Home Guru: Windows, the Soul of a Home, Deserve Renewed Attention
Some people would say that it’s impolite to ask the question, “What do you do?” when meeting someone for the first time. But I always do, believing that it’s much of a person’s makeup and always a good ice breaker.
When I asked that question recently of Stephen Hutcheson at a fundraising/political event, I found the answer useful to what I do as a realtor/reporter. Handed his card, I noted that he is an interior designer who specializes in window treatments, and when I commented on my interest in his specialty he said, “Yes, just as eyes are the windows to the soul, windows are the soul of your home.”
His response got me thinking.
A while back, I had interviewed home stager/designer Joanne Palumbo of Homestyling 101 about window treatment trends and knew I had to make some changes in my own home. “We no longer see the heavy drapery treatments that were used in formal living and dining rooms,” she said, adding that the most popular treatments today are natural woven shades or wooden blinds coupled with simple curtain panels. “This pairing incorporates natural elements, texture, color and pattern and can be executed well in so many different environments,” she said.
When I learned that Hutcheson both designs and individually executes new window treatments, I thought it might be time to take action on the soul of my home, an antique structure that features 33 windows (I inventoried them when I got home), and if they were to be analyzed as a whole for their decorative treatments, the diagnosis would be that the soul of my home is somewhat bipolar.
Nine of the windows, including one in my bathroom that faces my parking area, are holdovers from one of my “totally open” approaches to design and are totally naked. And when I am in the same state in the bathroom, I have to retreat from the window if a car happens to pull into my driveway.
Of the remaining windows, six are treated only with wooden blinds, which seems somewhat stark to me now, and three – the ones in our rather formal living room, are dressed with very heavy brocade panels from the Civil War period. While they’ve been a sentimental favorite of my wife’s and mine since shortly after we married, it’s time to replace them with a more contemporary look.
To get some ideas, I accepted Hutcheson’s invitation to visit his studio and home located in Cold Spring. As I would have expected, his decor is a perfect reflection of his background, having studied interior design at NYU, followed by an expansive career designing and building furniture, then reinventing himself as a significant creative force in the textiles industry.
When touring his home, I found that, indeed, his window treatments expressed a fresh soul. His living room, for example, while a traditional setting with antiques, enjoys a contemporary look through its clean window treatment. He noted that, in this setting, the windows traditionally would have employed damask with swags, jabots and festoons, but today the look is up-to-the-minute with a single upholstered rod across the top, and rings connecting to simple panels in plain linen with French pleats and featuring a 24-inch “cuff” from the floor in a complementary color, adding an interesting horizontal look.
“My approach is either to take traditional, high end materials and use then in a new way, or to take a very simple, less expensive material and use traditional techniques in making the draperies,” he said. “When you take something inexpensive, like linen panels, and construct them correctly, it looks like a million dollars. Both approaches give the same result of a refreshed, contemporary look.”
A special quality to Hutcheson’s designs for windows is that he makes pencil drawings of each of his projects so that clients can know exactly what they’ll look like in their settings. “It’s a way of personalizing a project, much as if I were designing a couturier suit,” he says. “I guess you could say I’m the couturier window treatment designer.”
I asked what he does if a client insists on the heavy, old-fashioned look, to which he responded, “’Traditional’ is still very much alive and some people will always want something that I consider ‘over the top.’ I have the capability to do that and, I must admit, I rather enjoy it.”
When he comes to re-design the window treatment for our living room, I wonder what he’ll suggest for the replacement of our Civil War draperies.
To reach Stephen Hutcheson to design an original couturier window treatment for you, call 914-772-2575.
Bill Primavera is a licensed Realtor® associated with Coldwell Banker and a lifestyles columnist who writes regularly as The Home Guru. For those seeking advice on home maintenance or who want to buy or sell a home, visit his website, www.PrimaveraHomes.com, or call him directly at 914-522-2076.
