What do you do when you have a client who likes the design of your multi-talented and hyper-popular spiro drapery holdback/tieback/tab-post/swag holder, but they need it with a swag ring?…………………………
Well, you just make it for them…….that’s what you do.
Many folks don’t realize that not only can we customize drapery hardware in our sleep with the swine flu and one arm tied behind our backs……………………but we also don’t charge very much to do it!
One of our good friends Russell Sepulveda over at “Dressed To Kill” was never one to conform to conventional drapery law so it did not surprise me at all to see him boldly combining drapery panels with a shirred top with conventionally pinch pleated panels. But to pair white wood drapery hardware with antique gold iron drapery hardware……that is just audacious!….and awesome…..it’s awesomely audacious. Who knew that such an unlikely pair would look so great together?
Gary Watson of Kerr’s Custom Draperies in Missoula, Montana recently approached us with a unique request. He was commissioned to design suspended bed curtains in a dormitory style bedroom for young boys. 
The high pitched roof created its own set of issues for Gary. And since boys will be boys, the rods and brackets had to be sturdy enough to withstand some level of monkey business. With a series of telephone calls and sketches, he and I were able to create corner and center brackets with rings welded to the top for suspending the framework from the overhead beam with chains. The elegant twisted rods slide into the bracket pieces and are fastened with set screws. All in all, the room delighted everyone and created just the medieval look the client was looking for.
Eileen Zimmerman of Well Dressed Windows came to us recently with a challenge. The drapery style that she had designed for her client required placement of a bracket on the trim of these casement windows. 
A few factors came into play on this project; the rooms required the look of our decorative bracket style, the space available for mounting was only 1″ wide, and the bracket projections varied. Well it just happens that we have run into this very situation many times before. so the solution was easy….
All we had to do was to trim width of our adjustable bracket base. This solved the moulding challenge with a small footprint and an adjustable projection.
According to Eileen, the installation was as smooth as silk.
Thanks Eileen!
Our clients are faced with some wacky challenges at times, and we absolutely love the CHF Forum because it is a fantastic way to identify them and (hopefully) lend a hand. It’s there that we discovered a designer in (mild) distress.
This designer needs to install rod-pocket panels which extend 12″ into the bay window and 24″ out to either side. That is not something that we would consider a challenge under normal circumstances, but as you can see the crown molding is consuming most of the wall-space above the opening.
With only an inch of wall for the mounting of her bracket, she realized that she was going to need some custom ideas…..
My first thought was that since there will be 24″ of rod on the outside of the opening she could just use a wooden rod mounted to the top of angle brackets, mounted 24″ apart, and secured with screws. The only drawback to that plan is that the installer would have to cut holes in the fabric where the bracket met the rod in order to install the screw. It would be unseen, but would make removal for cleaning difficult.
I had our crack team of metal workers make a couple of bracket prototypes because a picture is worth a thousand words….aaaaaand I am a very slow typist.
This offset corner-mounted bracket would reach behind the panel and allow for horizontal and vertical screws which should provide plenty of strength. The “business end” of the bracket would be concealed by the fabric as there would be a left and right “pair”. (notice how the screw holes are staggered to prevent them from hitting each other…..clever huh?) My only reservation with this design is that it looks like the corners are “bullnosed” which might make it tough to hit wood with the screws.
Idea number three is similar to the one above, but instead of mounting on the corner, the “business end” of the bracket is a basic plate for ceiling mounting. This design would also provide plenty of strength and would be concealed by the panel.
If we were to trim the size of the backplate down it is likely to be strong enough also which may be another option to consider.
Well, I know this is not likely to go down as one of the most fun posts in whyhelser history, but it definitely does illustrate the type of problems that we are most proficient at solving.
Judy Magara of M.S. Interiors ordered this custom rod recently and was kind enough to let us share it with you. A very common customization is to weld rings in place so that panels can be mounted at an angle, but it never occured to us to bend the bracket till Judy pointed out that it would probably look better and ordered it…..brilliant!
We all think that her idea to add the “wave” in front of the rings is bound to look fantastic and can’t wait to see the finished product.
It had to happen sooner or later……Our hyper-popular “Bella Vista” hardware set was ordered for use in a corner. This proved to be no problem at all for our crack team of metal workers…. Just another day at the office………
Here is a custom rod created for a designer who wanted some heft. we “ripped” a 3″ Wood rod from our “Isabella” collection and mounted it to a board for a very stout and unique look. The rings were custom fabricated in an oval shape to complement the rod. What a cool looking design!
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One of our talented clients, Donna Woodfield of V2K needed to add some pizzazz to a kitchen filled with tall, boring oak cabinets. Her solution blew our socks off. She replaced wood with glass and added Tableaux motifs to the cabinet doors. Boring no more!
Kelly at Brandts in Scottsdale had a client who wanted her traversing sheers to stack beneath her stationary side-panels. Here is the catch…she wanted the rods at the same height! Lucky for her we have had this request before……
Our solution was to fabricate a “double saddle” bracket and weld the short stationary panel rod to the bracket. This allows you to use only one bracket so the rings on the under rod can pass behind. This design has been installed successfully many times but we still recommend it cautiously due to the considerable torque-stress on the bracket. We asked Kelly if we could do a “ride along” so we could see this custom solution in action and she agreed. Well it’s a long story, but we ended up doing the installation ourselves. The original installer said he would feel more comfortable with a larger backplate so we promptly obliged (1 day with pickup and delivery). We cut off the 1″x5″ backplate and welded it to a 4″x 6″ backplate with 6 screwholes. It turns out that the installer was going on vacation and would not be able to return for a couple of weeks. We assumed that Kelly and the homeowner would prefer to not have to wait that long so we offered to do the install ourselves (cuz that’s how you win customer service awards), and yes, we were right, they accepted.
As usual we learned a few things at the jobsite… The installer was absolutely right about the backplate. We may have gone a little overboard with a 4″x6″ backplate, but unless you hit wood, the 1″x5″ backplate is quite a bit too small. One of the nice things about this design is that it is hidden so you can go big and beefy without aesthetic consequence so it was nice to have the extra heft.
I have not done a full blown intallation in ten or more years and whoa! I forgot how physical that “ladder yoga” can get! The bottom line though, is that the draperies are up and look great which = thrilled designer, and we learned some valuable things that will help us improve. It’s ALL GOOD!
We are always looking for ways to gather information that can help us be the best that we can be and we have discovered that “ride alongs” are a great way to do it. If you would like to help us out by inviting us to a Helser Brothers installation we would love to hear from you, thanks.
There are very few chores I really detest. Dusting is absolutely number one on my list. Second has to be fighting with shower curtain clips way above my head to change or launder a shower curtain.
The recent trend toward creating custom draperies for the shower area leaves a question for curtain clip-o-phobes like me. How do we fasten both curtains to the same rod? What about decorative pleats? Isn’t two separate rods over the top in such a small space? 
And even in seldom used guest showers, the liner does need to be laundered or changed eventually.
When faced with this dilemma, we welded an eyelet to the front of our S-Hook. The formal drapery can be attached to the same hook as the liner. The eyelet can be welded anywhere on the S-hook the designer likes. The “s” on the rear side holds the liner which can be easily removed and replaced. Hmmm, that shower door may be on it’s way out!
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Q: What do you get when several different lines of drapery hardware are manufactured and distributed by a company with extensive customization capabilities? A: You get “cross-line compatibility”
Folks are starting to figure out that we can easily combine our lines with stunning results!
Shown above are a couple of examples: The top photo shows a 2″ fluted wood pole in the “Loire Champagne” finish from the “Isabella” line of drapery hardware combined with Iron rings, finials, brackets, and collars in the “Canyon” finish from the “Artigiani” line.
The Bottom photo shows a 2 3/4″ smooth wood pole in the “Chelsea Bisque” finish from the “Isabella” line combined with the “Sofia” finial and a custom iron bracket in the “Manchester” finish from the “Artigiani” line of hardware.
When Tim at Ashbrooks in California found himself faced with this wacky situation he called us of course 
As you can see by the photo there was no substantial wall space above the window mouldings which made it necessary to mount the drapery hardware to the underside of the beam. No problem, but the beam was pitched at about 120°!
After some back and forth with digital photos and lots of sketches we decided to go with a corner bracket that pivots. According to Tim the installation went very smoothly and everyone was happy. Just another day at the office!
On display at Beau Monde in Scottsdale, Arizona, this elegant bed vignette offers a fresh take on bed curtains. Helser Brothers’ new Jewels™ line of component based hardware allowed the owner and designer Tamara Johnson to pick up the rich green and orange colors in the bedding fabrics in her finial arrangements. Note the fun fur trimmed and be-jeweled fabrics by Opuzen, Andaru and Robert Allen. Tamara added wonderful sparkling crystal trims for that extra punch of glitter and glitz.
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