Wednesday, May 12, 2010
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By Owner, Window Bonnets
Superior Customer Service
A Training DVD to Answer All Your Questions
Total Accessibility to Us for Expert Advice & Assistance
BBB Accredited Business
Window Bonnets is a family owned business since 2006 by Dave & Jan Klatt. Your satisfaction is our number one concern. As a BBB Accredited Business we take very seriously our obligation to provide superior customer service. We conduct our business in an ethical manner and maintain a high rating with BBB.
We started with our own home and have made many for our customers, we not only sell the kits, but we make them for our local area customers as well. You can be confident that we really know how to use and create with our product.
Since we have this experience we also know all the tricks and can advise you in any area concerning the assembly, decoration and hanging of your cornices.
We provide a quality do-it-yourself
Window Cornice Kit to create your dream windows or we can make them for you. (Providing you are local to either the Lake Havasu City, AZ / Mohave Valley / Anaheim, CA / Orange County areas.)
Just give us your ideas and we can work through the project together for perfect results. Satisfaction guaranteed
For the ultimate in technical help, each order comes with our unique FREE instructional video (25 min. DVD for PC/TV). This DVD is a great “security blanket”. Watch and stop the action during each phase of your assembly, decoration and hanging. Review the corner technique as your are doing your own corners.
But just so you know, emails and even phone calls are gladly accepted. To exemplify how easy it is, we have had no returns or reported complaints to date. Order today and start to transform your dream windows into reality.
To see the possibilities look in our
Gallery of Homes.
Now imagine your pictures here! Share your decorating talents with your friends and relatives!
Living Rooms
Cheers,
Jan
Wednesday, May 05, 2010
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By Owner, Window Bonnets
The standard Window Bonnets cornice kit comes with 5” brackets. Well over 75% use this bracket and all is well. Another 20% or so use the 3” brackets. This number seems to be growing.
If your window has verticals mounted on the outside, or a drapery rod with sheers or drapes, then the 5” bracket is a must to clear the verticals and drapes so they are not crushed behind the cornice. If there is nothing over your window or the mount of blinds or verticals is inside the window well, then you might want to consider the 3” bracket for your cornice.
But for some a more creative mount is required. Several times I have been asked about mounting at 7” and even here recently at 4”. For both my best suggestion is to mount a piece of wood to the wall that is the thickness you need then mount the bracket to the piece of wood. Just remember to cut the end cap or add to it an appropriate amount so the end cap hits the wall once the cornice is pushed on the bracket.
And then there is Anne. She lives in a nice park model on the outer edge of a golf course. She was adamant about have them mounted directly to the wall. The only thing is that just around the window was trim piece that stuck out ¼”. Just laying the cornice form on the wall would have it sitting at an angle. That’s when I took a stroll through Lowes and found a quarter inch thick by 2” wide wall board strip and some industrial strength Velcro. Yes, I said Velcro.
We came back and mounted the board above the window about 1” down from where the top of the cornice was to hit. Then we mounted one side of the Velcro to the board. The other side we used our low temp glue gun to mount it to the back of the cornice. The typical sticky back of the Velcro does not hold well to Styrofoam but using just a bit of the low temp glue and it was on to stay. Once the cornice was decorated, it was pressed to the Velcro strip and Wal…la the cornice was on the wall and level from top to down over the window edge.
Cheers,
Jan
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
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By Owner, Window Bonnets
Where to go to find fabrics? The obvious are places like Hancocks, JoAnne’s, Home Fabrics, and other discount fabric stores. All the major cities have a wealth of places not only for fabrics but also trims.
However, not all my customers live in large cities. Some, like me, are in small towns with few resources to fabrics. Recently our only fabric store that carried fabrics other than quilting ones closed so what to do now. Like I say keep saying “get creative.” Here are a few suggestions:
Wal-Mart, some have a fabrics section with a surprising variety including trims.
Look for drapery panels, J.C.Penneys, Big Lots, Wal-Mart, K-mart. You might be surprised what you find in the various nooks and cranny’s of these stores.
It may sound silly, but decorative bed sheets may be perfect for guest rooms, kitchens, and dens.
Then, of course, you have the internet. This opens up the world but my problem is that I need to see and feel the fabric. Most places offer to send you samples either for free or just $1.00 per sample. The high end fabric houses may charge from $4-$7 even 10 for sample, but generally speaking it is for a large 8 x 8, or 10 x 10 inch sample and the price on those fabrics can run up to $60 or more dollars per yard.
For some of the more economical home décor fabrics take a look at these sites:
In the meantime, open your mind, look about your town, you just never know when the perfect fabric will find you in an unexpected place.
Cheers,Jan
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
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By Owner, Window Bonnets
Six more wall shelving ideas.
Personalize a child's space. Hang a long display ledge with a plate groove above a crib or child's bed, but out of reach of the child. Place over-sized alphabet cards in the plate groove; spell out your child's name or a clever saying.
Show off your prized possessions in a unique way. Install several corner ledges in the corner of your dining room or living room to display small, special items.
Make reading more accessible to your children. Place display ledges that have a lip low to the ground in a child's room. Stack books on the shelf, so that the front covers face outward.
Frame your entire room with shelves. Hang wall shelves near the ceiling around the entire perimeter of a game room or child's room. Place toy trains, doll collection, baseball collection or other memorabilia on the shelves for an instant "theme" room.
Add a little sparkle to your decor. Place a deep wall shelf above your bar or high up in your kitchen to display your beautiful wine glasses or rarely used glassware. Reinforce your wall shelves into wall studs for extra sturdiness.
Decorate in unexpected places. Hang a wall shelf above your doors or windows to display holiday decor, such as your collection of snowmen, ceramic jack o' lanterns or Americana.
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/
