Upscale Window Treatment Design — The Principles I Specify By
Twelve years of specification, distilled to the rules that have not changed and the rules that have.
The principles that have not changed: ceiling-mount every panel; interline every panel longer than nine feet; specify the pleat to the architecture, not to the trend; choose hardware after the room, never before; and never accept a fabric for a drapery program that the mill did not weave for drapery weight.
The principles that have changed: motorization is no longer a luxury — it is the default for primary residences and the only correct answer for any mount above ten feet. Blackout is no longer a lining decision — it is an assembly that begins at the framing stage. Performance sheers are no longer a coastal specification — they are appropriate anywhere west-facing sun is doing damage to a room.
The principle that matters most: the drapery is a downstream decision. The room is upstream. We do not specify a French pleat because the homeowner likes French pleats; we specify a French pleat because the architecture is asking for one. The discipline is in the order of operations.
Olga Rechdouni is the principal designer of House of Drapery and a consulting specialist on custom drapery for the residential interiors of Los Angeles. She is a member of the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) and works privately with homeowners, interior designers, and architects.