The barkcloth pinch pleat draperies for my Mahalo Lounge home tiki bar are up!

The pinch pleat draperies for my Mahalo Lounge home tiki bar went up last week, and I love them! As I’ve discussed before, the entire plan for the decor of my tiki transformation started with finding the right fabric — Kamuela, in green, by Diamondhead Fabrics — to cover the large expanse of windows in my living room/dining room. Once I had the fabric figured out, I then found a local company — Custom Window Treatments of Pittsfield, Mass. — to have the draperies made and installed.

Overall, this part of my project was a breeze — and how often can you say that! Diamondhead Fabrics was great to work with. Custom Window Treatments was terrific to work with. And, I thought that the money I paid for everything was fair. 

Photos:

So here’s the deal: Until I get the room finished, I am keeping all the interim photos, well, sneak peaks. This is for two reasons: (1) Sneak peaks are good, they keep ya wanting more, and (2) the rest of the space is in an uproar, and (3) until I get the entire room in place and can invest the time and if necessary, money, for good-better-best photography, it’s ‘easier’ for me to shoot vignettes.

So be tantalized.

Above: One of the two windows in the dining room. Note: I spray painted the front of the new traverse rods ‘almond’ before installation. I wanted the traverse rods to blend into the grasscloth wallpaper better than the brite white as-supplied traverse rods would have. Do not paint the back of the rods, though — the green part allows for smooth sliding of the carriers.

Above: A look of the fabric all in its lovely pinchy pleaties.

Above: The last thing the installer did on every window was to “educate the pleats,” as he called it. First, he carefully pulled the pinch pleats at the top into a nice alignment. Then, shown here, he tied plastic (from a garbage bag) around the bottom of each set of the pulled-into-place pleats. I was then supposed to leave the ‘tied’ draperies alone for a few days. I followed instructions. I did not mess with anything for three days. I now have well-educated pleats. Deliver me a diploma, somebody!

Note: The installer got everything up — new traverse rods and draperies — in about 2.5 hours. I know from previous experience that it would have taken me at least three-times longer. He knew what he was doing and confidently proceeded through the installation with zero hiccups whatsoever.

Above: A peek at the end of the largest window — it’s 12′ wide — and the draperies are even wider, to accommodate the stack back. Also, you can see the ‘jungle’ that will separate the main seating area from the bar area [the jungle will fill the big white space in the layout shown here.] There will be more styling to the jungle, of course. But as you can see, DH — he’s the green thumb in the family, has lots of oxygenation going on in our house! We may not always be breathing easy figuratively, but we are, literally.  

Note also in this vignette, how the grasscloth yellowed over time around the print that hung in place on the wall for quite a few years. I’ve written about how wallpaper — perhaps this is particularly true of grasscloth? — can get ‘tan lines’ before. In this instance, I am not bothered. There’s gonna be art and tikis and mirrors and lotsa covering all the walls before I’m through!

• Read all my stories as I convert my living room/dining room into my ever-lovin’ tiki “Mahalo Lounge”.

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