The Whole-House Project
How Calico helped a Dallas customer master the design and decoration of a custom home with window treatments galore!
When it comes to decorating projects, Calico customer Carrie Hatfield handled a whopping big one last year, with the design-and-build of an expansive new home in a Dallas suburb. Carrie had to make even more decorating decisions than usual, because her previous home went on the market and sold in 12 minutes—and the buyer wanted most all the furnishings too! Carrie was really starting over.
It certainly helped that her husband is a commercial and residential builder. For this home, Carrie was the designer, specifier, scheduler and manager of fabrication. In fact, this project was so huge that it led to a new custom home building venture, Hatfield Home Designs. How did she do it all? With a little help from Christi Lough, Store Manager, and her staff at the Calico store in North Dallas. Even if you are not moving into a new home, there is still much to learn from Carrie’s experience. Carrie took us on a tour of her new home:
Q: How did you decide on the style and the color palette for this home? With such a large house, where did you begin?
A: I started with one thing I loved and then built from that. For this house, it was the black and white plaid tile in the kitchen. Then I found the black and white check drapery fabric at Calico for the great room.
As Carrie discovered, each decision makes subsequent ones easier, because it both guides your choices and limits your options. “Calico offers a dizzying array of fabric choices,” noted Store Manager Christi, “and part of our job is to steer you toward the options that will work best in your room for your style.”
Carrie loves the classic nature of stripes, checks and dots. “They are still neutral enough that I can change them up for the holidays and layer décor [or greens] on top,” she observed.
Carrie’s home backs up to a lake and green belt—so privacy was not an issue. The draperies frame the view and add a soft, textural note to this vaulted space in the great room. “The draperies are dressed perfectly and we don’t need to touch them,” adds Carrie.
Above are Before and After images of the windows in the great room. The Calico installer measured all the windows after construction to obtain “as built” dimensions; these are not always the same as what is on a drawing! Later he returned with the finished draperies to install the rods, hang the panels, steam them and dress them to perfection.
Q: What did you learn from this design/build experience that you didn’t already know?
A: Fabrics, draperies and furniture make such a difference in a house. In the great room, everyone is drawn to these draperies—and they’re 13 feet tall! After doing this on such a grand scale, I will always have draperies in such a room.
Q: Windows of this scale are a real challenge. How did Calico help you decide what to do?
A: I went to the Calico store just intending to buy fabric—but then Christi helped me realize that draperies this tall need deeper pleats and more widths at the window to look right in the room. She pointed out that proper scale is everything in a room like this—and her advice made a big difference.
I had bought fabric at Calico before, but had not used their custom workroom services. Christi quickly had me convinced—she really knows her stuff!
Q: Large window treatments definitely require an installer to measure and then hang them after fabrication. How did that process work out for you?
A: Calico took the measurements from the installer and then handled fabrication while construction was being completed. They were installing the drapes the day we moved in. One minor thing needed an adjustment, and then everything fit perfectly.
Q: The sectional sofa in your great room is covered in a performance fabric. Did that enable you to choose such a light color?
A: Yes, this is the first time I’ve had a white sofa! And I have a dog, teenage kids and a large husband. The sofa survived the holidays beautifully—every spill so far has just wiped off.
Fairfax Swivel Chairs are covered in the large buffalo check Elwood in color Thunder. Swivel chairs are perfect for a great room like this, as they can turn easily from conversation to television viewing. These chairs are upholstered to the floor to hide the swivel mechanism. Carrie chose the solid texture Silex in color Custard from Crypton Home for the Custom+ Sabre-Arm Sectional sofa. Performance fabrics are great for homes with kids, cats and dogs!
Q: I hear that you sometimes worked with the store remotely…tell me more.
A: The Calico store is not very close to where I live. Sometimes Christi sent photos of fabric choices to keep things moving along. She was quite available when questions arose.
Q: There is an interesting niche below the stairs off the great room with a huge custom cushion—for a dog?
A: That’s our dog bed, made by Calico of Sunbrella. It keeps the dog off the furniture and the kids love to get in there too, especially my young adult son when he’s on his phone. The drawers below hold all the dog toys.
Who doesn’t love a hideaway? Carrie had Calico make a dog bed cushion of Sunbrella, style Zen, color Classic. Sunbrella is stain-resistant, odor-resistant and cleanable with soap and water (or even a bleach solution).
A loft space and reading area at the top of the stairs continues the black and white color scheme with a wide stripe on a sectional sofa. Custom pillows repeat the floral pattern on the pleated valance. Cayenne color accents are repeated on pillows and trim.
Did you know that Calico could have leather furniture made for you? With dozens of colors and textures available, Carrie chose a custom sectional sofa in a warm gray leather with nail head trim at the base for their media room/game room. Red accents in the draperies and plaid pillows of Ralph Lauren fabrics warm up this great gathering space.
The master bedroom repeats the classic check pattern used in the great room— Elwood in color Lakeland. Here it’s in a cadet blue color that complements the wood furniture. Adding to the textural mix is the sofa covered in Lumen Velvet PFR in color Indigo. Yes, there really are performance velvets! Custom pillows on the bed are also found on the sofa—including the teastain Jardin Floral in color Summer Linen from Ralph Lauren.
A guest bathroom echoes the black/white color scheme in the wallpaper selection—also from Calico: a Magnolia Home design, Tea Rose. Powder rooms and guest baths are places where you can use strong colors and bold patterns—because you don’t linger long there.
Q: Looking back, was this a good experience for you? And will you be repeating it any time soon?
A: This home is for sale—and I’ve already started working with our architect on the next one. Our realtor convinced us to do this as a business, so that our family doesn’t have to move with every project. As for Calico, I would highly recommend them and will definitely use them again!
Connect with Carrie on her website at Hatfield Home Designs where you will find Instagram and Facebook links.
