You Can Take It With You

Everything you need to know about moving with your window treatments

Patricia McLean

One argument against custom window treatments in my clients' starter homes was always, "We can't take them with us!"  Well, those times are gone.  Custom-designed window treatments are made to move and adapt.  Your only limitations are your imagination and the ability of your drapery workroom.

To follow are several examples of window treatments that have been relocated from one residence to the next.  The old real estate rules have gone by the boards.  Rules used to dictate that all treatments stay with the house.  That is no longer the case. 

When selecting my own condominium, one selling point was the fact that the Scalamandre window treatments I used in the previous Show House would adapt beautifully to the new living room and dining room windows.  The treatments had been designed for a gentleman's bath and lady's dressing room originally.  The double window in my new dining room could accommodate the valance and side panels previously used over the shower opening in the gentleman's bath.  The two single windows in my living room could share the valance designed for the lady's dressing room.  The valance was cut and a second one was made for the facing window.

Another prime example of "taking it with you" is the move of one client from Morningside to Ansley Park.  The bungalow-style house in Morningside had only one window each in the living room and dining room.  I proposed that we use the same fabric for both rooms.  When the family moved the neutral herringbone linen was perfect for the French doors in the new den.  We had the panels joined together and added a two-inch contrasting band at top and bottom and the curtains were recycled to the new house.

Another Show House redo was for a client's dining room.  In designing a three-story hallway for one Show House, I was confronted by a seven-foot tall window that was recessed in a slanted wall.  The perfect solution for that instance was to use long inset panels on swing arm rods.  The look was very effective and practical for a space that needed light during the day, privacy at night and no interruption to the traffic flow (thousands during the Show House).  The lower landing had a smaller window treated with one swing arm rod.  After the Show House we used the two long panels on the sides of my client's dining room window.  The smaller panel was cut in half and converted to make a valance.  The transformation was amazing and a handsome solution for my client.  

One of my favorite love of window treatments stories recaps an afternoon spent with some of my favorite Atlanta clients who were planning to move.  I was taking inventory of the furnishings in their present house.  The husband mentioned that there was an antique breakfront next door at his grandmother's house they would like for me to see.  Upon seeing it I knew it had to be one of the finest pieces of furniture I had seen in the city.  It was an Irish Chippendale period cabinet.  The piece was stunning and then I noticed the room, which was done in the most perfect Regency style - my favorite!  The palette was a little dated for our young tastes but the cornices spoke to me.  I immediately told the client that we were taking the cornices also and refitting them to the new living room.  They agreed that it would have never occurred to them to salvage them.  Upstairs we found silk tiebacks that were the exact colors of their antique Oriental rug and took those to use in the same room.  The results were stunning and the sentiment delightful. 

Window treatments are selected to work with the furnishings of a room.  The fun of moving them is in deciding if the style can be adapted to the windows of the new house.  If treatments don't work as well in the type of room where they have been living, I have been known to play "fruit basket turnover."  Move your living room draperies to the master bedroom and start over again.

The time to make changes is when you move.  I consider well-designed window treatments works of art.  The placement of trims and tassels and the cut of the pelmet can be as or more interesting than any of the furnishings or artwork.  You wouldn't leave your Degas would you?

Hire a talented interior designer with a reputable workroom and you never have to bid your favorite window treatments farewell.  Remember you can take it with you.

from an article in Atlanta Buckhead newspaper August 1999