You can’t make a room feel palace-y without incorporating luxe fabrics like silks, satins and velvets (says me). The challenge with the Xmas Museum is the windows – contemporary large glass panes with no mullions, no existing window covering hardware, and frames that end at the corners of the room. Draping the windows in velvet curtains would be an easy “this says palace” moment, but alas I’d only be able to hang from one side of the window. The flow of the room also doesn’t provide a good environment for bulky drapes. I had to come up with some other ideas.
Since I typically get a table cover in a color and style to match my theme, I started there. While searching for Royal Blue or Lemon Yellow options on my favorite event supply sites, I came across this rouged table skirt. It had a hook and loop trim already on the edge and was 14 feet long. Would be perfect for the table. Then I had an idea- what if I attached this to the wall instead of the table? Upholstered walls are often seen palaces, including Versailles, and utilizing the fabric on the walls would give me more bang for the buck.
I measured the total wall length and determined the amount of skirts I needed. Once I received them (and confirmed they where gorge) I then sourced coordinating trims from Etsy and trim and fabric supply sites.
Since the skirt already had the loop part of hook and loop, I was able to use the TIP: I only had to cut one of the skirt panels, and I used fabric glue to hold down the cut “pockets” created by the pin tucks. I also made sure the cut ends would be located behind furniture and at the entrance where they’d be the least noticeable. Viola! I was able to bring a lot of luxe fabric to the space. I also achieved giving the room more height by anchoring the bottom third of the wall in the darker treatment as compared to the light wall color (Benjamin Moore® “Whisper”). For the windows, since I wasn’t going to install drapes, I got creative with typical window covering trim. I used a Lemon Yellow fringe to line the top of the frames. To pull in some of the Royal Blue I added a metallic chain shape trim at the top of the fringe. In the corners I added large tassels embellished with blue chandelier drops. Another area to bring in fabric was at the bottom of the chandelier window. I lined it with a metallic Royal Blue fabric. The fabric helps to reflect light back up to the chandelier ornaments, making sure they are always in sparkle mode. For the chairs, I covered them in a bright gold universal satin-like chair cover, and secured with a Royal Blue satin sash bow and a gold and pearl buckle pin. I could not find the pre-made covers in a true yellow, but since I used bright gold in other areas it coordinated as my theme’s metallic element. NEXT UP: Florals and final touches
