Traditional Interiors

Leta Austin Foster, Sallie Giordano & India Foster

Brian Coleman

• Publisher: Gibbs Smith
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781423636588
• eBook ISBN: 9781423636595
• Topic: Design
• Subtopic: Interior Design

Leta Austin Foster is among House Beautiful's most influential interior designers of the 20th century, and has been hailed by House and Garden as one of the "100 Greatest Interior Decorators." Whether it's a 19th-century Virginia family home or a modern South Florida country club, Foster believes that any space can be beautiful and comfortable at the same time. This philosophy has inspired the design of countless homes across the country. With an eye to fine detail, Foster (headquartered in Palm Beach) and two of her daughters, Sallie Giordano (New York City) and India Foster (Palm Beach), have created comfortable, gorgeous living spaces.

Curtains

Curtains are integral to any room. They absorb sound, provide privacy and moderate the light, making a space more intimate and inviting. To be done properly designing curtains requires a lot of thought, planning and skilled execution—scale, style and color are important; proper construction is what makes the difference. Here are examples in a variety of settings, from living rooms and dining rooms to bedrooms, in a range of styles from simple pelmets to multilayered, hand-embroidered panels that are done just right.

These silk panels are an elegant accent for the Chinese wallpaper in this dining room. The soft green-and-cream gingham pattern tones down the luxury of the silk, creating a sophisticated country charm. Notice the tiny half-inch ruching along the leading edges.

The floor-to-ceiling window on this landing was out of scale and overpowered the stair hall, so to make it appear less prominent, a classic eighteenth-century-style softly folded blind was chosen to diminish its height. A creamy chinoiserie from Clarence House complements the hand-stenciled ashlar block walls, a dash of red referencing the red-lacquered grandfather clock. The blind was softened with a self ruffle trim and delicate beading, which becomes lusher and fuller as it is raised.

A lined and interlined silk taffeta curtain is outlined with an applied tape trim for a deceptively simple elegance.

This seemingly simple, sweet cornice with a “Chinese corner” on either end is actually a tour de force of planning and design executed by master curtain maker Paul Maybaum. The pale blue floral motif from Clarence House was edged with matching white linen to outline the graceful curves of the pelmet, with a tiny blue-and-white-gingham-check welting demarcating the fabrics. The finishing touch was a pair of wooden bells on either end, hand painted by Zenon Toczek.

This cornice ties in perfectly with the embossed leather-covered walls in a jewel-toned Virginia library. Such perfection is only achieved through much patience and effort spent in person with the curtain maker. Using tracing paper, the design of the Indienne-style fabric was first transposed onto a possible cornice shape, then worked and reworked until the curves of the cornice fit perfectly with the gently swirling lines of the damask-patterned wall.

Attractive green and mahogany bell trim from Rogers Textiles was first painted by hand, then sent to the textile company to create this lovely, custom trim for just the right finishing touch on a portiere curtain.

The simplest of curtain styles was used in this Long Island living room for one of the most difficult of window arrangements—a bay of windows wrapping around one end of the room. Curtains would have been overpowering, so soft Roman blinds from a Chelsea Editions fabric were selected. They were embellished with a delicately embroidered custom floral design that complements the leafy sprays on the sofa, lending a fresh, Swedish appeal to the roo...

Table of contents

• Foreword

• Preface

• Introduction

• Curtains
• Walls
• Upholstery & Trim
• The Details
• Resource Guide