Each Monday on the DesignQuotient™ blog, DesignCoach™ Los Angeles Designer James Swan answers readers’ questions. Post your design dilemma today.

DesignCoach™ can help you find Smart-Design-Daily.

This week on the DesignCoach: Doing It For Yourself

Q.Help. The holidays are minutes away and I need to do something to help my Dining Room. We have my Grandmothers antique oak table and chairs and a lovely needle point area rug we found at a flea market. I’d like new drapes but don’t have a lot of money to spend and the window is large (almost seven feet across).

Draped Walls Using Inexpensive Fabric

Draped Walls Using Inexpensive Fabric

A. If you have a sewing machine now is the time to dust it off. Seriously, if you have the ability to sew you are half-way to new drapes. If you don’t sew then find someone who does (sister, mother-in-law, neighbor, or local seamstress) and strike a deal with them. The next challenge will be fabric. Get out the yellow pages and look for the following store types in your community: 1. Discount fabric store. 2. Theatrical fabric store. 3. Dressmaker fabric store. I once found bolts of natural muslin at a theatrical supply store. It was 90” wide and was on sale for $2.95 per yard. At that price I was able to buy two 50 yard bolts and use it in such generous amounts that my room (college bedroom) was a wonderful success. Better to have a lot of an inexpensive fabric than too little of an expensive one. Think outside the box when checking out these stores….look for inexpensive fabric in large quantities. With enough fabric you may find that draping the windows is just the start. Maybe you will decide to draper the entire room and create a dramatic, chic dinning pavilion for your families holiday season. A few tips you should remember when making (or having made) drapery. 1. Unless you want a shear, diaphanous look always line your drapery fabric. It’s an added cost but it makes the difference between doing it and doing it right. 2. Shop for your drapery hardware the same way you shopped for fabric. Research discount sources in your community and think outside the box. You may discover that rings-on-rods will work fine for you rather than a more typical (and often costly) fully drawing mechanism. 3. Don’t skimp on the fullness of fabric. Few things look as sad and inadequate as skimpy, wimpy drapes. I always insist on at least a 2.5 x 1 fullness and when I can get 3 x 1 fullness I do.

Let us know if we can help with your design dilemma. Send us your questions and together let’s find Smart-Design-Daily