I’ve been contemplating doing stationary drapery in our bedroom for a while.  Everything is so rectilinear in that room.  You enter and you’re greeted by two large rectangular chinoiserie panels flanking a rectangular  / almost square window.  Rectangular bed, rectangular headboard, rectangular dressers, rug etc. The room clearly needs some softening.  That said, we have roller shades on the windows that are quite effective, so I didn’t want to spend a whole bunch of money getting custom blackout draperies made and rods cut to size.  I apologize for the ugly fan smack dab in front of the window, but that’s the reality.  Last week it was 94 degrees in LA and we had already put away the portable AC units for the winter.

So here is my simple solution.  I purchased these simple cotton panels from Pottery Barn on sale along with these adjustable rods from Target which I’m going to dry brush gold over top to give an antique brass look (there is enough black in the room and I wanted to pick up the gold in the frames and on the headboard nailheads and brass wall art on the other two walls).  I’m usually not a fan of adjustable rods, but my windows are close to the minimum / smaller size of the size range so there will be very little of the thinner part of the rod showing and much more dimensional stability.

Here’s what they will look like up (thanks to a little Photoshop). We will probably live with them for a while like this. At some point I want to paint a pattern on the draperies to add interest.  I think living with them white for a while will help us decide what sort of pattern we want, and realistically, I won’t have time to do any pattern painting before the baby arrives.  I’m thinking something geometric to contrast with the organic pattern of the chinoiserie panels.

The first option is to do a wide awning stripe. I like the graphic black and white, but Scott thought it was a bit too severe and suggested grey.

Or perhaps a diagonal stripe of some sort.

Or the ubiquitous chevron? I actually really like this option, but the question of course is: Is it too trendy? Will everyone tire of this in the next 6 months?

What are your thoughts?