The Perfect, Timeless Simplicity of Linen Roman Shades
Less is more.
Natural fiber fabric, a warm white color, a clean wooden headrail, and a simple cordlock control mechanism is all it took to transform the windows in a historic, Spanish Revival home in the Rose Park neighborhood of Long Beach.
A 100% natural fiber roman shade provides simple texture and warmth to this historic Spanish Revival home.
The Project
A few weeks ago, Jasime, a peditrician orignally from Singapore, scheduled a 30 minute phone consultation to discuss the window treatments in her Spanish Revival home in a historic neighborhood in Long Beach. Like so many of our clients, she had inherited her current window treatments from the previous owner, and through the course of upgrading her and her husband Doug’s home, had finally decided the window treatments were next.
Her original inquiry was about natural-style grass roman shades, or woven wood shades to match what was currently mounted on the front door. But before jumping to conclusions, we decided to look at various options and see what felt right, rather than trying to match something that was there just because a previous owner had selected it.
Design Considerations
Small Space - Like many of the homes in the historic neighborhoods in Long Beach (ahem, our 1922 bungalow style craftsman included), Jasmine and Doug’s house is small. We wanted something that would add warmth and style, but not overwhelm or clutter up her space. Heavy patterns, bulky top treatments, and too much color were not in order.
Privacy - Privacy was not actually a top concern of Jasmine’s for the windows we would be tackling first. Given this, we wanted something that would provide “some” privacy to reduce any fishbowl effect, but also let plenty of light through when the roman shades were drawn and still would provid some view-through to help keep the space open. Any sort of lining was foregone for this reason.
Window size and wood detail - All of the windows we would be covering were of average size (no massive windows requiring draperies), but importantly, as with many of the historic homes in the Long Beach area, her windows are framed by intricate wood work that we not only wanted to preserve and display, but to seamlessly accent as well.
Luck (?) - One of the main reasons Jasmine made the call to Field Work Design Craft to get new window treatments was that two of her windows, french doors that led to a courtyard in their backyard, were directly in line and unobstructed from her front door, which she explained to me was unlucky in her culture. These days, none of us can afford to let even the littlest bit of luck slip away, so we needed to get this addressed ASAP.
The Solutions
Flat-front Roman shades in a simple off-white color
After a pretty short chat, it did not take long to throw the idea of grass or woven wood roman shades out the window (no actual shade was harmed during this project). It’s not that they would not have worked, it’s mainly that they just did not “feel” right or provide the right kind of warmth the Spanish Revival style homes in Southern California can often elicit. A true linen had the right amount of texture, provided enough privacy, and gave Jasmine the confidence to pivot in a new direction. Doug’s quick decision making helped, too.
Roman Shade Details
The roman shades that were to be mounted on the French doors needed to fit around door handles and lock mechanisms adjacent the glass, so we made sure to take this into consideration when building our headrails and controls. With an outside mount application, we also wanted as flush a fit to the door as possible for both aesthetic and functional purposes.
For windows with decorative window trim, we built the roman shades with a flipped headrail for a perfectly flush fit within the window trim itself, allowing the trim to frame the shade. This was a major improvement over the shade that had previously been in place, adding the functionality of a window covering while seamlessly fitting into the space. The wood trim and linen shade now compliment each other, rather than one overpowering the other.
After the roman shades were installed, and before the day was done, Jasmine confirmed that they were a hit and both she and Doug would be adding similar roman shades to the rest of the house. We are looking forward to phase II of this project and bringing more style and functionality to their home. According to Jasmine, “this has to be the easiest ‘yes’ I’ve gotten out of him.” The best feedback we can get.
That looks fun.