"he matched the drapes to the wall, I probably would have been inclined to do something lighter in color. Why do his drapes "work"?" That would be the easier route, to go lighter or darker rather than try to match and end up with what looks like a close miss in a bad way. I remember him saying the fabric wasn't an exact match but I think he got really lucky that the color nuances of the two are so similar. Maybe grays are easier that way. It does look a little darker in some of the photos, like this one. What else might make them relate so well? There's a lot of light play on his walls (velvet sheen) and the drapes also have a lot of sheen with similar gray-blue highlights. That's a repetitious feature that might contribute to bridging them. Color gets obscured in highlights and shadow and if you look, those areas seem to be a good match. I think the high sheen on the drapes makes for many variations on its color which play around, become obscured or hit on the wall color, minimizing whatever difference there is. And certainly some of the wall color is bouncing off of them. You get the overall feel that they match when apparently they don't. It looks like they might have more blue in them than the photographs show, seen more clearly in the last photo. (This monitor is not very good so I might be seeing something quite different.) couple others: This post was edited by snookums2 on Sun, Feb 17, 13 at 20:10

Thanks for the kind words, our place is still in progress but we love it so far. I love having the mudroom bench! The paint color used in all the rooms is SW #7533 Khaki Shade. The laundry room is SW #7532 Urban Putty one shade lighter than the khaki shade. Your home has great potential with just some paint and furniture arranging. I do not think drapes to the ceiling would work, that would draw your eye up to the height of the room. I like what you have on the dining window but you could also use 2 simple roman shades on the dining window to add some texture and color. If you use a more neutral colored curtain panel on the sliding door with your current rod that would look nice. Try getting panels that blend with the paint color you choose. I love your fireplace and armoire is it possible to use the armoire for the tv instead of the table its on? I also have a westie she seems to get in my photos also :) If you put a large area rug down and pull the furniture away from the wall and arrange it around the fireplace that will ground the space. Try putting the couch across from the fireplace and a chair on each side and the Ottoman as a coffee table with a tray and books on it. Add a nice neutral area rug. Put one of the chairs where the tv is and the other facing the sliding door. I think the large wall hanging might look nice in the dining area. Hope you don't mind the suggestions. good luck with the house.

If Otis is planning on buying ready made panels they would have to be long enough to go up on top of the board and still touch the floor. (They would be rod pocket panels). I wouldn't even go to the trouble of picking out the stitch lines for the rod pocket, but just gather the panels by hand and staple on top of the board. (As long as there isn't a 2 story balcony that you can look down on top of the boards - you don't have to be terribly picky about how the top looks.) This is just an easy suggestion for this window configuration. I do think that 2 panels will be needed for a nice full drapery on each window. You can use iron on tape or pins to keep the drapes together and then hide that join in the folds when you dress it out. I know how to sew and of course I would do them in a more professional manner. It just depends on a person's budget as to whether they can afford custom window treatments or if they need to make them or do something creative with ready mades! You can also use pinch pleat panels on a board and hang the drapery pins from screw eyes inserted on the 3/4" front lip of the board. I have drapes made like this in my own home. I've never posted a photo on this site but I will try to take a photo tomorrow and post it.

thank you everyone for the suggestions - I'm def struggling with what to do and open to all of these ideas. My heart wants a dark blue room or similar color room but I know that might not work best here...but I want it to! I'm willing to listen to all of your advice. We are new to this and not professionals at all...we just love our home and want it to be warm and inviting. Our first step in doing that was removing the ugly pink walls (no offense to anyone who liked that but that is not "us" at all). To answer your question specifically, Patricia Colwell Consulting, we purchased drapes for this room because even though there are two large pine trees outside the window, it gets a lot of light and it wakes us up early (not that we sleep super late but when you don't get to sleep much, ever minute counts). Also, the window are antique windows, which we love, but they aren't very warm. The drapes would help trap the cold, at least, that's our hope. It's a south-ish facing room and for whatever reason, it's very bright in here. The wall color looks washed out and too "baby blue" for us, so we were looking for a change but are open to ideas on how to get the room more "warm", although I feel like the general advice is to use light off-white on walls. I'm not against a different color on the walls than "dark" but I just don't know where to go to get the warm cozy vibe we want for the bedroom. The light during the day washes out the walls and they look too "baby boy blue"for us. They look nice in the evening, it's more of a gray. The only furniture in the room in our bedframe (see pic). Bedframe is from C&B and a bit older and will go some time soon but the next frame will also be darker wood. 3 closets with bi-fold doors and 2 doorways...so a lot of white trim and doors. Painted part of window is now white again - I don't know what my husband was thinking. Ceiling fan is also gone - we will replace with another one that fits better once we figure the rest of the room out! hope that answers everyone's questions!