One of the many things which separates “the men from the
boys” (sic.) in my business is drapery hardward. It may sound boring, but it’s truly one of the important
details in decorating. When used
properly, drapery hardware finishes off a room
Room by Thomas Pheasant
Photograph by Max Kim-Bee
Courtesy Veranda
Magazine
As in this room by Thomas Pheasant, shown in the May/June
issue of Veranda magazine. Here the simple but handsome dark iron
rods juxtaposed against all the whites and neutrals in the space, joining the dark table
and the frame above the fireplace in making the design exciting.
Used incorrectly, hardware can make a client into a
screaming Mimi, and justly so. For
instance, curtains which are supposed to close behind a sofa or long table, and
which do not have a proper traversing cord easily reached at one end, make the
use of the curtains as they are supposed to be (ie. opening and closing as
needed) almost impossible and thus highly impractical. While I love old fashioned curtains
that move by grasping the leading edge of the curtains and pulling, they are
not—repeat, not—for use behind things.
A small iron rod like the one in the picture above would thus not be
appropriate in such a space.
For cord drawing hardware, the grand daddy of them all is
the Kirsch collection. It is
huge! And it has everything—from
the ugliest to really good-looking and from basic to complicated. For instance, here is the plain
pole—sold in 6” lengths—which you see similarly in the picture above
And here are the component parts which you need to complete
the look—They are available in different finishes...
See, nice and simple, just like in the picture above.
Now, from the same company, three of the ugliest finials I
ever saw—just how to ruin that nice look above
You have to really research a line to use it. I use Kirsch all the time—they make
wonderful, simple wooden rods too—sometime I order them plain, sometimes fluted,
and simple rings and, of course, simple finials—again, I usually use simple
ball finials or end caps,
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But they also make the basic hardware which makes curtains
work—every kind of rod and every kind of bracket, both regular and by-passing,
and the rings and batons you need to use these looks. Full disclosure here—I am the lucky person who has a great
curtain workroom available to me, so when I want a wooden rod built with a cord
within it (known as a track), I have it made by the curtain workroom. Workrooms such as Paul S. Maybaum in
Florida or A. Schneller in New York City are worth their weight in gold—they
are expensive and deservedly so, since in addition to making lush and fabulous
curtains, they also solve the problems of making the hardware work. I also, because I am lucky to have the
people to do it, I almost always order my wooden rods unfinished, because I
have people such as Steve Falconer in North Palm Beach to paint or stain and
varnish them for me.
Kirsch can also supply wooden blinds (what we used to call
Venetian blinds) in many colours, although my favourite blind company is
Hartmann & Forbes.
I love their clean lined Venetian blinds—called wood blinds
in the trade, although, as I said, not to me. Again full disclosure, although sometimes I love the blinds
in the finish colours in which they sell them, I often like to get the slats
and have them painted the way I want—as in the “olden” days when I was young,
and send them back to be strung up.
And, unless I am doing a very modern interior, I love old – style blind
tape in plain off-white.
I love The Bradley Collection for their innovative drapery
hardware—everything from the most intricate track system, motorized or hand or
cord-drawn to beautiful Lucite poles and finials (warning—when acrylic rods are
used over and over they become cloudy, because acrylic scratches)
I like the Antique Drapery Rod Company for their almost
unlimited number of choices in eco-friendly (low voc paints, etc) rods and
rings. They also make zip rods in
unlimited lengths.
Show the best possible picture you can from this very
ugly but important web site.
This company also sells lots of bamboo products. Bamboo is the most sustainable “wood”
product today, but beware—because it is a growing product, it will be larger
towards the ground and smaller towards the end. Be sure to order longer than you need so as to not need the
narrow end.
I love a little company we have found in Dallas—Gaby’s.
They make
wonderful and very well priced iron rods, and I love almost all of their
products. They have been in this
business for over 50 years, and in addition to drapery hardware—all of it—the
rods, the rings, the brackets, they also make fire screens and similar wrought
iron products. They are to the
trade only, so if you are not a decorator, you will need to go through one. This is better anyway, because
measuring windows can be tricky.
Here are a few things to remember:
When measuring, make
sure you measure to the outside of any surround and take that into
consideration. Windows look, in
traditional houses, better if they are more vertical in feeling, so if needed,
don’t go too far outside our outside surround. When I have enough glass showing, I try to only go 2” on
either side of the outside. This
is not always possible.
You can make your
windows look taller if you raise your rods up higher than the window. If too much wall will then show, consider
hanging matchstick blinds up behind the rod. The blind will need to be hung backwards on his board so you
don’t have to have a valance.
When having really
wide windows with tricky curtains—ie. heavy linings and interlinings; curtains
where symmetry is required. Etc., consider motorizing your curtains. If you are building your house or doing
major renovation, you are crazy not to utilize this on wide windows.
As said above, don’t
plan on batons or similar opening treatments on curtains whose center is behind
a sofa or other heavy piece
Always put a return
on your curtains and have a return hook on either the part of the rod or
bracket where it meets the wall or on the wall, itself. Pinch the hook tightly inside of this
hood, so that it doesn’t jump out.
Another beautiful drapery hardware company is Fritsch, a
German company where attention to detail is paramount.
This is just a beautiful, beautiful company, available
through the David Sutherland showroom. Their product is, as shown in the picture, handmade,
and you can tell this at the proverbial 500 paces.
Beautiful wooden rods and rings and assorted brackets are
available through Joseph Buinno’s beautiful “Finials Unlimited”. This is where you make your rods,
rings, brackets, etc., when the budget it unlimited and only the best will
do. They are as far from the
Kirsch rods I mentioned first in this post as chalk is from cheese,
But that’s all right, because there is, as they say, a time
and a place for everything. Even
all these different pieces of drapery hardware.
XOXOXOX LETA
