Retro Renovation

Remodeling, decor and home improvement for mid century and vintage homes

We help you find products and design inspiration to remodel and decorate your home in mid-century and vintage style. Get ideas for your kitchen... or your bathroom... tour a time capsule... and share in a like-minded community passionate about their old houses. Read More.
  • Home
  • Be Safe!
  • Kitchen Help
  • Bathroom Help
  • Other Rooms
  • Decorate
  • Exterior
  • Culture
  • Pam’s Kitchen
follow retro renovation on facebook

  • Home » Vintage catalogs » 1950s » 15 cafe curtain designs and ideas

    15 cafe curtain designs and ideas

    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email Newsletter

    Posted by: pam kueber • August 17, 2009

    early-american-kitchen

    I have two large brochures of mid-century window treatment designs, published by Conso, the Consolidated Trimming Corporation. The booklets are not dated, but based on the furnishing and other hints, I put them early to mid-50s. Following up on the mega-post last week about fabrics for kitchen curtains, I scanned the brochures for design ideas. Above: Very classic… A picture window flanked by two double-hungs gets an austrian style cornice at the top, and pinch pleat cafe curtains below. The orange trim is terrific. early-american-living-room

    Above: I bet this is the exact same window. The cafe curtains here are called scalloped pinch pleats. The instructions are next:

    how-to-make-cafe-curtains

    Above: I will find out this week how to post this as a PDF so that you can get to these instructions enlarged.  If you need a sewing machine – they are super easy to find at estate sales.

    cafe-curtains-for-an-early-american-room

    Above: These look to be scalloped pinch pleats as well.  The functional idea with cafe curtains, is that you let light come in on top, but still have privacy via the cafes at the bottom.

    cafe-curtains-in-a-guest-room

    Above: More cafes in this guest room / office combo. I’m calling it that, because that couch-like sitting area surely must be a mattress, with the idea that it can provide seating when it’s not being used by guests. Notice with these curtains that the fabric and trim are “reversed” top to bottom. Kind of clever.

    cafe-curtains-made-from-kitchen-towels

    Above: These cafe curtains were made out of Morgan Jones kitchen towels. Towels also were used to make pot holders and a toaster cover. Great idea. I think a toaster cover made from some leftover valence fabric might be in my future…

    cafe-curtain-with-pull-shade

    Above: These are great, too. Small cafe shades give the room a little softness. They are topped by a shade – repeated on the door.

    cornices-valences-for-cafe-curtains

    Above: Here are instructions to make your own valence,. Plus – several designs to consider.

    high-cafe-curtains-for-a-picture-window

    Above: “Tall” cafes installed under sheers. Honestly, I’m not sure how crazy I am about this look. This booklet is from a company pushing its products, so I think there are some experimental ideas going on.

    mid-century-bedroom-window-treatments

    Above: A nice drawing showing how a cornice / valence can be covered in the same fabric as used for a bedspread. A very nice design effect. Another classic designer trick: In a living room, cover at least one chair in the same fabric as your draperies.

    pinch-pleat-cornice

    Above: Lovely.

    short-center-cafe-frames-bench

    Above: Umm, not liking this too much… Short cafe above bench. Long cafes to the right and left. I think that this window would have looked better treated as one unit, like the very first image in this post.

    tiered-cafe-curtains-glass-shelves

    Above: This window is actually quite interesting. There are glass shelves behind the curtains. Kind of cool.

    vintage-cafe-curtains

    Above: This is the third time (at least) that I’ve used this image on the blog. I love how they’ve used window treatments to unify the windows. This is GENIUS.

    window-treatment-that-looks-good-from-the-outside

    Above: Finally, here’s another “problem solving” page. The idea was to make the window treatment look good from the outside as well as the inside. Honestly, I don’t think it they were successful. That said, I like this image because it brings us full circle to illustrating that: Cafe curtains can provide lots of utility in controlling light – and adding some design flair at the same time.

    SeeAllOurVintageCatalogsSMALL

    Related stories

    1. For mis-matched windows: How about cafe curtains with a valence?
    2. Colors for a 1956 Motorola tv console – a good reference for midcentury wood paints, stains and finishes
    3. 11 window treatments for midcentury homes
    4. Crane-bath-fixtures-catalog-cover-1949 24 pages of vintage bathroom design ideas from Crane — 1949 catalog
    Comments 14
    Be-Safe-graphic2.3

    Comments will re-open on Jan. 2, 2020

    Commenting is paused while I take a break to spend un-distracted time with family over the holidays. Come back Thursday, Jan. 2, 2020, when comments reopen and for another year of retro fun. Have a wonderful holiday season and happy new year, everyone!

    Comments

    1. C.J. says

      May 27, 2013 at 3:26 pm

      Hi, I love the look of your cafe curtains. Especially the first one, what I’m trying to figure out is how you got the lower rod to be stabilized on such a big window. That is the problem I am trying to figure out on mine. I want to put cafe curtains but the window is large and there is no place to put the middle stabilizer…how do you do it? Thanks for any suggestions you have!

    2. Laura says

      August 8, 2013 at 12:10 pm

      I’ll recommend a fabulous guidebook for making midcentury drapes and curtains: The Singer Sewing Book. I have a copy of my mother’s 1969 edition, and it has a very detailed section on window coverings and upholstery. You can get used copies on the internet easily.

    « Older Comments

    • BE SAFE / RENOVATE SAFE!
      Get informed and be aware about the environmental & safety hazards in old homes, materials and products. #1 RULE: Consult with your own properly licensed professionals. More info: See our Be Safe/Renovate page... EPA asbestos website ... EPA lead website ... U.S.F.A. – fire safety, etc.
    website-bottom-banner-pam-kateFINAL

    Important Reader Information

    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Notice
    • Disclosures: How I make money
    • Contact

    Copyright 2019 © Retro Renovation®, all rights reserved. Please do not use any materials without prior permission.