There is no better place to see the “Old World” than in France, where much of the architecture, and history can be traced well past 12 centuries.  I visited Paris recently seeking inspiration from the past, and how that can be melded into the present.   Figured there was no better place to start than Versailles, home to many of the King Louis’, Marie Antoinette, and Napoleon.  I was amazed by the palace itself, the fabrics, the tapestries, all the marbles and gilded everything.  Attention to detail was apparent everywhere I looked.  And yet there were modern trends in place…mirrors and luscious fabrics to name a few.   And then I turn the corner, and my eyes popped out as I saw a modern exhibit from the Japanese Anime plopped down in the middle of the rooms.   The perfect juxtaposition of new world being introduced to the old.  And it made me smile!

The key to the blend was the significance of each piece for the particular room.   For instance, in the throne room, there is a large white shaped “doll” with a large crown on its head.   In a room meant for the kings to receive visitors, there are round eyed animes standing around gawking…much like all the visitors gasping at them  and the surroundings.

All was breathtaking and a great reminder to go ahead and blend that old with the new.   How about using a new contemporary hardware piece on your old curtains?  Or adding some mirrored or crystal finials to the same window you’ve had for ever.   Look around…start changing your old world into a new world that makes you smile.

Beckert Dining Room Before

 In this dining room, the clients had hired someone else to do the blinds, stationary panels and board mounted Empire valance, and didn’t continue working with her because they were disappointed by how “ordinary” the window treatment looked once it was installed.  I can see why my predecessor went with a board mounted treatment; the window was in a weird little recessed niche, so there wasn’t room to do a swag valance on a pole set with finials (which is what the client mistakenly thought that she was ordering).  What’s more, there were little can lights inside the niche, so you couldn’t mount the treatment on the wall outside and above the niche or there would be light shining through from the back side of the valance.  Mounting the valance inside the niche, as the other designer chose to do, required dropping it down well below those can lights, which looked kind of weird and underwhelming.  

Beckert Dining Room After

 
 The clients brought me in to design window treatments for their living room and kitchen treatments, specifically requesting decorative hardware and more drama for these rooms.  I suggested adding some decorative hardware to jazz up the board mounted treatment in the dining room as a low-cost alternative to expensive rework or scrapping it altogether.  The clients were having trouble visualizing how these finials were going to look sticking up at the top of the swag valance, so I did a quick mock up in my design software and assured them that it was going to look like “I meant to do that.”  I ordered the finials with wood screws and my installer was able to add them to the dining room valance on-site without even taking it down on the same day that he installed my treatments in the other rooms.  The size of those finials was perfect – it looks like the valance was installed at that height deliberately to accommodate the height of the finials, and it seems as though the can lights were installed specifically to illuminate the decorative hardware.  The clients got a more formal and unique design for just a couple of hundred dollars’ worth of hardware – and I like the way it turned out so much that I plan to use finials that way “on purpose” for future projects!

Contributed by Rebecca Deming Rumpf of Custom Interiors By Rebecca.

 I am as proud as a peacock to have the privilege to display this couture window treatment in my retail store! While at the Vision 10 Conference, I networked with some very lovely and talented people and along the way feel like I had a major coup over my fellow designers! I was entranced with the designs from The Jackie Von Tobel Collection, the amazing hardware combinations by Helser Brothers, fabrics through Sunbrella and Greenhouse Designs and the tapes and welts available through Rowley. Imagine my delight to see them all together in a unique window fashion couture display. The workrooms of Stacie Kennedy and Lisa Forman did an amazing job on putting this all together.
As a designer, I know that sourcing is key, and having the right fabric and hardware really makes a couture treatment, But the
workmanship behind it is also exquisite.
 Sleuthing around a little, I was pleased to find out that one of the artists behind the assembly was Stacie Kennedy. Lo and behold, the girl lives in my area of town! I sought her out immediately. Come to find out that in a contest put on by Grace McNamara for Vision 10, Stacie (Divine Drapery Design) won first place in Draperies and Panels while my current workroom (Window Couture by Trini) won second place. So much talent in my region!
After the show, Stacie and I had lunch….”What was she going to do with that lovely display?” Bingo!
It is now hanging in my retail store….displaying high couture window fashion and Helser Brothers hardware!! We are getting rave reviews by people walking in and it is a fabulous way to showcase some other vendors in a unique way.
Trying to place a price tag on it is impossible….so it is not for sale. Thank you to the vendors who
donated their product and time to allow us a fabulous display and I’m so happy that it is out front for all to
see. If you are in the area…pop in our store to see it in person!

Contributed by Cheryl Draa of Cheryl Draa Designs.

Not surprisingly, given the state of the economy in general and the housing market in particular, both exhibitor and attendees numbers were down this year at the Vision 10: International Window Coverings Expo in Atlanta.  Many vendors, designers, and workrooms decided they couldn’t justify the expense of participating.  If you were one of those who stayed away this year and you judged the event based on the photos your industry peers posted on Facebook pages, you know that those of us who traveled to Atlanta for the show had a blast.  You might even convince yourself that the week was all fun and games, and tell yourself that you did the right thing by passing up the luxury of a week of industry socializing in Atlanta this year. 
 
However, as much fun as it is to reunite with old and new friends and dish about the industry over dinner, the IWCE was anything but a frivolous expenditure.  Weeks have passed since I got back from Atlanta, and my business is already getting a great financial return on the time and money I invested in traveling to the show.
 
I have to admit, I headed to Atlanta in a serious negative funk.  I’ve been working such long hours over the past year or two that I was starting to burn out, and felt like I just couldn’t keep working like this anymore.  I’d never been to an IWCE event before, although I always read about them in Window Fashion Vision magazine, and I decided that I should go “at least once” and this was going to be the year.  I was shocked to discover that, if I had started attending this show the first year I was in business (when I thought I couldn’t afford to go) instead of waiting until the tenth year I was in business, I probably would have quadrupled my business in the second year and would be making at least twice as much money today.
 
Here are my top three money making takeaways from this year’s IWCE event that have gotten me excited about what I do all over again:
 
1. Mary Larsen’s seminar, “Money Changes (Everything!),” made me realize that I was feeling burned out and unappreciated because I had been giving away hundreds of hours of consulting time for free.  When I came to present a window treatment design that I was getting paid for, what should have been a 30-minute presentation would often drag out into a 3 ½ hour appointment because the client would say things like, “and what about the paint color?  While you’re here, could you take a look at this chair I saw in a catalog and tell me if you think it would look good in the guest room?  I bought some lamps but I still have the receipt; can you tell me which one you like best?”  I felt like, since I was making plenty of money on the window treatment, it was petty of me to hand her an hourly invoice on top of that just for asking my opinion, but all that time really adds up.  Affirmations like “Clients come easily, money comes easily, my clients are happy to pay me” felt silly to me at the beginning of Larsen’s seminar (I kept thinking of the Daily Affirmations with Stuart Smalley skits from SNL and wanted to add “…and doggonit, people like me!”). 
 
But by the end of her seminar, I realized that I had all kinds of psychological baggage that was holding me back and preventing me from implementing my own policies about charging for my design time.  Now that I’ve had a chance to put Larsen’s ideas into practice, though, it turns out that she was right – my current clientele has no problem paying me for consulting time as long as I tell them it’s billable up front when they start to digress from the current project.  One client last week even told me (as she was writing me a check for consulting time) that she’s not going to buy anything for her home anymore without running it by me first, because she’s made so many mistakes on her own but every time she follows my advice she “gets it right the first time.”  Can you believe it?  My clients really are happy to pay me for my time when I tell them matter-of-factly that “this is how I work.”   Charging for all of my consulting time is going to put thousands of dollars of additional income in my pocket this year, without doing any more work than I did last year, even if the economy stays as sluggish as it was last year.  Learn more about how Mary Larsen can help make your workroom or design business more profitable at http://www.growyourdesignbiz.com. 

 
2. I spent over an hour in the Minutes Matter booth, playing with Studio to get a feel for how it compared to my current design software, and I was really impressed.  With my current software, there just aren’t enough built in design options and I find myself spending hours and hours on every rendering because I have to create my own vector line drawings for many of the components I like to use in my designs.  With the addition of the Jackie Von Tobel modules for Studio, I realized that just about every design I have ever done or would ever want to do can be created using components of their built-in designs, which would save me hundreds of hours per year.  I prefer the fluid, sassy drawing style that Von Tobel has brought to Studio over the more rigid, technical look of my current software, and the folks at Minutes Matter will drastically discount their software to those of us who switch over and turn in our old software.  Since attending IWCE, I am much more aware that not only does time equal money, but my time is more valuable because it’s the only commodity I can never get more of.  Switching over to Studio is going to enable me to spend far less time working on each client’s design renderings, which will allow me to cut back on my hours without reducing my paycheck.  I’m not feeling so burned out anymore!  (By the way, my current software company was nowhere to be found at IWCE.  If they had a booth there, I would have stopped by and they would have at least had the opportunity to try to convince me to stick with their software and tell me why theirs is the better option for my business.  I wonder how many customers they lost by not exhibiting this year and letting Studio have the whole show to themselves?)  To learn more about Minutes Matter and Studio, visit http://www.minutesmatterstudio.com.  To see Jackie Von Tobel’s beautiful window and bedding designs, as well as her new fabric collection that debuted at IWCE this year, go to http://www.jackievontobel.com. 
 
 
3. I found some great new-to-me resources for affordable fabrics and trims at IWCE.  I have a weakness for Lee Jofa, Vervain, and Kravet Couture, but I’m finding that clients in this economy are more price-conscious than before and they are more willing to splurge in some areas when I can show them that I’m saving them money somewhere else.  I came home with some gorgeous but reasonably priced silks and crewel embroidered fabrics from Catania Silks (http://cataniasilk.com/) that rival high end showroom lines, and I’m already using one of their silks in a current client’s project.  I found some beautiful and unusual trims from D’Kei (http://www.dkei.net/) and Expo International (https://www.expointl.com/) that look way more expensive than they are. 
 La Finial, a brand-new miniature finial concept with truly custom finishes to match any fabric, debuted at this year’s show, and the L’Interior Le Nair booth reflected the creativity, originality, and Parisian flair of owner Tammi Le Nair. 
I was also able to see the beautiful new Evita swing arm hardware line from Helser Brothers in person for the first time.  Off the top of my head, I can think of three prior projects that I could have used the Evita line for.  This look is exactly what so many of my clients want for their homes.
 I know that these new resources are going to give me a competitive advantage in the months ahead. 
 
4. Okay, I know I said this was going to be a “top three,” but I lied.  Deb Barrett’s seminar, “Transforming Custom to Couture,” made me feel like Charlie Bucket the first time he set foot in the chocolate factory.  Did I die and go to drapery heaven?!  I thought I was doing high end drapery design before, but Deb’s samples and the techniques and resources that she shared are taking my work to a whole new level.  Having met Deb for the first time on our Paris trip in January (Merci mille fois, Jay and Mark!), this was my first time in one of her seminars and it was easy to see that her reputation in the industry is well-deserved.  The room was packed well before the seminar began, with everyone vying for the front row seats so they could get the best pictures of all of Deb’s goodies.  When she’d finished presenting, I had a cramp in my hand from an hour of furious note-taking and a camera full of photos to post on my business Facebook page.  What’s more, the day after I posted my photos, a former client who had moved away to the other side of the country several years ago contacted me because she fell in love with one of Deb’s gorgeous samples on my business Facebook page and she wondered if I could do something like that for her home in California.  Hmmm…  I think that can be arranged! 
 If you ever have the chance to see Deb in action, RUN to sign up for her class and camp out all night if you have to in order to get a good seat!  Find out more about what this industry maven is up to at http://www.debbarrett.com/. 
 
Are you getting the idea yet?  Times may be tough, and some businesses are going to weather this storm better than others.  Although there may be less business to be had today than in years past, the vendors who are still out there working the trade shows and the workrooms and designers who travel to the shows in search of new ideas and resources are going to get a bigger share of what business there is than those who stay home.  Skipping IWCE and other major industry events because the economy is down is like deciding that you can’t afford to advertise because you don’t have enough business – it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy of doom.
 
Next year, the IWCE show is headed to Tampa, and I’m planning to be there.  Let’s all meet up for cocktails!

*

Contributed by Rebecca Deming Rumpf of Custom Interiors By Rebecca.

Anyone who dresses windows for a living has to make templates of specialty shaped windows from time to time, whether it’s for custom arched drapery rods, specialty shaped blinds or shutters, arched top Roman shades, or Tableaux faux iron.  I was talking to Ruth over at Helser Brothers about this the other day, and got her to dish about some of the worst templates that designers and installers have sent in over the years.  I couldn’t resist sharing a few of them with you, Jay Leno-style, so here you go: 

The Top 10 Ways to Make a Lousy Window Template 

1. Use leftover scraps of gift wrap, or sheets of notebook paper that your kindergartener helped you glue together, for your template material.

2. If you forgot to bring template material with you to the appointment, just use toilet paper, tissue paper, or Kleenex – whatever you can find.

3. If the window is too large for just one piece of template material, stick two or more pieces together with temporary spray adhesive or low-tack painter’s tape.  Your fabricator can stick the pieces back together if they come apart during shipping.

4. Don’t bother making a template of the whole window – just tape skinny strips together to follow the shape of the curved or angled edge.

5. If you label your template, use an air-erasable fabric marker, crayon, invisible ink, or lemon juice.

6. Any markings, measurements or labels on your template should be as illegible as you can make them.  If necessary, write in runes, hieroglyphics, or Mandarin Chinese.

7. Cut your template shape out using children’s safety scissors or a dull steak knife.  Those jagged edges and irregularities on your template add lots of character.

8. You don’t need to bother making a pattern of the ACTUAL window – these specialty windows are all pretty standardized.  Just take a few measurements at key points and then draw your template later when you get back to your office.  If you have several specialty windows of the same size and shape, you can just make one template that will work for all of them.

9. Once your template is finished, fold it up as small as you can get it and cram it into one of those envelopes that florist cards come in.

10. Mail your template to your fabricator without a return address, sidemark, or copy of your order enclosed – your job is probably the only specialty shape they have this month. 

    I know this sounds incredible, but with the exception of the lemon juice and the Mandarin Chinese, all of these template methods have been used by actual designers and installers to create disastrous templates for custom orders.  If you’re guilty of employing any of the template no-nos I’ve just described, it’s time for a refresher on how to create templates that will ensure success on installation day.  Actual template methods may vary depending on the particular product you’re ordering, your fabricator’s preferences, and the details of your planned installation, but here are a few tips to get you headed in the right direction. 

 For the best templates, you need to start with the right materials.  I like to use a sturdy, heavy paper for mine, either white butcher’s paper like this roll I purchased at Sam’s Club, or brown craft paper that you can find at packaging supply or hardware stores.  Get the widest roll you can find, because ideally you want one continuous piece of paper for your template.  If the window is too large and you must join multiple pieces, do this on a flat surface like the floor or a worktable to make sure you end up with a template that lays perfectly flat – don’t try to join multiple pieces together at the window.  Make sure whatever you use to join the template pieces together is not going to come apart during shipping or when the template is handled, either.  I like to use clear packing tape on both sides when I join template pieces together. 

Once you have taped together enough sheets of your template material to completely cover the shape you are trying to template, use masking tape or low-tack painter’s tape to temporarily adhere the paper to the window trim, the wall, or even to the glass, depending on where your treatment needs to install.  You definitely don’t want to use packing tape for this step, because it might rip off some of the wall or trim paint when you pull it off afterwards.  As far as drawing the actual window shape, you may need to experiment because different methods may work better in some situations than in others.  I like to use the flat side of a dark, peeled crayon to rub along the front edge of the window opening, but sometimes a pencil works better when you need to make a template at the back of the window casing, up against the glass.  When I’m satisfied that I’ve recorded the shape of the opening, I take down the template and draw over my crayon or pencil line with a thin black Sharpie marker, smoothing out any jagged edges and making as even a line as possible.  Next, I carefully cut out the template along the black line and – this is crucial – put my template back up to the window opening to make sure it’s an exact fit.  If it’s a tricky inside mount and I’m second-guessing myself at all, I’ll use my paper template as a pattern and cut the shape out of a rigid material like cardboard, tag board, or foam insulation board (they sell this at Home Depot) and then I test fit that into the window opening to make absolutely certain I like the fit.  Keep in mind that your fabricator will most likely make inside mount deductions.  Check with your fabricator if you’re not sure about their standard deductions, or if anything on the order form doesn’t make sense to you – remember, the only stupid questions are the ones you didn’t think to ask until after you received your custom made hardware and it didn’t fit the window!

Once you’re satisfied with your paper template, be sure to label it with the following information, again using the black Sharpie and legible printing:

• FRONT
• ↑ UP
• DESIGNER
• JOB SIDEMARK
• ROOM
• WINDOW # (if more than one window is involved)
• KEY LENGTH & WIDTH MEASUREMENTS

  Finally, roll your template into a mailing tube rather than folding it, and include a copy of your order and contact information.  There, that wasn’t so bad, was it?  The extra time it takes to obtain an accurate template of specialty windows will pay off on installation day when your design comes together beautifully and everything fits the way you envisioned.

Tableaux traceries piqued my fancy from the first time I saw the ad in Window Fashions Vision magazine a few years back.  In case you’re not familiar with Tableaux, it’s a lightweight faux wrought iron product that can be customized to virtually any size or shape, in just about any pattern homeowners and their designers can dream up.  Because Tableaux weighs only about 10% of what a comparable wrought iron piece would weigh, it’s ideal for windows, doors, and ceiling applications.  As an added plus, Tableaux is constructed out of 100% post-industrial recycled wood fiber and formaldehyde-free resin and is LEED certified.  What’s not to love?

   So I’ve had this cool Tableaux product floating around in the back of my mind for a few years now, and although I had suggested it to clients on several occasions it never panned out before now.  In retrospect, I think that’s because there are so many cheap-looking aluminum faux iron “wall art” pieces for sale through catalogs and discount stores these days and clients were hesitant to place a Tableaux order without seeing the product in person.  Before pitching Tableaux to this client, I ordered a sample kit with two big actual Tableaux pieces (about the size of a sample plantation shutter panel) along with a ring of finish chips.  I work out of my home, so finding storage space for all my sampling is an ongoing challenge.  However, seeing those actual Tableaux samples in person was crucial for reassuring my clients that this product looks as good in person as it does in the pictures, and that it wasn’t going to detract from their beautiful custom home.

For this particular project, the home had an odd little niche built into the wall in the upstairs hallway.  This area is open to the two-story formal living room on one side, and open to the two-story foyer on the other side.  The railings are a mixture of wood and wrought iron ballusts, and the home’s architecture is Old World European although the clients’ tastes run a bit more transitional and sleek.  My clients’ don’t remember what the previous homeowner had displayed in this wall niche, and didn’t quite know what to do with it themselves.  They had thought of hiring a muralist to do a trompe l’oeil window scene in the niche, but because the niche is so close to the foyer window on one side and the dramatic two-story living room draperies on the other side, I really didn’t want to make it into another window.  Plus, located on an interior wall right outside a guest bedroom, a window would have been pretty unconvincing.

   My clients liked the Tableaux samples so much that they chose the exact same design as one of the sample pieces, in the exact same finish.  Because I wanted to do an inside-mount within the niche, I sent my installer out to create a template, and I’m glad that I did.  The niche is totally out of square and the walls of the niche slope so that the opening is smaller at the front than at the back.  To ensure a perfect fit, I had the installer cut a rigid template out of foam board insulation from Home Depot and test-fit that in the client’s home prior to sending the paper template to Helser Brothers for fabrication.  The last thing I wanted was to be stuck with a non-returnable, custom-made Tableaux piece that ALMOST fit in the niche! 

I have to show you how well packaged this product is for shipment.  After reading the instructions on the order form about the shock sensors and what to do if they indicate shipper mishandling, I was a little apprehensive that my Tableaux was going to arrive damaged, but it arrived in immaculate condition, wrapped in bubble wrap and carefully crated in plywood that was held together by honest-to-God real screws. 

  On installation day, my installer arrived a few minutes before me and had the Tableaux piece easily installed in about 5 minutes flat, before I even got there.  He told me afterwards that my client had followed him up the stairs anxiously and wanted to immediately touch the Tableaux as soon as it was unpacked, so I know she was still nervous about whether this “faux iron” stuff was going to be something she could be proud to have in her home.  By the time I left, she had already called her boyfriend and gushed about how much he was going to love the Tableaux when he got home, and she had invited one of her neighbors to come over and see it that evening – a neighbor who had just spent a small fortune having a fairly plain wrought iron grille custom-made for the door to her wine cellar.  The client is so pleased with the Tableaux product in this niche that she’s looking around her home for other places where she could use it as well.  At the end of the day, the niche looks beautiful, the clients are thrilled, the installer is pleased with how easy this product is to work with, and my imagination is going into overdrive thinking up more creative Tableaux applications.  I can’t wait to use this product again.  I want to send a big thank-you to Jocelyn and everyone else at Helser Brothers who helped make my first Tableaux experience a success! 

My words for the day –”Move on!” 

Wherever you are at this point in your career, your business, and achieving your goals, it’s time to move on! 

There is one common theme here that seems to be emanating from the wonderful presentations this weekend has offered. Get better at your techniques, your offerings, and the value will be appreciated by all. Step it up a notch! 

We know we’d rather just be in the fabrication studio being creative and working for that gratification we all love when we deliver and exceed the expectations of our clients, but don’t give your work away, make it a  “must have” and the quality value be appreciated 

Today, Ravi from Vancouver presented an awesome discussion on finding your niche and setting yourself above and beyond your competitors. He suggests   ways to market   that niche and   get noticed. His photography was displayed and his success has allowed him to reinvest in getting the skills to improve and market what he loves to do.

Great suggestions, and I must say, recognizing what he has accomplished makes me feel an enormous wave of overcoming inertia. 

Gillian   shared some unique ways to embellish your soft furnishings and the important craft of hand sewing with an amazing assortment of add-ons to make your custom work even more special. The thought of the vast details brought   into discussion certainly makes it apparent, being creative and stepping it up a notch calls out to the clientele- “You better have it made by me- you’ll never find anything so unique anywhere else!” Attending seminars such as Creative Camp sets us apart form others and not only are we considered experts we are changing with the times, you’d better keep up! 

The creative minds grouped all together gives an amazing buzz of energy to the group, and we all learn from one another. The common bond amidst this group of fabricators connects us on a new level. The distance between some of us is physically is  great, but in today’s world with a click we are staying in touch and sharing ideas and growing from those new links. The innovations we can implement to make our businesses grow, flow and fly will bring more than you can imagine back to your success. 

So take it to the next level, do something new to grow, attend Creative Camp in 2011- did you hear the news- some special classes and teachers will be onboard too- Hope to see you there! 

A few tips for the day:

Good thread is not the cheapest…

Create the perfect work place and be the boss   you’d want to have

It’s OK to be silent, think, listen and move on.. 

Connie Valente