Choosing Drapery Hardware
When hardware should be seen, when it should disappear, and how the finish should answer the rest of the home's metalwork.
Drapery hardware is the only part of a drapery program designed to be seen — and the part most often specified in isolation from the rest of the home. The right hardware reads as part of the architecture; the wrong hardware advertises itself.
The first decision is exposed or concealed. Contemporary and modernist rooms call for concealed ceiling tracks: the drapery should appear to fall from the ceiling plane with no visible mechanism. Traditional, transitional, and Mediterranean rooms call for exposed rods that participate in the architecture.
The second decision is finish. Hand-forged bronze, hand-wrought iron in oil-rubbed and natural finishes, unlacquered brass, and custom-patinated steel are the studio's defaults. Plated finishes — chrome, nickel, bright brass — age poorly and rarely match the existing door, stair, and lighting metalwork in a serious home.
The third decision is scale. Estate-scale rooms call for substantial rods, generous rings, and architecturally proportioned finials. Tight or contemporary rooms call for minimal section, recessed brackets, and no finial at all. The scale should answer the room, not the catalog.