~OUR UN-CENTERED WINDOW~
(Our Den Today)
I love my home!
I do! I do!
When my hubby and I first laid eyes on our La Chaumière de Briarwood we fell in love with her and nothing has changed over the past nineteen plus years. She had great bones and lots of simple charm and we still absolutely adore her! As the years have passed we've loved caring for her and hope to always call her home.
~CHRISTMAS 1992~
Thank Heaven For Change
(Close Your Mouth!)
In July of 1992 our two-story beauty was 22 years old. She was built in 1970 and when we signed the loan papers we knew from the beginning she had a few serious cosmetic flaws. Her three baths were extremely dated (um...how about the entire home!) and she still had the original builder-grade wallpaper hanging in her entry and stairwell. There was even wallpaper on some of the ceilings, too! The walls in the den were layered with a very dark paneling and the one window in the room was UN-CENTERED. That window was nothing short of a decorator's nightmare from the get-go!
Now...I'm being BRAVE showing you the picture you see above. As a family we have laughed over this photo more times than I can say. (All that HUNTER GREEN and RED makes me feel a tad bit blue!) I loved the cotton Priscilla curtains we hung at that un-centered window and as you can see our dreamy (?) console television served as a piece of furniture. No matter what I tried or how I arranged or rearranged our furniture nothing has ever fit underneath that window. Back then we had a couch and a love-seat and even the love-seat was too wide to fit below the window.
~ROMANTIC HOMES MAGAZINE~
October 2006
When Romantic Homes Magazine came out and shot parts of our home (and Gathering/Train Cases) for their September and October (2006) edition(s) thankfully much had changed in regards to our decor!
~NEW WINDOW - OLD PROBLEM~
But that crazy widow was still proving to be a problem even after more than a decade. Seating of any kind, a single chair, two chairs or even a sofa looked out of sorts when placed right in front of that window.
~CHRISTMAS 2010~
Pretty But Crowded
Finally in 2009 (I think) I purchased this vintage French Dresser and moved it into the room. But, the room was overly crowded and one could barely walk between the sofa and the dresser's edge. Besides...I really didn't WANT the dresser in there to begin with! Still, I had settled on a fairly standard arrangement...the sofa faced the fireplace and the two chairs faced the sofa...
~RE-POSITION THOSE WINDOW TREATMENTS~
Easy As 1-2-3
With the opening up of one of the walls in our den (read that post here) we were back to the problem of having an un-centered window because I REALLY wanted to place our sofa on that wall. It was then I remembered a show I saw on CREATE TV (or maybe it was HGTV!) that involved the "HOW- TO'S" on camouflaging an un-centered window. It ended up being a fairly 'easy' fix for us and honestly I'm amazed we didn't change things up long before now!
Here's what we did!
~LEFT SIDE OF WINDOW~
Our demon-window has plantation shutters (which we love) and the center is right in the middle of the four panels. Following the pointers on the show I had my guy rehang the curtain rod (he had to extend it) as if there were six panels instead of four. The left curtain panel hangs over the left shutter panels (or half of the window). The right side of the window (which is open) is shown as the middle. The right curtain panel hangs over an empty wall!
~WALL BEHIND THE CURTAIN~
Are you following me? In other words behind the curtain panel on the right there is only a wall...no real window! Because my curtains are so full you can't even tell there is a window behind the left panel and a wall behind the right! Now am I making sense?
Until our new wood floors are laid in a couple of weeks I really don't know HOW our furniture will finally end up! I do know that with the addition of the big black monster (a new flat screen TV) we will have an entirely new problemo on our hands. :( I hope it doesn't take twenty years to find a way to hide the ugly thing!
Hope your day is wonderful!
Love to you...
24 comments:
Rebecca,
You make perfect sense as I have done this for many years. Not that my windows are uncentered( well, I guess they are) but it is that they are small so to make the window in the LR and the 2 windows in the bedroom look bigger, I extended the rods way past the actual windows. In my Bedroom, I have 2 different size windows but you would never know it from inside the room because the rods are the same length making them look like windows of the same size. I learned this from one of my neighbors who is now 84 y/o. I was amazed the first time I stepped in her house in the early 80's and our small 46 inch wide window looked like a window that took up the whole wall. She said that she didn't want to get new curtains and didn't want to cut the custom made ones that she had from her other home.
Yours look great!
Hugs,
Debbie
Good idea for an easy fix. I have seen this idea on a british show where they decorate 4 rooms in 60 mins...lol just remembered as I typed this...it's called Sixty Minute Makeover.
Your home is absolutely beautiful. I am amazed at the transformation! Glad you solved your window issue!
Rebecca, Great solution. It looks absolutely beautiful and I can't wait to see the whole room come together. I had the same problem in a bedroom in our last house and did something similar...but on a smaller scale. LOVE YOURS! I hope you have a great day! xo Diana
Rebecca Dear, You are such a "true delight" to read first thing in the morning today! I was up burning the midnight oil last night ~ practically all night long. Went to bed around 6am... Back up at 7:30am to get ready to start my work day at 8am.
Had to jump online and read your topic. I kept coming across it on my blog roll last night and decided instead I'd wake up with you! :)
The idea you had for your window is great...and how transition throughout the years causes us to hoot and holler sometimes, doesn't it?
Decades bring us not only new colors, but refreshing new ideas.
Can't wait to decide how you're going to feminize that huge TV now for that divine room! :) Good luck! Or should I say, "May the FORCE be with you"! :)
Have a blessed day Rebecca!
PS: Sent the Love Auction Money for Amelia yesterday to her grandmother for her and her daddy. I'm still waiting on a couple people's donations, bid money; but didn't want to hold up mailing it out any longer. I added enough to it to bring it to $200. What a gift the Lord gave us from so many that contributed, including one of the first my friend; you! Thanks again!
Blessings, Blessings, and more Blessings to you today!
~CC Catherine
What a great room! So very pretty in the soft colors. What a difference from the 90's!
Great way to make the window appear centered! Good job!
I know TV's are necessary, but they sure aren't very pretty huh? But with all of the other lovely pieces in the room, we won't even notice it!!!! (:>)
You are funny--telling us to close our mouths! Great picture for historical value and laughs. Sometimes we need some one to show us the easiest fixes 'cuz our brains are too full of other things.♥♫
Great solution to your problem.Looks perfect.As far as televisions I unfortunately have a BIG one.And it is well just there.No way to conceal ours.Maybe someday....I think.
Hi Rebecca! Wow, I have seriously been considering if I'm making a mistake going lighter in my color scheme. If anything, your photos made me more resolved. I cannot get over the DIFFERENCE of the two pictures. I wouldn't have believed it was the same ROOM!
My home resembles the one above more at this point. I'm going lighter gradually to ease my husband into it. The calm, serene feeling is luscious. I love your blog (and you!). Happy Tuesday!
Brilliant solution, I couldn't even tell! - Oh, the big screen..I haven't had to figure that one out yet and am not looking forward to it, I'm sure you will come up with a great plan for that too! xo
Oh Rebecca, your room takes my breath away! how lovely!!!
LOVE the white, and also the floral.
xxoo
Hi Rebecca, great solution to your problem and it looks great. We just purchased a weekend home, and in the living area the windows are not as big as I like so I was going to do the same thing. I'll have the drape made a lot larger than the window so it will look much bigger than it is. So glad you stopped by. I always love your visits. Looks like we are both doing a lot of changes in our homes. I'm trying to update our home, getting new bedding and drapes, taking the original light fixtures down and adding mostly antique chandeliers.... what I've wanted to do for years. It's all so time consuming though. I'm also constantly changing my mind about things, and my taste is always changing. Wishing the best of luck with all you remodels on you beautiful home.
Hugs~~~ Daphne
Olá amiga....
Gostei muito da sua visita em meu blog, volte sempre que quiser, será sempre bemm vinda.
Meu blog é para alegrar e divertir, eu sou a Kippy, uma york, e com ajuda de minha mamãe Lilly, que é Jornalista fazemos este bloguinho para levar alegria aos amigos e a todos que querem ser felizes.
Seu blog é muito bonito e charmoso.
Parabéns!
Aus e Beijos das amigas do Brasil...
KIPPY e LILLY (minha mamãe)
Becky--
You and Steve never cease to amaze me! The remodeling is wonderful and I love the window treatment. I look forward to seeing your new sofa.
You have great creative ideas -- Ideas that actually inspire and work!
Love you dear daughter...
Hugs-- Mom
I love the changes you have made in this room. So soft and romantic now.
That review was so hard to write. I did consider the book as a place for newbies but time is so short now, I feel even newbies need more meat. This book would have been good 20 years ago but too much in our world has changed, we need a bigger arsenal.
Thank you for stopping by.
I remember Priscilla curtains! They were the rage back when. I loved them too.
Your solution is perfect. And your home is gorgeous!
Your "new-look" is coming together beautifully. The soft white
and taupe make it so romantic and dreamy....great idea to use just pastel colors in accessories and keep the rest a neutral-gorgeous shade....nothing "jumps up" at you, it just all flows together so nicely
I like how you solved the off-center window problem, too. It will be so much easier to arrange the furniture now and like you said, the drapes are thick enough not to notice the wall behind them. You two are so clever!!
I had to smile when I saw your early 90's colors. You were "in vogue", though! In the beginning of the 90's, I had my main rooms re-finished in BLACK, MAUVE PINK, WHITE and touches of turquoise! The wall-paper above the chair-railing in the dining room was black with roses in it, and the
lower part of the wall and whole living room was "rag-rolled" mauve...remember those days?? The foyer was black wall-paper with a tiny floral print to co-ordinate. It was really gorgeous, with mauve carpet and drapes...the store gals I worked with were thrilled I had the GUTS to go with these colors..I was the first in our town to jump on
this new "look"!!!...now I would shudder to live with all of those dark colors!!
Funny how time and decorating elolve
through the years, and how we once thought something was so pretty that we now wonder "WHAT WAS I THINKING??"
Keep on posting new pics!!!
Love ya, Francy
Perfect solution for your dilemma! Love how everything is coming together so beautifully!
You certainly have a talent for making a room pretty. I am not much of a decorator but one of these days - I plan to start small. The bathroom.
Hi Rebecca,
Isn't it fun to look back on home photo's!
Your front room is so full of charm and beauty all around.
But now for the.. what did you say the big black monster that will be living in the same room as all the pretties, well let me tell you Gary won out and our big back monster of a TV is hanging guess where, yep you got it front and center over the fireplace for everyone to see it! Oh how I tired to find a way to hind it but all possible ways were just to costly, so there it is can't fight it. I just let it be...LOL
Have a sweet day, Elizabeth
Hi Rebecca,
No matter what your home looked like 20 years ago or today, it's a place that you have made a beautiful home both then and now.
I love the whites and pinks and soft colors that you use in your decor. It's so lovely and so you.
I feel that our homes will always reflect how we ourselves are evolving and changing. Love will always shine through.
hugs
Sissie
As usual your room & post are both full of info and inspiration. As for the tv issue: I am going to my hardware store and I am going to create a shadow box frame then on the front I will put some modified picket fencing for door with the panels being 1/4" apart. When tv is off, the picket fence will look like look a design of choice on the wall. :) This is going to happen this weekend as I'm sick of the black hole staring back at me. Now I just have to make.. one.. two... three more! Hugs.
You know though - every picture was really pretty for it's time...
sandie
Your home is so gorgeous!!!
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