Sue, lol! :D I think how you’ve done your beautiful windows are perfect. I have cheapy tract house windows, poor things require dressing up.

Trail, oh my … so lovely and charming! I always love seeing your lace!

Allison, I wish I could see those! The fabric sounds wonderful. From what I’ve seen, your mom had exquisite taste, just like her daughter. :)

No pictures, but in my bedroom (which is in the country, so…) I have 2 narrow windows on either side of the wall, which is the exact width of a king size bed. I have linen curtains which swag to the outside, held with large cast iron hooks. I love swags, especially with table lamps in them!!!

Springroz, that sounds so pretty!

I like just about anything but skimpy or bedraggled looking or too long (unless they are very well made)-- in other words the styles that design television or influencers try to tell you are great, because they don't want to spend the money for proper drapes because they are fickle.

As for specifics I like something that is meant to be sheer, or fully lined blackout lined. I don't like the sun or streetlights shining through heavier fabrics doing weird things to the way the fabric looks or the color cast of the room.

Thanks, @Jinx…. it was before the linen faded, and now, they are fashionably ombre, LOL!! I have a spare paair of white ones in the closet (my original thought was to change out the linen for the white, seasonally…..yeah, sure. The white ones have never been out of the packages….

Pal, your thoughts reminded me of when my DH (electrician) wired a 19,000 sq ft mansion near us. Very nice couple and it was fun watching the house being built. I couldn’t wait for how it would be decorated, figuring they’d have Dallas, Houston, NYC, etc designers on board. But no, they had a family friend (no design degree, just had a tax ID to shop at market in Dallas) “decorate” this gorgeous house. The curtains were definitely an afterthought. It was quite shocking. Stunning windows overlooking the resort-like pool area and miles long hilltop view …. with skimpy drapes. It would’ve looked better to just leave the windows bare.

Springroz, ombre is good!

When DH asks me if I miss our last house, I always answer "I miss the draperies." :(

They were stunning, Allison. I’m positive whatever you’ve done, or are doing, at the new house will be just as perfect!

And if you left the former ones, I sure hope the new owners appreciate the quality!

Thanks. And nope. Mrs Buyer accidently left her 7 pages (typed and color coded for her people) for me to see. On the list was to take photos of them and to be remove. The list was long, and included an ugly comment about the Thibaut wallcovering in the Jack & Jill bath. Not only that, but whoever was taking the photos of the drapes knocked over my grandmother's pie crust table and broke the edging and the a palm size area of the veneer top. Oh, and one of the feet. Evidently this person did not tell the buyer, or else the buyer is a bigger a$$hat than I thought. I could go on and on.....

That makes me so sad, Allison. What jerks. :(

Me too. I hope someone gets those draperies, which are so so so nice (and so well made!) and loves them as much as I do. The work of her drapery lady I've seen online doesn't even compare.

@Allison0704 nooooo! I can't believe someone that clueless bought your house - what an idiot.

We have plantation shutters (which swing open inside) on all windows in our house here in Cathedral City (except for the kitchen, which has roller blinds) and so we have no curtains or drapes at all. I never really thought about it before, but I guess the style of this house does not lend itself to curtains or drapes.

I like curtains and drapes and have made plenty of them myself, as well as Roman shades.

I made curtains for all of my bedroom windows in L.A. as well as drapes for the patio sliding door, and I made curtains for the windows flanking the front door. Those curtains we never open, since the windows are a textured glass.

I've opted for valances for one kitchen window and the windows in the other bedrooms, and we have blinds on those windows. The other kitchen window was a mudcloth curtain that I put up with ring clips.

I had tie back curtains/drapes when I lived in San Francisco, but the architecture was different there.

Lars, after seeing other things you’ve made, I can imagine how beautiful your curtains are. You’re so talented!

Those are so beautiful, Annie!

I also like a fan where the fabric is drawn up in the center.

@Annie Deighnaugh wow! i never thought of that but its perfect! This house doesnt have glass doorknobs like our last one. but those pic are giving me ideas. How is the fan tied? I have several singles that that might work on . thank you for great ideas!

If I were shabby chic, I could use these for hold backs!!! they are from my DM’s ”things”, iin a box she was commissioned to make for someone. The varnish began to yellow before she finished the inside lining, and she had to start over.

The box……

TR, the curtain is simply a rectangle and you can pleat up and stitch in the center...the ends fall to the center creating the fan shape. I've also seen them where they are more like a roman shade with a tie in the middle that you can draw up or down to the right height.

This is with the ties, only done double on the window instead of just in the center...

Thank you, Jinx. I think the tie backs look lovely. I am a big fan of large brass rosettes for securing curtains. I am fairly indifferent to fashion in decorating. Yesterday I swooned over a sofa in a painting by Caillebotte, c. 1880.

Not sure this picture will post since there is a racy image, but just in case.

The fact that it is a Divan by itself implies decadence of the subject. You can't really sit in that in proper Victorian fashion.

Divan, noted. Thank you, Pal. Interestingly, in my Feench speaking family, we would call that a canapé Orientale.

Agree, orientale in the "eastern" sense. I know divan is used more generically but I think more specifically it was like a mattress with loose pillows on top of it. I picture the pre-Raphaelites sitting around on stuff like this.

That is striking, Zalco. And I love rosettes, too.

I remember my grandmother using the word divan and teaching me the various terms for furniture/styles/brands from a very young age. So many times I want to get her advice on clothes and decorating now. She had a real knack for keeping the soul of her designs intact while mixing in the trends of the time.

And she loved tiebacks (and expensive lace).

ETA ~

I probably could’ve worded that much better, but … wine. It’s Saturday. I think.

Gosh, Jinx, I am so glad for wine and Saturdays. I love learing about your grandmother.

Thank you. :)

She was a gracious Southern lady, looked like a movie star. She used to get stopped on the streets downtown when she and my grandfather were first married, so people could compliment her. Jet black hair, high heeled pumps, beautiful ’30s and ’40s fashions. She was my fashion and decorating guru. One of the smartest and wittiest people I’ve ever known! She was hilarious and wry, but never, ever crude. And oh, could she cook! In her later years, cooked for the family ranch — people would travel from across the country to sit at her table (and buy horses and cattle from my uncle, a well-known trainer). We had politicians, celebrities, etc vying for her meals. She even had a triangle dinner bell on her porch she’d ring when everyone was at the big barn or in the arenas, to be ironic. :D

Look at me rambling on my curtain thread! Sorry. :D

Jinx, So you and I are in the same category when people pooh-pooh something saying it looks like their grandmother's style ;-) My grandmother taught me so much about style and elegance as well. Mine was a rubbish cook. She could sew like nobody's business though. She was from the same era as yours, but a blond version. She looked like Rita Hayworth.

I see your affinity for horses came down thorugh your family. What wonderful stories you must have up your sleeve. Thank you so, so much.

❤️!!

My Mema could not sew! Did your grandmother teach you?

I should say that in my family, Mema and Pepa were not pronounced Mee-maw and Pee-paw. No, she couldn’t abide that normal Texan pronunciation. It was Meh-mah and Peh-pah. French-like. We had to correct people often. :D

Oh, gosh no, my grandmother could not abide anything short of perfection, so no sewing for me. She told me blind people had better aptitude than I did.

My mother had to take an embroidery class in school and my grandmother would let her finish the work and then tear out all the stitches and do it over herself the night before itnwas due. They both went to the same school and were taught by the same nuns, so I wonder if someone realized whose work was whose.

As for the pronunciation, I love it!

Oh, I love that sewing story, ha! I wish I’d met them both. :)

Love that story!!! My DM did that for my BFF, because HER DM did NOT sew!! (Very talented woman, though….barely 5’ tall, and 100 lbs soaking wet, she could play a full size accordian, and sing and dance, all at the same time..)

In the display cabinet at Lamar High School in Houston, there may still be a baby garment that my DM made. The teacher kept it as a example of exemplary work.

That’s awesome, Springroz! Are you in Houston still?

Anyone that can play the accordion is a superstar in my book.

What a sweet mother you had, Springroz. There was a state wide debate tournament I went to at Lamar back the early/mid 80s. I wish I had looked around better!

These are great stories. To be a fly on the wall, @Jilly! I have such wonderful memories of my southern grandmothers. Classy, elegant. Both great at cooking. My maternal grandmother painted and went through many artist crafts in her 92yrs. She went to trade school when my mom and uncle were little. Went to work for Pullman Standard to design and make the stencils for the train cars during WWII. She was one of only two women that worked "a man's job," and I have several articles that you would just die over the writing of the day. She made all of the patterns for my mother's evening gowns for dances, and her Miss Merry Christmas gown too.

Allison, I’m so glad you shared — I love hearing about the women in your family. They (and you) are so accomplished and interesting! Wonderful stories, I’d love to see those stencils!

I love those tie back looks! In one of my former homes I did not tie back but tied together my curtain bc I did not they would have blocked the windows if left untied.

Ak, I’ve always loved that room and your beautiful curtains (and shades)! You have such a great eye.

Thanks Jinx. That was a house I had in Austin. I am kicking myself for selling it!! I got it for 160,000 in 2009 or 2010 and now it its worth over 400,000. Ugh!

We have them in my cottage. Nothing fancy, just there to keep the sun at bay in the morning. When we purchased our home, the dining room had very fancy raw silk curtains with an over-the-top cornice. I considered keeping the curtains (minus the cornice,) but the curtains had such a strong silkworm smell that I couldn't even stay in the same room. In the end, all came down. (They took the chandelier, and our dining room is much more farm style, so it worked out just fine.)

Jojo, love that wallpaper!

I love these curtains. They don't need tie backs. The stenciling on the coffered ceiling matches the curtains.

or the clouds painted on the ceiling of the master bedroom....no tie backs....but...beautiful curtains, just off to the side ♥

@Jilly, I was going through old photos yesterday and look what I found. Same drapery was repeated in the dining room and music room.

(Edited to remove photo)

I blurred out my mom, favorite aunt, maternal grandmother, paternal grandlmother and my sister. This would have been Christmas Eve in the early 70s. I love my pg's pants. When I think of her, I see her Sunday clothes, not something vibrant. I always hated that lamp (one of a pair) and I didn't remember the matching (!!!!) carpet. One downfall to being in the furniture business that included carpet. The next owners refinished the wood flooring. I still miss the blue silk down-filled sofa. They recovered it when they moved (to the house we just sold), then donated without asking any of us if we wanted.

Love that picture, Allison! The wonderful drapes, the outfits … is that your mom standing? Beautiful outfit and pearls. I’d wear that today! And definitely your pg’s pants, in fact I have some similar. :D

Thank you for sharing that!

That picture looks very familiar, Allison— not the people, but the setting, furnishings and clothing. The Seventies in the south….

I could go on a wild rant about the people who bought our last house. They put an enormous television in the living room that takes up an entire wall. Accompanying it is a particularly unlovely leather sectional that seems to have been made of lots of puffy overlapping bags sewn together to create a seat back instead of actual cushions. And that’s just in the first room. I did not love that house but it was spacious and elegant and did not deserve that fate.

Thanks, @Jilly, and you're welcome. Yes, that is Mom standing. She was all of 5' tall and 100lbs soaking wet. I got none of that. :D

@Kswl hate that happened to you too. Yes! "did not deserve that fate" is a great way to put it.

Oh, how amazing, thank you! Hijack away, this is great. So interesting. :)

Wow, thank you so much! What a fascinating read!

A great piece of history to have.

Of course this screamed out at me (along with several other lines): “They work long hours, have learned the trades of men — yet manage to maintain all that is womanly.”

And it made me think of even when I was a kid, decades later, that thinking hadn’t changed … the Enjoli commercials:

Still — loved reading the other parts focusing on their accomplishments. These women paved the way. :)

The elopement letter sounds awesome! ❤️

Geez, I had forgotten that commercial. Going to listen to a CD so I don't get that earworm! Yes, the "womanly." SMH I wish I had seen the artlce when my grandmother was still alive so I could ask her thoughts.