Before and After: Working With Wide Windows

My goodness, I can't believe that February has come and gone already! Time just flies when you're busy doing something that you love to do. Now that I finally have a moment to catch my breath and to review the projects that I have completed lately, I've noticed an interesting trend: almost half of the Hidden Rod Pocket valances that I have made recently have been for wide and even extra wide windows. It makes me feel really good that people have noticed my business as an option for ordering valances for their wide windows and sliding glass doors. It might be the fact that the shipping cost of my valances is minimal in comparison to the cost of ordering a wide valance on a board or maybe it is just because they appreciate the attention to detail that I put in each of my valances. Here are a few examples of the wide and extra wide windows that I had an opportunity to dress in February:

This is a 124" wide bay window before...

and after the installation of an EMILEE Hidden Rod Pocket valance.

The fabric used was Richloom Malibar Ming with a solid red as contrast.

This is the before picture of a breakfast nook that I was I was asked to make a valance for. Since it is often very difficult to find tailored valances to fit wide windows, you usually end up having to purchase multiple valances and use them together to dress your windows.The back rod was 137" wide and both of the side window rods were almost 50" wide, so I needed to come up with a way to dress a 237" wide set of windows, 

and to be able to use the existing hardware which was already in place. 

Call me crazy but I do LOVE a challenge! 

I adjusted the pockets on my PEYTON Hidden Rod Pocket valance pattern to work with the customer's pole and finials and I designed a way to deal with the pole's corners and the supports that held it in place. This is the end result. 

I'll let you in on a secret...The valance was done to be installed in three pieces, the idea worked like a charm!

The fabric used was Venetian Ottoman, Celestial.

Like I stated when I started this post, February was an amazing month! I had the opportunity to work with so many amazing fabrics that I can't begin to tell you about all of them. Also in February, my oldest son DeShea decided to start his own Etsy shop: DWGraphicDesign. I am very excited for him, as I consider him to be a computer/website/internet guru because of just how much he has taught me about doing business on the internet. Almost as soon as he had his Etsy shop set up and running, I placed an order and put him to work on incorporating my new logo that I had done a few months ago into my Etsy branding. 

My new Etsy shop banner.

This will be perfect to use for custom orders!

I started by having him redesign my shop banner and to make me a new reserved listing picture to use when I have custom orders. I do realize that this was something that I could have had him do long ago for free, but both of us have been so busy with our respective businesses that we have put this off multiple times for our own customers. It was actually refreshing to be treated like a customer instead of his mom. Don't worry, I kept it strictly business too. I made sure to treat him like the handsome, super intelligent man, who must have gotten all his smarts from his MOTHER, that he is! 

Before and After: Necessity Is The Mother Of Invention

Although my Hidden Rod Pocket valances were originally designed to be used with continental curtain rods, I have been asked on several occasions to modify their pockets to be used with different kinds of curtain rods. So I thought that I would show you some of the ways that they have been modified.

This bay window had cafe rods that were used for a previous window treatment.

Closeup of the cafe rod hardware.

I converted the EMILEE Hidden Rod Pocket valance to work with the cafe rod.

There was an additional window over the sink, so we decided to use a tension style, cafe rod so that the valances would look like they were installed the same way.

This window had a 1" lock seam curtain rod that the customer wanted to use again for her PEYTON Hidden Rod Pocket valance. 

The actual rod was 104" wide and spanned across three windows.

                               

Here is the finished PEYTON Hidden Rod Pocket valance.

Close up of the finished valance.

One of the things that I like the most about having my business on Etsy, is that because I get to talk directly with my customers, I have the opportunity to be more flexible than a larger online business can. By that I mean that when given the chance, I can often come up with my own solutions to what others might see as problems. I may never have intended to install my valances using any rods other than continental curtain rods, but so far I have been asked to adapt my valances to hang using cafe rods, lock seam curtain rods and I have even constructed one that was installed on a pole. Sometimes while collaborating with a customer, I have been able to design a whole new valance style for their windows. I never know where a new idea will come from. Sometimes it will be by looking at a beautiful fabric, other times it might happen while thumbing through a bridal magazine. I think that my business will always be changing and evolving, as long as I am open to the opportunity to learn something new. I can't wait to see what I am given the chance to learn next!