person and generally take everything in stride. So… when I turned to write the blog, I looked for something that would make me very happy. And [...]

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After much research, I bought Smith and Noble roller shades for our two bedrooms when we first moved into our 1951 colonial-ranch 6 six years ago. I’ve always been very happy with the choice.
I used the roller shades on all the windows (2 per bedroom) — then, importantly, added a decorative wooden curtain rod fit [...]

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I know that Pottery Barn and the like want you to buy those tabbed draperies, or the ones that simply slide onto decorative polls. But this is definitely not the right answer if you are in a mid century home! You need pinch pleat draperies, and that is that! In addition to looking so much [...]

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When I went to order window treatments for my kitchen, Colleen from my local hardware store took one look and recommended 2″ aluminum blinds. “It’s what we rip out of every other 50s home,” she reassured.

We chose from the Hunter Douglas “Macro” line. The blinds are PERFECT. And I even see that Hunter Douglas [...]

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