Who in the world says things like that, unsolicited no less???

Your room looks to me to be comfortable, homey, and a place I could hang out in for a long time.

BTW, jabots and swags are considered very dated, so I'm not sure how much weight I would give the opinion of your self-serving, rude acquaintance.

Dee

I have to agree with your decorator friend, the curtains would be better in a bedroom. If it's light you're wanting, you can still have sheers, but more appropriate for the room.

Here is a link that might be useful: sheers

The lace is a bit fussy for me. You mentioned you want to let in as much light as possible, but your curtains are covering the window! My favorite treatment is a panel hung from a rod. Hang the rod high on the wall (almost to the ceiling) and wide enough that when opened, the entire window is exposed.

imo, it's the baby blue color that looks out of place in the family room rather than the material...

I think wood or faux wood blinds matching the window frame would look nice even without a valance or panels.

I don't see anything wrong with the blue or lace but I would find some blue accessories to tie everything together. I do think they are mounted a little low on the window. I would raise them about 4-5 inches.

I wouldn't put jabots or a valance up for sure those are REALLY dated... Just put up regular drapes.

I attached a helpful picture of how hanging a set of drapes (which is what should be in that room) correctly and up high, would help to update the look and let more light in as well.

Notice the placement of the drapes and how the correct placement makes even the room and windows look bigger and let more light in. You could use that nice creamy background color from your carpet to make it more updated and pull the whole thing together. :)

Follow avidinternet's adivce and you will really update the look of the room. I agree that blue lace valances are not the best look for a family room.

I think it was very unprofessional and rude to offer unsolicited decorating advice on your home. After all that is not why you invited her there. However, I do agree that your WTs are not the most suitable for a family room and it would look better how Avidinternet suggested. I think jabots and valences are a more dated look, not to mention extremely expensive. The more current trend is to hang drapes high and wide on a decorative rod with or without rings. BTW, your room is lovely as is.

Thank you all for commenting, and thank you advidinternet for the illustrations to make the point. With regular drapes at the sides as illustrated, should I even then stay away from sheer fabric---"lace type" fabric and instead go with another type of material? If so, what would you all suggest?

As you can see from the picture, our home furnishing is traditional----not really formal but we do have some 18th Century end tables we have had for a number of years.

That is so rude that an acquaintance/friend would make an unsolicited comment to your about your decor.

You have a lovely, comfortable room that I would feel so at home in. I love your rug and flooring! Jabots and valances would look too "stuffy" as well as dated in your room. If YOU feel the need for a change, the example Avidinternet showed is perfect. You could go with a light casual cotton panel or pretty sheer panels. Have you seen Loribee's new smocked sheers that she put in her sitting room? Something similar would look great in your room - you would still get your light. I'll link it to you just to give you an example. Aren't they pretty!

One good thing about sheers, your can buy them quite reasonable - sometimes you can't tell the cheap one from the high end ones :).

Here is a link that might be useful: Loribee's smocked sheers

I wouldn't be too hard on your friend. Since she does work in the profession and she may know you "stumble through" the process, if you talk about things like this, she may have just been giving you a piece of (unsolicited) advice.

She did not specify why other than to say another material other than lace curtains would look "better" and a lined professional type window treatment material in jabot and valence style would look "more finished and professional". (She also professionally makes window coverings so I don't know if that had something to do with it.)

I would rather believe that she is intensely interested in window treatments rather than pitching a sale to you. In my opinion, her suggestion of jabot and valance style could be overly formal for your room. I would use straight stationary panels as in the drawing posted by avidinternet.

My question is why are your swivel chairs so far away from the sofa? It looks like it would be hard to have a conversation.

I personally prefer the type of window treatments that avidinternet has depicted. However, I certainly wouldn't call yours "unfinished" or "unprofessional". I had to look up "jabot", but I don't particularly like them either. I generally don't like valances much either, though I think they look perfect in certain applications. It seems like the light blue color ties in with the color in your rug. And while I generally view lace as more formal, I can see how your table legs appear to be more delicate and go well with the lace.

Being a professional interior designer does not mean that she has the same taste as you, and in the end, it is you who must be pleased - not the designer. I am also a professional designer and have also made window treatments professionally, and I think your choice of blue lace is fine if that is what makes you happy. The mini-blinds would look better if they were pulled all the way up, but then you need a way to close them at night. A roller shade would be a better choice than mini-blinds IMO.

Avidinternet has some good ideas, but that placement of drapes could easily interfere with the space required by the art you have on the walls. I do try to hang drapes that way when possible, but sometimes there is not enough wall space for that.

The main problem I see in the room is the huge space between the sofa and the swivel chairs, as graywings noted. Also, it appears that you have a fireplace in the corner that is being largely ignored. I would rearrange the furniture before I would change the curtains.

BTW, I do like the room and your color choices.

Lars

If you do decide go with panels, a toile in blue would probably be great in the space. You could also do a striped fabric, or a solid creamy linen. There are tons of possibilities. I'll bet Country Curtains would have something ready-made and reasonably priced. They seem to do traditional, yet informal, very well.

What avidinternet said. And not sheers.

The style of your house/room looks very Colonial or Traditional, so I don't think a jabot or valance treatment is out of line and if that's the style you like. I've seen lace used in rooms like yours, probably panels usually, but never blue. They probably photograph brighter than they are. I imagine the fabric itself might be less living room like too. They do seem to be hanging very low. I think both of those things are distracting so if you like fabric and are up for a change at this point, bringing in a patterned textile, one way or another, would enhance your room.

I like Avidinternet's recommendation, but have a question about it.
The drawing says that the fabric should cover window and trim by 1-2 inches. Is it realistic? I have tried this and I don't like the look from outside. It looks like the house is empty! I wouldn't mind if it was in the back of the house (where I don't even have curtains), but in the front, it is just not working if you have windows on the street. So when I open the curtains, I make sure that I have at least about 6-8 inches covering the glass so that it looks finisned from outside. Anyone has the same feeling or am I the only crazy one?

Have you tried to take them down and not have any curtains because you have beautiful woodwork?

I'm not sure the back of a curtain viewed from outside makes a house look finished ... so you might be a wee bit crazy!! ;-)

Do you like your room?

Frankly, that is the real "prize." To like your room. If you do, you win.

Something like this would look great in this room:

(but not covering the windows so much)

Does one hang curtains far above the window frame with no valence to disguise that the window is much lower than the curtain rod? I wouldn't. If you go with full panels you will certainly give a totally different feel to the room. A heavier patterned material will really fill up that room. Your pictures between each window will need a new home. On a cold winter night the room will be much cozier..is that the feel you want once spring hits?

I agree with phoggie. I would probably just take the blue lace curtains down. I'm a bit of a minimalist as far as window treatments are concerned. Especially if you have pretty trim.

But if you love them them just leave them. But in general home decorating terms, yes they do look dated.

I think that person was rude...I am more than willing to comment...obviously...on people's rooms even without being a professional, but I always wait to make critiques until specifically asked. Otherwise, I just make positive comments on the things I like...I like the color scheme, the blues and the soft colors in the rug.

Seeing as you asked, I'm not a fan of lace curtains in general, I think these are too light in color and should hang higher.

I have seen swags and jabots used in traditional settings nicely, so long as the jabots aren't too long. But they are a lot more formal than what you have now.

Sorry terricks, but the grommeted drapes, while lovely, are too contemporary IMO for this space.

You could do a festoon in this space....hang it above the woodwork...this style is still formal but not as stuffy as the swag/jabot, but of course in your colors.

I too want to pull the chairs forward onto the rug so the conversational cluster is manageable...I like about 12' or so across. That would leave room for a second grouping of small chairs like a reading nook by the fireplace.

Thank you again, to everyone----all your comments are much appreciated! And yes, this lady who critiqued the curtains tried to be very diplomatic and was really not mean in any way.

The reason that the two swivel chairs are so far away from the loveseat on the left of the picture is that the cabinet over the corner gas fireplace is where our TV sits. There are far more times that my husband and I have the chairs swiveled around toward the fireplace watching TV than that we have company so although it might not look quite right, it does work for us in our everyday life. Because the cabinet space dictates the size of the TV, the chairs need to be fairly close just to see better with a smaller TV.

Believe me, it was not my choice to have the built-in TV cabinet over the fireplace but my husband's request and since I get my way in our home's decorating decisions 95% of the time, I did not have the heart to tell my husband "no" with this one request of his!

So true, as someone said, that we all do have our own taste---what might look good to one person would not to another, but I have found that people on this decorating forum are really very knowledgeable and have really good taste and have helped me so many times in the past even if I was not the one asking the original question! So thank you all, again!

The reasons that I always advise hanging curtains from floor to ceiling, and then adding bamboo blinds or Roman shades behind the rod, also at ceiling height, and lowering them just enough to cover the top of the window frame, are:

- they make the ceiling feel higher by creating an unbroken vertical line all the way up,
- they make the window seem higher and more substantial, and
- they cover the space but not the top of the glass.

Remember that 80% of the natural light comes through the top 20% of the windows. Your blue lace both reduces and colors the majority of your natural light, and I think you'd like your room more without them.

I also agree that they are perhaps not the best choice for a family room, and they're a little girly for your public spaces.

Something in a cream with maybe the slightest blue stripe like this would look really nice. It would tie your carpet in with the blue in your couches. Plus it's a nice neutral up to date color.

Also placing them high up (place the rod just under your crown) and wider off your windows would not only let more light in and make the room look taller but eliminates the need for the pictures placed in between the windows. Makes it look more updated all in one fell swoop :)

Also as brownysmom said I would buy some bamboo shades (which would go well with the wood color already in your room or roman shades) and place them up at ceiling height which makes everything tie together very nicely.

Then buy or make a couple of 22 or 24 inch oversized pillows with cream color and blue to place on the sofa, karate chop them and ask your decorater friend how she likes your room now ;)

Another suggestion, since you have such a large space in between the couch and chairs even when they are facing in towards the couch....You could easily pull up the drop leaves on your coffee table and leave them open. Of course you would need to reposition it further away from the couch, which would then fill the large space nicely utilizing the existing furniture you already have.

Also to fill up the newly opened up coffee table with a more modern spin you could purchase a large bowl and fill it with various height electric candles that have batteries in them like I posted below. They go on every night at a set time and are really pretty too.

This ties in the cream/ ivory color of the carpet, new drapes, pillows and updates too.

I like it best exactly how bronwynsmom described it!

Annie, I did a quick search and was looking more at the fabric of the drapes. I agree that grommets would not be ideal.

How about panels like the ones below (cream and blue)? And, yes, I'd attach them higher and to the side of the windows.

Or maybe a valance like this:
http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/RLF-Home-Balacet-Natural-Cornice-Valance/6467897/product.html

Here is a link that might be useful: cream and blue curtain