I love your choices so far, everything looks so warm and inviting! I don't think they have to match, but they should relate somehow, in degree of formality and color scheme.

I see browns in your kitchen back splash and countertop, and I think the brown drapery would not only complement the fireplace stone, but also relate back to the kitchen.

Nice place! I might try to bring some of each wall color into the adjoining rooms with the window fabric. They don't need to match but just compliment each other.

japhynmarley - Thanks so much. I probably fret too much over these things, but I do enjoy the process.

prairiegirlz5 - Yes, there are a lot of browns in the kitchen area and throughout the house. I guess I am a warm-toned kind of person.

robynpa - Love your thoughts about incorporating wall colors into the draperies in adjoining rooms.

Jan

Personally I would advise on the opposite. I have some very strong feelings about decorating and one of them is that the spaces in eyes view of each other should compliment each other, but not become extentions of each other. Each should have it's own personality. Frankly I'm so danged picky I don't like my bed covering to match the windows exactly either ;) One's a window...one's a bed...compliment and enhance each other...but don't try to disquise as each other ;)

Jan~Yeah, I'm an "autumn" too, LOL. Anyone remember that, everyone was a season? There is still some truth to that.

You know, the more I look at your kitchen, the more I love it.

I see others have beat me to the punch. My thought is also to get fabric that compliments each other.

I spent months agonizing over the same question. My kitchen opens up to the FR a lot like yours (mine opening is a little wider so you see more). After browsing through countless window treatment books and decorating magazines, I decided on the same fabric but different designs. My FR windows are getting floor length panels to each side with 2.5" white wood blinds. My kitchen has woven wood shades and will get an arched valance over the windows and french door with transom. My window treatments are currently in the process of being sewn but I will post pics in a few weeks when they are installed.

I saw a picture of a situation close to yours (sorry can't remember where). It had a print floral valance over the kitchen sink and a panel tied to each end flanking the fireplace that was a large plaid pattern in the same color scheme. Perhaps you could introduce the same plaid in your kitchen in places such as counterstool cushions or chair pads? Just a thought.

Just to get you started thinking I tried to show a plaid in the living room. I really liked the black in there, but then you'd probably want the plaid in the kitchen, and well, that changes things.

I like to use either coordinating fabrics and/or part of the fabric in one treatment as an accent piece (banding, cording, contrast on jabot, etc) in the adjoining room. Sometimes the same fabric, just different styles works, but the black is so strong, I'm afraid it would be too much to use in the living room, too.

{{!gwi}}

Jan,

I don't think they need to match, but I do like to see some continuity in adjoining rooms. It really bugs me to go from room to room and have the owner have chosen totally different colors and designs. But that's just me.

What I did was try and coordinate but with a different accent. My kitchen is browns/golds/paprika red & black. Here's my window treatment in the kitchen.

In the FR which is adjoining like yours, I did a Paprika red stripe panel with the brown leather and gold walls. The kitchen walls are a tad darker.

I fell in love with this paprika red color (the chair and drapes are more subdued than what you see here. The flash on the camera make them both glaring!!) - I'll probably be sick of it in a few years, but I figured the bones of my house are neutral, and I can replace the drapes and recover the chair when I tire of it.

I would either find a floral or print fabric with red/gold in it for the kitchen, and then another fabric in either a stripe or a smaller print for the FR that had say green and red in it. Then your common thread between the rooms is the red. Or pick gold or green or another color that you like that you can use in both rooms but in different ways. Then the rooms are not "identical" but flow nicely.

I would think about the furnishings for the great room as part of the issue. Do you have furniture already that you need to work with? The reason I ask is it is much easier to match drapery to furniture than the other way around, and so if you don't have pieces for the room, I would get those before I considered the drapery fabric.

That said, they are clearly separate areas, different wall colors and different in feeling, with the more rustic stone in the great room and the kitchen a bit more refined in feeling.

You could try to use browns in the great room, but with touches of red to pull the spaces together. However, I wouldn't consider that a must, just a choice.

What I would do, tho, is stay away from another similar print - in this case, I would not use another Jacobean fabric for the great room.

Something like this might work:

caldwell espresso

jynxed - Your home sounds like it's going to be beautiful with your new window treatments. And I can't wait to see the pictures.

sallymo - You're the greatest. Thanks for the visuals. It really helps me a lot. I agree that the black might be too strong in the living room. There are eight total windows in there. Check out the picture below. Plus, I'm thinking of doing panels for privacy, versus valances alone. I think it would be great if I could get touches of red in the fabric for the great room to accent the kitchen area.

caroleoh - I love your colors. Your tastes are a lot like mine. Is your kitchen valance the cuffed top pattern by Pate Meadows? That's exactly what I had in mind for my kitchen as well.

Les - We don't have any furnishings in the great room that we'll be keeping. The stuff we have (a microfiber couch, love seat, and two end tables) don't go well with the decor and have been well used. So at some point, we'll need new furniture. You're right about the fabric matching and that it's better to choose the furniture first. So that's another whole ball of wax. I'm just wondering if it's okay to go ahead with the window covering fabrics in the kitchen now, or if I should wait on that too, until we figure out the living room furniture situation. We don't plan to buy furniture until probably next year. I love the caldwell espresso.

We probably need panels in the living room because privacy is an issue at night. There are a total of eight windows in the room (3 singles by the fireplace, 4 connected toward the opposite end of the room from the fireplace, and one more on the long wall, also toward the front of the house).

Here is the wall toward the front of the house, opposite from the fireplace:

Jan~May I ask you a couple questions about your kitchen? Please tell me about your tile backsplash and what surface is the countertop. Is that a hardwood or laminate wood floor?

I just realized we have similar panels on my (oak) cabinet fronts, and a white double sink. I want to update my kitchen and will be doing this in stages. I had been considering a beadboard backsplash, but that wouldn't be practical; I like how you used it on the sides of the cabinets.

I apologize in advance for going OT, thanks!

Sallymo, what program did you use to put the window treatments into this room?
Thanks.

Carolyn,
Go the the following website:
http://www.minutesmatterstudio.com/
There is a 30 day free download if you want to try it out. Probably not something you'd purchase unless you are in the business of home dec and/or window treatments.

I am late to the party, but have the same problem, and I don't think you are an idiot!!!!!!!!! This is really a hard problem to solve, even if Sallymo makes it look easy:^) I really appreciate everyone sharing such great ideas!
In our house, as soon as you are in the door, you can see the Den, Kitchen, LR and DR...bang!
I used a large scale floral...not at all frou-frou, in the LR. A solid color, but loosely woven fabric in the den, a large scale plaid of the LR colors in the kitchen and an all over toile in the DR. It sounds whacky, but I have had lots of compliments.
Your rooms are much lovelier than mine, but I'm guessing that the scale is about the same. Thanks for creating such good ideas.

Just lurking but I think that this is a great question. I love the caldwell expresso samples and agree that Jan's home is beautiful. The kitchen colors are so warm and inviting and complement the great room too.

Jaybird- do you mind sharing pictures of your window covering choices- it seems like a great solution to the coordinate but not match theory.

Thanks.

Jan-
Sorry to go off topic but I would love details about your kitchen. After seeing these pictures, I have been searching for you in kitchens but no luck!
If you have time, please share- the cabinet colors and back splash are great.
TIA.

I am looking for help with my open concept living and dinning. I don't no if I should use the same drapes for both.

thanks