Wednesday, May 19, 2010
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By Owner, Window Bonnets
Kingman Arizona home of the famous Route 66 and also Dan & Anne. They decided to visit the Kingman Home and Garden Show this last April. We were only 1 of several copies offering window treatment ideas, but they took a look at my samples and it was love at first site. This Arizona design was their inspiration. Several days after the show, I was out at their home to measure for cornices.
They had a slider in the transition area between the living room and the kitchen/dining area. Then also have two windows in the living room upstairs. This upstairs area turned out to be the challenge. A long slider gave entrance to a patio deck and then a large picture window over a couch, both providing a beautiful view to the golf course they live on. After measuring and much discussion it was decided to do a single cornice spanning the two windows. That made the cornice only an inch shy of 20 feet! They decided on the 12” high cornice for both areas.
Now they had to choose fabric. It was a bit of an ordeal as they picked out one that would have made a very bold statement in the room but we later found out that the pattern did not flow down the bolt as we had thought.
Anne wanted all three contours done in the same fabric with no breaks—so back to the fabric store again. They were only looking for Southwest designs and we had pretty much looked at all of them. But Connie at Alice’s Fabrics in Kingman managed to find 5 more that we had missed.
In the 5 was the one that seemed to outshine all the rest and match with their rooms perfectly. I was happy and relieved, I could get to work now. Generally speaking unless you have a semi, there is no way to transport a 20 ft cornice fully constructed, so I assembled it into the longest piece we could carry safely in our pickup truck and then two more long pieces that I would have to glue together and finish tucking in their actual room.
Dave & I arrived with the cornices at about 1:45 pm. The downstairs slider went up immediately and I set out my supports all across the living room. I even had to use their pool table at one end. It took another 2 hours to finish the 20’ cornice, but we did a lot of talking. My husband, Dave, had the brackets up so all four of us held it up while Dave moved across and pushed the cornice on to the brackets.
As I walked away into the room and turned around to look, it literally took my breath away. The colorations in the design were perfect and the room really came to life. I have not been so impressed and Dan and Alice were speechless. I got hugs from both of them.
The pictures do not do it justice but I tried to get the full effect of the room. They told me they had been searching 13 years to find the right window treatment! I love this job!
Cheers,
Jan
See me building the cornice in their living room in the Living Room Gallery:
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
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By Owner, Window Bonnets
Can’t decide about the color scheme? Let the room decide. What is your dominate pattern? Is it in the drapes, the upholstery, a Southwest rug? This is ever so much easier and less expensive than painting the walls some really super color and finding that nothing in the room really goes with it.
Let’s say your southwest rug has reds, greens, earth tones. For example take the 60% red, 30% greens and 10% earth tones, or maybe 60% green, 30% earth & 10% red, just make the 60 that color that best says “you.”
Sounds simple, so what’s the catch? Colors are driven by the market… remember the olive green and harvest gold of the 60’s, the 80’s seemed to have a blue undertone to everything. The reds had a cool “blueness” to them, and the greens could be best be called sea foam (green with blue undertone). Thankfully today we enjoy a trendy undertone of yellow, thus producing “sage” greens, “hot” reds and “lilac” blues. Keep this in mind as you select your color scheme.
The Window Bonnet cornice pictured at the top takes a part of the pattern in the fabric from the sofa to cover the center. It is a great match for the color scheme and "feel" of the room, see more pictures at this link:
Cheers,
Jan
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
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By Owner, Window Bonnets
Just last week we started our we started our first Annual Half Yearly Sale! Our normal prices have been discounted 15% and if your order is over $200, you receive free shipping to any where in the Continental US. Even in this economy we have had solid sales months for the past 12 months and that is saying something indeed. Many people have decided that rather than trying to sell their homes and buy something new, redecorating is a very attractive option. Making your own window cornices can dramatically change your room. Our cornices provide color in a moderate size, so if you have that great lake or moutain view, this cornice will only enhance and not decrease that view. Use the colors from your room, pickup an accent color, use the fabric from your couch, what ever you choose it will be dymamic with just a little bit of work. Check what some of our users have created at these links:http://www.windowbonnets.com/html/design_gallery.html, the Design Gallery page
http://www.windowbonnets.com/html/living_rooms.html, the Living Rooms gallery page
http://www.windowbonnets.com/html/family_rooms.html, the Family Rooms gallery page
http://www.windowbonnets.com/html/kitchen___dining.html, the Kitchen/Dining Rooms gallery page
http://www.windowbonnets.com/html/bedrooms.html, the Bedrooms gallery page
http://www.windowbonnets.com/html/bay_windows.html, the Bay windows gallery pageI am sure there is a design there that will spark your creative juices and get you going.Dave, here in Lake Havasu City, chose to complete his "western" themed home. His family room dining area is show here.
Now that is an inspiration........ now go out, order your cornice and be creative! Cheers,Jan
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
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By Owner, Window Bonnets
It all started, January 1, 2006, I needed something to go on my windows. I needed to decorate and make this place a home with life and character and atmosphere. Technically, I do not have any real interior decorating education. I do work in the printing industry and know good printing and design. Perhaps that is of help, but I believe, for me, this is just something I feel. It feels good or it doesn't. When I came across this window decor for my own home, I liked it so much and so did my neighbors and friends, that I was encouraged to open a business. Thus was born Window Bonnets.
Since then I have been helping people create their own Window Bonnets. So what is it? A cornice kit that you can make yourself, that requires NO WOOD and NO SEWING. In fact , it is made of a product that is the opposite of wood, a dense formulated styrofoam! It requires no sewing to decorate, no special skills to assemble and no stud-finder tools to hang.
You cut three separate fabric strips to cover the top, middle and bottom of the cornice form. The easy part... you just tuck the fabric into the precut grooves in the cornice form. Then with 1 screw into the bracket into the wall, then the other end fits into the back tuck groove in your cornice and poof.... You have a beautiful, professional looking cornice that perfectly matches your room!
Wow, it does not get better than this.... check out my transformation picture above.
For more details, see my website:
http://www.windowbonnets.com/.
Kingman Arizona home of the famous Route 66 and also Dan & Anne. They decided to visit the Kingman Home and Garden Show this last April. We were only 1 of several copies offering window treatment ideas, but they took a look at my samples and it was love at first site. This Arizona design was their inspiration. Several days after the show, I was out at their home to measure for cornices.
Now they had to choose fabric. It was a bit of an ordeal as they picked out one that would have made a very bold statement in the room but we later found out that the pattern did not flow down the bolt as we had thought. 
Dave & I arrived with the cornices at about 1:45 pm. The downstairs slider went up immediately and I set out my supports all across the living room. I even had to use their pool table at one end. It took another 2 hours to finish the 20’ cornice, but we did a lot of talking. My husband, Dave, had the brackets up so all four of us held it up while Dave moved across and pushed the cornice on to the brackets. 
The pictures do not do it justice but I tried to get the full effect of the room. They told me they had been searching 13 years to find the right window treatment! I love this job!
