The Most Fun Room in the House 

An Old Time Theater Media Room

In designing window treatments, I am often asked for help in deciding how to treat the windows in a media room, or more commonly, the TV room.

The biggest challenge is usually how to cut down or eliminate light for television and video viewing.  This is especially needed in order to watch daytime sports events.

With a distinct style, the media room above is a master of deception!

The owners wanted to create an old time theater look for entertaining friends with movies in their newly built home.  The room has a pitched ceiling, but otherwise was very plain.  You would never know it once inside, but the wall with the screen has a widow to the left and the adjoining wall has sliding glass doors that open to a patio!

I resolved the light issue and created the ambiance by having wine color velvet draperies made with a gold tassel border, lining them in sun block lining. This shuts all light out of the room, even at midday. The drapery treatment was topped with a matching cornice that runs the perimeter of the room.  What little wall was left is painted in the same wine color. 

It really is like watching movies in a dark vintage theater!

There are many other ways and styles to accomplish the same thing! I have used contemporary draperies, roller shades, Roman shades, and combinations of treatments!

Finishing the media room with the right window treatments is well worth it for years of viewing pleasure!

When you Want to Dress Formal!

Today's living spaces are not entirely about casual or contemporary window treatments!

I do have clients of all ages in and around Chicago who dream of having a formal window treatment of luxurious draperies topped with valances and cornices!

The above widow treatment is a fine example from the dining room of a younger couple in Chicago.

They wanted draperies for the living and dining areas of their home in a very traditional style made of silk and trimmed with rich borders.

In this room and the adjoining living room I used a rich red silk for the custom draperies.  The fabric is lined with cotton and interlined with flannel to give it a very plush look and feel.  The custom valance consists of three swags and two flags in the same fabric.  The above treatment uses a combination of three different trims in red and gold - the draperies match with a double tape border on the inside edges.

Two unseen single windows in the living room use the same fabric and trims scaled down with a top treatment of one single swag and two flags each.

As opulent as the drapery treatment is, the space can take it without looking overdone because of the size and details in the architecture, not to mention the rich furnishings as well!

Just as in a wardrobe, the right formal look never really goes out of style!

Beautiful Windows in Lincoln Park!

Roman Shades Feature the Woodwork!

Our beautiful section of Chicago, known as Lincoln Park, has so much variety in living spaces!

Many of these are gorgeous vintage apartment buildings that have been converted to condos. Some have been left intact, others modernized, and still others completely gutted and reconstructed. There are also many new constructions of condominium buildings, single family homes, and townhouses as well.

My work over the years has taken me to many of these living spaces and each is very unique!

The homeowners have much varied needs based on the architecture and their individual tastes! 

Take for example the picture above. This was from vintage condo in a beautiful old building. Here we had a narrow room with one wall of windows on a long wall.  Full draperies would have made the space even more confined and were just too heavy. The solution was to use Roman shades set inside the windows (they had deep enough windows to house them). 

The shades added elegance to the traditional furnishings and allow the beautiful vintage woodwork to be shown to it's best advantage!

I have used just about every type of window treatment in the Lincoln Park area from stark modern to richly layered traditional! And I still need to keep my mind open and searching for new possibilities!

The jobs are always a welcome challenge to enhance the architecture of the living spaces and make the homeowners' visions a reality!