Renderings for Living Room Windows in Red & Gold

Well, I arrived on a sunny Saturday in January to this client's home and was immediately struck by how sunny, clean and tidy her home was.  The home is an older one, but was completely renovated before they moved in 2 years ago.  They have added their own touches with paint, furniture and window treatments so far.  They already installed shades that look like shutters in the living room, painted the walls a golden color, and added a new couch with a lovely paisley fabric on the pillows, a contemporary rug and a bright red ottoman.  These are the elements and colors I was to work with in my design renderings.  Below is the before room, as I saw it that day.

I started out with something a bit more conservative, I always try to make every design reflect my client's taste and style, but most of the time I need to help them figure out what that style is.  It's not always quick and easy.  Sometimes we figure it out right off the bat, sometimes it takes quite a few renderings and email conversations.  Notice I added a lamp and topiary as well as some accessories to the table on the right, I felt that some accessorizing could really help this room too.  Below is the first design I presented:

She wanted to keep as much of the molding showing as possible, therefore, I decided that panels that just framed the window were the best choice, rather than to cover the wood and block any of the window at all with a valance.  She liked this but wanted to see more.  So I added another layer to the draperies, sort of a removable scarf (first photo at the top).

Next she wanted to see something on the other side of the room, two windows that I photographed separately.  It's not usually necessary to do a rendering on another view, but this side of the room has a very different feel, the room does feel chopped up and I believe that the window treatments will tie the room together.  She also had concerns that the favorite design so far was a bit formal or over dressed for her room.  So I wanted to show her something that might be a bit more casual and that I knew was in a linen fabric.  Linen tends to lay more relaxed, it weighs more and the drapability of it cannot be replicated in my opinion.  So I designed a flipover panel with a fringe on the valance portion.

Well this one immediately felt lighter, brighter and a bit more casual to me, so I immediately liked it.  I also felt that it could still work with her paisley pillows since the white background would contrast her pillows with a  saturated background.  At this point it became a little bit apparent to me that the cabinet should not be where it is.  It definitely splits the room in two, and I felt the room should be more unified and possibly have another seat in that spot to be more conducive to conversation on the sofa side of the room... so I made that suggestion. 

She liked the flipover panel so I showed her a flipover panel on a standard wood rod on the larger window, but in a red dot fabric.  She wanted to use the red from the ottoman, so as you can see by the rendering below, I used a photo as a reference to the red ottoman on my design page.  I also had to keep the very contemporary rug photo on top of the page as well to make sure I was matching those things that were staying in the room.

Well can you choose a favorite?  I like two of them, it's hard to choose.  But I'd love to know which one you think would go best in this room based on the elements that have to stay.  

Thanks so much for stopping by New England-Style to see what else is new.  On the workroom table this week should be some embroidered linen polka dot panels for another client.  I honestly can't even remember if I told you all about that incident.  The linings are all cut out and ready to go, I cut out three of the panels before I realized the polka dots were so crooked and faulty that I couldn't even use those pieces at all.  The fabric company would only reimburse me for the fabric left on the roll (ouch).  I was not happy since I've never returned a fabric to any company before, this company was my very first though, so I've been selling their fabrics for 13 years now.  Now my client was expecting these draperies before her dinner party on March 10th and now I'm hoping that I can install them for her before Easter Sunday!  I still do not have the replacement fabric here yet since the company insisted on ordering a brand new roll from the manufacturer and they both want to inspect this roll carefully (which is good but not for my schedule).  So it may be a challenge but I will do everything in my power to get these done and installed by Easter. 

I hope you are having a great week!  Please leave a comment, follow me if you haven't already and visit often!  

Until next time, I'm enjoying an early Spring here in New England!  Hope you are enjoying your spring too.

Michelle

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