Wednesday, April 14, 2010
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By Owner, Window Bonnets
In all we have 12 tips for decorating with wall shelves: Part 1 is 1-6, Part 2 is 7-12.
- Use wall shelving to create a unique, custom wall sculpture. Centersmall wall ledges above and below a larger shelf to create a circular "sculpture." Or hang four ledges of the same or various sizes in a column aligned on the left or right side, spaced approximately three to five inches apart.
- Use wall-mounted shelves as contemporary wall bookshelves. Hang five or six deep ledges of the same length on the wall approximately 10 to 12 inches apart. Or choose multi-tiered decorative wall shelves as another creative display option. Arrange a few books, vases and picture frames on the shelves for a very modern, clean look. Cover your books with simple, monotone paper for a uniform look.
- Create a low-cost blackboard in your home office, child's room or kitchen. Paint a wall or section of a wall with black chalkboard paint. Hang a wall ledge near the bottom of the chalkboard to hold colored chalk and an eraser. A great decorating idea for a child's bedroom!
- Hang a wall ledge above an unused fireplace as a makeshift mantle. Decorate your new mantle with coordinating candle holders or picture frames. Note: wall shelves are not recommended for working fireplaces.
- No fireplace? Hang a long, deep wall shelf above your sofa. This makes a great place to display picture frames and other table accents in your living room. For the holidays, decorate it with holiday stockings, evergreen garland, battery-operated lights and glass ball ornaments.
- Put a new twist on framed wall art. Rather than hanging your wall art, lean your framed art atop a wall shelf that has a lip. Arrange shelves at varying levels or hang a multi-level decorative wall shelf unit. For more visual interest, stagger your artwork so that one or two smaller prints sit in front of a larger piece. Be sure to install the shelf in wall studs, and reinforce large or heavy artwork by attaching it to the wall.
Cheers,
Jan
Wednesday, April 07, 2010
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By Owner, Window Bonnets
Last week I talked about my creative works with my buttons and showed you how I created our HavaCentury Sneakers mascot. Now let’s translate that to your doing some real creative works in your home. All you need is some paint, a projector and an image.
The mural shown above was accomplished without any true artistic skills. Here is what you do. Print off a copy of the image you want on your mural. In this case a tree. Determine where in your home and how big you want the mural. Use painters tape to mask off the wall area and paint on your background color. Let it dry.
Next get the projector, it can be rented if necessary, and project your picture onto the wall. Move it closer or farther away to get the image at the desired size. Now pencil around the edges of the tree branches and using a fine tipped brush, fill in the color for the tree branches.
Our example is very simple, but we have one Window Bonnets customer who actually did a picture of an old California monastery building! There you go the magic of creation without a single artistic bone in your body! Amazing what a little imagination can produce. My customers are always amazing me!Cheers,Janwww.windowbonnets.com
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
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By Owner, Window Bonnets
Besides the Window Bonnets, I also design and make 3" buttons for all sorts of occasions. My most recent was for an event called the Relay of Celebration--a walking relay of 30 miles by 4 person teams. Our team called the HavaCentury Sneakers was definitely fun. We combined the Lake Havasu of our home town with the "Over 50" age group we competed in and arrived at HavaCentury. Naturally I volunteered to make buttons for our team. But here is the catch. I am not an artist on paper or the computer, but I am a master at listening to my customers (in this case my other teammates), using the internets vast resources and electronic manipulation. 
My fellow "Sneakers" are all women of varied and interesting characters from the IRS tax advisor to the ex-military woman, to customer service rep, to the career professional. Naturally we had to have a great lady represent our team. So I found "the Girl." She appeared while passing through one of the many free clip art sites on the web.She eptimized our fun nature, celebratory attitudes and kicky style. But she just needed more. As I listened to Jackie, Debbie & Mary talking about what they wanted, I though for sure I was in trouble on this one. As a walker symbol she had to have sneakers, Jackie wanted a tiara, Debbie wanted lots more "bling", and Mary didn't like the dark legs, and I certainly wanted some big bold eyes with lots of lashes (like mine).
I had my work cut out for me. I had no idea how to do this. I have Illustrator but can only do the basics as I said I am not an artist with pencil or computer. But.... I do have photoshop so off I went to find the tiara, the bling, the sneakers and the eyes. Several days later and many searchs on the internet, I found all the required items and started transforming "the Girl." As I completed various parts, I showed them to the team. Wow, what a transformation. I present the final "HavaCentury Sneaker Girl!"We used her on our buttons, our shirts and our chase vehicle. In fact we had the award-winning chase vehicle decoration. Each of us did a part in the final creation. Jackie did the red sequined covers for the top lights and our eyelashes, Debbie did the tiara, Mary did the lips, and I did the eyes, side sneakers, and back sign, and my husband, Dave, did the "
sneaker hubcabs". See it below.
OK, so you are probably asking now what this all has to do with home decor, cornices, and all the Window Bonnets stuff. It just points up that you do not have to be an interior designer to do some really cool home decor. With just a minimum of tools, you can create great home decor, one of a kind artwork that makes your home the talk of the neighborhood. Tune in to next weeks blog for the whole scoop!Cheers,Janhttp://www.windowbonnets.com/
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
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By Owner, Window Bonnets
When you have reviewed all of your window treatment ideas and have determined that you want to decorate with cornice boards to solve that difficult bay window situation …try the magic bending piece available through http://www.windowbonnets.com/.
I feel this is the easiest bay window solution on the market. Just follow these steps to see how easy it is:
Measure from the bend in the wall to the edge of the window on both outside windows ( 1 to 2 & 3 to 4). Measure the center section from bend to bend (2 to 3). Add these measurements together to determine the length of the cornice you will need.
Subtract 32 inches from the total (the length of the two bender pieces you will need). The difference is the length of the kit you will need to order.
Once you have received your materials, take the bending pieces and insert a bracket in each piece about one inch in from both edges. Place the piece up to the wall in the desired location and bend the piece until the brackets are flat against the wall, mark the position for the screws. Mount both brackets for each bender piece. Now measure from the outer edge of each bender piece to where it will end on the other side of the window (basically 2 to 1 and 3 to 4). Then measure the distance between the two benders for the center section. Those are the lengths to build so your cornice will fit perfectly on its bender pieces and end where you design to.
Now pull the bend pieces off the brackets and assemble your cornice treating the bend pieces as straight pieces.
Decorate.
Mount the remaining brackets and hang your cornice starting with the bend pieces in the exact location you had them mounted in before. The fit and angles will be perfect.
Stand back and admire your creative and easy bay window solution. Cheers,
Jan
Window Bonnets
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
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By Owner, Window Bonnets
Tucknology is the modern no-effort magic way to make cornice boards with no sewing, gluing or stapling your fabrics to the boards to complete the unique window treatment ideas you have in mind.
If you elect to use the Window Bonnets cornice kit, it’s so simple. The only talent you need is to be able to cut a strip of fabric lay it out on your cornice board base and use the magic tuck tool to complete the project. 
The cornice board form has precut grooves for the three pieces of fabric needed. Just use the tool to tuck the material into the groove and you are done. This works the same whether you want a smooth look, gathered look, pleated look or any combination.
You can enhance the look of your cornice by adding cords, beads, tassels, etc. that have the small bit of fabric attached to them (available at any fabric store). Just use your tuck tool and the precut grooves along with your tucknology skills to tuck the fabric part of the cord to the board. You can even use the back tuck groove for sheer curtains etc… its magic no rods or sewing!
That is Tucknology, no sewing, no special skills yet professional results.
Try Tucknology you will like it and it is a lot of fun!
Cheers
Dave & Jan Klatt
Window Bonnets
Wednesday, March 03, 2010
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By Owner, Window Bonnets
Southwest decorating is very simple and can be in-depth or as little as simple accents. It is especially popular in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and parts of California.
Southwest decorating is in general characterized by the use of earth tone colors, rough textures, hand crafted and rustic objects, objects that reflect the sometimes rugged life style and sometimes brightly colored fabrics or leather.
Many people use Native American themes, desert themes or the traditional cowboy theme.
A LOT
An example of a complete household decorated in the Southwest décor is Dave’s cowboy house. The picture above is his family/dining/kitchen area. Dave started by painting the interior walls with an adobe finish and accents. He utilized his passion for the cowboy theme through the entire house. He started by using the Window Bonnets http://www.windowbonnets.com/, do-it-yourself cornice kits throughout. Dave selected a horse pattern for the office, desert cactus and leather accents for the bedrooms and southwest patterns for the living room/den. See the pictures below to see his handy work). Dave did all of the tucking and aligning of the fabrics himself!.... fantastic job! The rest of the house is decorated with Native American pots and blankets, rustic saddles, cowboy hats and branding irons, etc. 
A Little
An example of A Little is pictured below. This lady simply added a natural leather piece drapped over the top of her cornice using the back tuck groove. This small accent completely changed the flavor of the room and gives you a true southwest feel.
A lot completely changes a home while a little can change the feeling and give you just accent.
Southwest décor items and fabrics can be found in many different places but the easiest is the internet. Just type in what you are looking for and you will find it.
Happy decorating. Go Southwest
Dave & Jan Klatt
Window Bonnets
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
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By Owner, Window Bonnets
Our cornice kits are pre-formed with three contours, the top and bottom are approximately 1/4 the total height of the cornice board with the center being about half. Although the contours or rolls are not super pronounced, I have been asked more than once if we make a "single" contour cornice board. We did try it, but the corners were problematic enough that we felt the success rate for the general public would be relatively low. Our goals in general with the cornice kit was to create a
n easy to assembly, fun to decorate, quick to hang, professional results cornice. The single contour seems to create more frustration than fun. However like all things what is one persons frustration is another's fun challenge. So I introduce you to Rose. A woman who wanted that "single" contour look using a big bold red and multicolored circle pattern! And so take a look at her success. A beautiful kitchen and family room area.
I asked Rose about how she came to this fabric and look, "We wanted a fun room and I always wanted a red and white kitchen so this is a fabric we both could agree on. We both just love the results and have had many compliments already. I’m lucky to be able to enjoy them every day.
She was certainly successful in creating that "single" contour look so I thought it best to let her tell you how she accomplished this... "I used a Barrow Home Decorating Fabric which I purchased on 50% off at JoAnn Fabrics. It was a heavy fabric (reversible) so tucking became a challenge in corners. I tried to clip away as much bulk as possible in those locations to make tucking easier."
"As far as smoothing the fabric, it is best to press your fabric prior to use. Then I laid it flat on a hard surface, put the cornice on top, started tucking in the center (top and bottom both) making sure to pull taunt when tucking and pulling taunt toward each end to smooth. On the circles, you needed to be aware of how the pattern was centered on the cornice and keep it straight. I accomplished this by watching the placement of the circles on the back as I was tucking. Keeping them tucked at the same point on the back kept them straight on the front."
"And most important of all, have some patience, walk away if you get too frustrated, and return to it when you are fresh."
Rose did wonderfully well on her cornices and took our multi-contour cornice form and created her own unique single contour look. She used our 12" high cornice kit throughout her home and you can see the rest of her cornices in our Gallery of Homes-kitchen, dining and family rooms.
In fact, in the kitchen / dining room section is another design that creates that single contour look. Look for the chicken pattern fabric!.
Cheers,
Jan
In all we have 12 tips for decorating with wall shelves: Part 1 is 1-6, Part 2 is 7-12.
