Stroheim trim

Custom Drapery Designs delights in the importance and prominence of texture in design. This lovely detail transforms a flat design to a multi-dimensional experience; and, many times, accessories offer the best examples of texture.

During Brenda Baxter’s trip to Paris in September, she collected new and exciting products with which to add extra dimensions to future designs. (See last month’s blog sharing some of the inspiration she brought back across the ocean.) Her hotel even got her creative juices flowing and inspired her to snap this photo while resting from her walking tours of the city. Hotel d’Aubusson may very well inspire some upcoming designs! The lobby boasts magnificent elegant draperies which perfectly complement the rustic beams. And, ideally placed accessories bring it all together to make a perfectly-designed package.

Art provides a great starting point for adding depth to a design. Like we saw last time, many fabrics are art pieces in themselves and create an extra dimension or make a fantastic statement to set a room apart. This lovely example of Graffiti Art fabric from Jean Paul Gaultier adds a pop of modern flair to an older furniture style. This chair coupled with a solid drapery background brings both elegance and fashion to any room.

ELITIS_AGLAE_fabric_3_ok

Brenda browsed several showrooms in Paris, including Èlitis. She was particularly drawn to their Artémis and Algaé collections with larger-than-life prints on cotton-linen mix sheers. These flowy fabrics provide the perfect canvas for
watercolor-inspired designs. Artémis brings a pop of color through its detailed flowers. Algaé mimics the colors and shapes of elements in nature from lily pads on a pond to moss encircling a great tree to the variations in color shades in the waters in a lake. These collections bring the outdoors in and add the illusion of stepping into a magical spot somewhere in the great expanse of nature. Close your eyes and you can almost hear the mystical notes of fairies and dryads.

IMG_9272

Pillows, throws and rugs join art as great starting points for a design. Custom pillows can mimic the colors and textures of a room’s draperies and add depth and warmth to any space. These lovely pillows on display in the Lelievre Paris showroom show the range of possible options with this accessory—dark colors, light colors, patterned, simple, decorated with tassels and trims…the possibilities are as varied as people and their styles! Lelievre embraces the history of fabrics and carries those ideals into modern times with rich, luxurious fabrics and sensuous silks paired brilliantly with timeless solids.

Veda_Slideshow3-1266x760

Pairing more busy patterns with solids offers great design potential. And, don’t shy away from lighter colors…even white or off-white—be prepared to hear much more on that in 2016! Also, check out these simply elegant stonewashed linen pillows from the Èlitis Veda collection. We love the contrast of the deep violet with the white and the detailed decorative stitching along the seams—simply making a statement! A careful mixture of textiles adds dimension to a room as well. A great design can mix and match silks, linens and velvets through the use of properly-placed accessories. The depth and added dimension multiple fabric types bring to design opens the door to a new horizon for interior styles. Pairing rugs and throws that play off one another in texture and style pumps up a design.

Stroheim trim

During a recent installation, Custom Drapery Designs chose some new trimmings from Stroheim to add some custom pizzazz to a room. Brenda chose this Nuage in Moss trimming by Charles Faudree. An interior designer and philanthropist, Faudree passed away in 2013; but not before making a great impact on the design community. Within his collection on Stroheim’s website he is quoted as saying, “You can have a lot invested in throw pillows with trims and fringes. But, it’s the frosting on the cake; the detail that really makes a room…it’s important.”

elitis pillows

While touring the Èlitis showroom in Paris, Brenda swooned over their decorative pillows. She looks forward to using a number of them in upcoming designs. These “art pieces,” as she refers to them,  come in a variety of sizes, highlighting the company’s signature large patterns and solids with tiny lip cord accents that add a signature finishing touch. It’s these exquisite couture details that Custom Drapery Designs seeks out for our clients and their designs. It’s in life’s little details that the greatest beauty often lies.

elitis wallcovering

One final way to achieve great depth in design is through textured walls. That’s right—texture comes across in way more than fabrics! Stamped wallcoverings, like this one from Èlitis, simply tie a room all together and add depth in a surprisingly refreshing way. These wallcoverings feature “natural plant materials in wood, bamboo and paper mâché” and create “a world of walls made up of simplicity and sophistication.”

While modern technologies allow many new textiles and colors and patterns, handmade items retain their unique values. Clients do not mind waiting for fabrics that are hand-painted or hand-sewn. Handmade rugs, like we saw in a previous post, are in high demand. The stories behind these pieces and the obvious attention to detail in the work make for timeless additions to any room’s design. Join us next time for a closer look at the beauty of handmade textiles and get ready to chat with some industry leaders whose commitment to handmade captured CDD’s attention.

IMG_9226

think INSPIRATION

IMG_9226

Inspiration fuels design and truly is Precious. Custom Drapery Designs’ owner and principal designer Brenda Baxter brought home more than souvenirs from her experience at the MAISON&OBJET Observatoire de la Maison in Paris. She brought home Precious inspiration—and lots of it!

This September showcase of lifestyle trends embraced the theme PRECIOUS. As MAISON&OBJET explains, “But, while all that is valuable is precious, preciousness does not hold the same value for everyone.” The simplicity of time and space can be as precious as objects such as gold and fine gems or even as precious as something as priceless as life.

IMG_9236

While in The City of Light, Brenda discovered numerous sources of inspiration for her clients’ designs through fabric companies and through the history and sights surrounding her during her adventures. One such historical site, the Moulin Rouge, tossed inspiration in Brenda’s path as she strolled for more than 7 miles throughout Paris, soaking up French culture.

IMG_9235

The Moulin Rouge opened in 1889 as a cabaret that would be remembered to this day. The venue mixed dancing, theater, circus acts and music. The Moulin Rouge became famous (or infamous) for the introduction of the French Can-Can dance. We can imagine the swoosh and flash of color as the talented dancers would kick high their long legs. This inspiration begs to be replicated in the flow and frill of modern draperies. And, the bright red facade of the cabaret longs to find its way into a home design along with the accompanying white and black accents.

At the Lelièvre Paris showroom, Brenda swooned over “Century,” a fabric pattern created for their 100-year anniversary.

As their website reveals: “It is with contemporary flair that Lelièvre conveys 100 years of history and styles through the ages with ‘Century’. Using colours fading from prune to gold or grey to silver, our combination of flocked patterns unite and fly away to conquer the new century.”

In this stunning fabric, the traditional styles of the past flow into a modern interpretation by opening into a more free design which symbolizes the future.

Another inspirational design comes from the streets of Paris and promotes the idea that inspiration from art can be found anywhere; often in the most unlikely of places. We share with you Graffiti Art.

IMG_3604

“Lelièvre Paris showroom also featured other fabric lines,
yet I was drawn to one in particular: Jean Paul Gaultier,” Brenda shared. “It is not typically my style. What struck me was the art and unique prints and application.
When you think of French style, you think of it having traditional 17th-18th century appeal. But, no! There is modern influence included within the traditional.”

“Underground,” the chiseled black and white velvet fabric featured above,  lends itself perfectly to upholstery and transforms plain furniture into a delightful statement piece as we will see in our next blog. Graffiti Art blends beautifully with more traditional French designs and widens the possibilities of interior design.

8030

Pierre Frey fabrics, a French maison de luxe, finds that embracing the art of French streets fits perfectly with its mission of a “family-owned business with a proud tradition which looks towards the future.” This “Eighty Thirty” fabric in the Pierre Frey Street Art Collection celebrates 80 years of the Maison and 30 years of the fabric’s artist, Toxic.

An American artist, Toxic used buildings and trains in New York as his earlier canvasses. Through his art he speaks out against discrimination and violence against the African American community.

ELITIS_FABRICS_TSAR2

The MAISON&OBJET showcase also highlighted a trending focus on Precious textures. Like we examined in our August blog, velvets are back in high demand. The sensual feel of velvet used as upholstery or draperies or accessories adds timeless tradition and a royal feel to any room. The softness of velvet comforts, beckons and soothes while wrapping one in elegance and ecstasy.

Brenda perused the 2015 Collection of rich fabrics at the Elitis showroom in Paris. One of her favorite choices was the luscious and inviting Tsar velvets. These fabrics come in deeply stunning solid colors ranging from bright hues guaranteed to make a statement to cozy earth tones which invite some wintertime hibernation.

kidmohair

Another of Brenda’s favorite velvet collections comes from l’Opificio in Turin, Italy, and was introduced during the show in Paris. The Italian company is a family affair, started by sisters Paola and Barbara Bertoldo in 1998, and a cultural beacon, focused on bringing the traditions of Italy into the modern household. l’Opificio offers five velvet collections, including Silk Velvets and Viscose Velvets and Brenda’s top pick, Kid-Mohair Velvet. These fabrics, available in 11 delicious colors, come from 100% kid-mohair wool, taken from the first shearing of an Angora goat within its first 10 months of life.

We will share more of Brenda’s l’Opificio favorites for design accessories as well as more Paris inspirations in the next blog; but, for now, take a peek behind the scenes as Barbara Bertoldo shares her creative process and vision for marrying Italian traditions with contemporary styles and trends in this video. Such a marriage produces truly Precious products for interior designs.

Spring2014-Design5

Design trends transcend time and space

Make the Old, Fresh!

We’ve glimpsed the future of interior design fashion, and we can’t wait to share it with you! These new trends marry perfectly with Custom Drapery Designs’ approach to each project. Today’s emphasis is a modern interpretation of traditional design—utilizing layers, personalization and mixtures—capped off with exquisite trim and embellishments to bring it all together and to provide our clients with one-of-a-kind exquisite couture details.

Custom Drapery Designs Cloth in Dallas, TX

This is what we’re all about—amazing styles. They excite and drive us to create the best spaces for our clients. And, to provide the best in design, we look to the best in the textiles business for inspiration and for show-stopping quality. Brunschwig & Fils certainly believes in quality, and their fabrics bear witness to their commitment to good design. In fact, their mantra—”Good design is forever”—which was first uttered by Zelina Brunschwig (better known by those who loved her as Mrs. B), encapsulates the heart of today’s new design trends.

Long known for color, many of the Brunschwig & Fils fabrics today bring stylish neutrals to the design table as well. The company has actively carried the great designs of the late 1800s and early 1900s throughout the decades while making them fresh all along the way.

Mrs. B, daughter-in-law of the company’s founder, infused her passion for lasting looks into the business when she took the lead in 1941 while her husband, Roger E. Brunschwig, fought in World War II. Her resourcefulness and creativity carried the company through the somber time of war, and the company remains an industry leader today. Their story is one of perseverance and passion and love of lasting style. This video explores the Brunschwig & Fils history and Mrs. B’s influence that is still felt today throughout the design world:

Design Trends Of Spring 2014 by Custom Drapery Designs

Part of the Brunschwig & Fils family, Jagtar originated in British India and Thailand more than a century ago. Their exquisite silk fabrics have been featured world-wide by leading architects, designers and decorators. The flowing solids, textures, stripes and jacquards grace the cabins of private yachts and jets and welcome weary travelers into luxury resorts and hotels. Custom Drapery Designs delights in using such high-quality fabric to breathe a gentle air of beauty and sophistication into clients’ homes. Silk fabrics have long been the ultimate in style and bring a global feel to any design simply through their creamy touch. Jagtar’s commitment to quality craftsmanship inspires confidence and appreciation for this beautiful fabric. Watching these fabrics take form and come to life is breathtaking. Take a look at the intricate process with this informative video:

Current design trends travel through both time and space. As we explored in our June blog, inspiration comes from all around the world. With the Internet and endless communication possibilities as well as manageable international travel, bringing the world into our homes has never been more achievable. Interior design has embraced these opportunities and gives us a new style: Global Ethnic.

We have clients who are seasoned world travelers and clients who may not have a passport at all; but, either way, the world can live in their homes. Often travelers desire to wrap a room’s designs around a treasure from an adventure…perhaps a tapestry, a rug, a pillow, a piece of art or a bit of fabric. Others choose to welcome home far and exciting places through colors, tones and patterns that reflect the influences of distant regions. Sample the world!

IMG_2930

LIZZO, an infant company with grown-up sophistication and a global palette, hails from Spain; but has already spread throughout Europe. Designers in the United States have taken notice and are bringing LIZZO’S quality and depth to their clients. New 2015 collection offerings include inspiration from 19th century Romanticism, the Roaring Twenties, traditional British styles and the “Paris of America,” New Orleans.

Fabrics include sheers with stunning finishes for a vintage or shabby chic affect and embody fil coupe, the extra floating wefts that lend to use as a delightful fringe effect, and exposed jute yarns, which create great dimension. Fabric like this breathes life into draperies. They lift draperies from lovely to marvelous and add dimension and charm to design. LIZZO offers lovely contrast between sheen and matte textiles, and the company masterfully blends traditional with contemporary. Their fabrics evoke a multitude of emotions.

Join us next month as we further explore old-made-new fashion trends and Global Ethnic touches through more delicious fabrics!

Custom Drapery Designs, LLC

Custom Drapery Designs, LLC, serves Dallas and the surrounding metroplex with all aspects of a custom design project. From in-home consultation to project management to exquisite couture details to a perfect installation, we do it all. 

Hours of Operation:

Monday – Friday: 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM

© 2022 Custom Drapery Designs, LLC Custom Window Treatments