Retro Accents

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 better — in fact, I would go so far as to say that they are essential to a mid century interior — pinch pleats are insulating against both cold and heat…and, you can actually open and close them every day, with ease. My husband is a real stickler about the open-and-close part, and he is right! Nothing beats traverse rods for functionality.

It took me a long time to conquer my fear of traverse rods, but I endured – and triumphed! Now I have beautiful vintage draperies lining my living room walls and get this, they were only $20 Canadian (and when the CDN dollar wasn’t worth anything!) If you must make up your draperies new, you will have to work hard to find someone at a reasonable cost, the labor charge can be brutal. In terms of fabric, see my post on barkcloth from melinamade. There are definitely many other sources out there, I’ll look into it…

And, if you are really ambitious, consider pinch pleated sheers underneath heavier cloth pinch pleated draperies. I am going to do this someday, it is such a heavenly look – to have the sun filtering through sheers!

Some other tips:

• Draperies that go all the way to the floor create a more formal look, a bigger statement. In the 50s you certainly saw drapes that only went to the sill or just below it. That’s fine, especially in bedrooms, but in living rooms and dining rooms, I think that to-the-floor…just brushing the floor, not puddling, is better.
• As in the second photo – considering putting draperies along an entire wall. This creates a sense of greater space. You can also see how the softness of the light pink drapes creates a great counterpoint to the outrageousness of the wallpaper.
• In addition to layering cloth with sheers, you can put horizontal Venetians underneath — see my post on 2″ aluminum blinds — as in the first photo. Layer!
• When you’re planning, you need to plan for the ‘stackback’ — look this up online.
• Regarding how high to install draperies, this is an aesthetic decision. You want to balance the height of the perceived window (and the drapery becomes part of the window) with the rest of the room. In general, people make the mistake of installing the draperies too low, rather than too high.
• Finally – I actually spray painted my Kirsch traverse rod to blend in with my grasscloth wallpaper. It turned out Great!