Curtain wall

“ The object of the drawing is to introduce interior action, either in a mere recess, or in a larger space, such as a chamber; and this, not only where curtains are dramatically appropriate, as within a house, or at the door of a tent, but also where they are less so, as before a cave or a forest bower. One may further accept the term ‘discovered’ as indicating the unveiling of an interior by the play of a curtain, even when the curtain is not specifically mentioned ”

“ These curtains are attached to rings which allow them to be drawn easily along the rods at night, and when the sun shines too warmly and brightly, and, therefore, no hideously ugly blinds are required; for even ladies whose dubious complexions forbid the free entrance of the blessed sun can make their rooms as dark as they like by drawing these curtains, which can be lined with a thick sateen, and{58} should be edged with a ball fringe, to break the hard line which always spoils the look of any curtain when left untrimmed. ‘Guipure vitrage,’ which is to be had from Wallace, from 103⁄4d. ”

“ If the walls of a room are plain in color one may have either plain or figured hangings, but if the wall covering is figured it gives a feeling of unrest if the curtains are also figured. Sometimes one sees bedrooms and small boudoirs where the walls and curtains show the same design, but it must be done with skill, or disaster is sure to follow. ”

“ In most houses there is somewhere a group of windows that calls for an especial kind of curtain. If these windows look out over a pleasant garden, or upon a vista of fields and trees, or even upon a striking sky-line of housetops, you will be wise to use a thin, sheer glass curtain through which you can look out, but which protects you from the gaze of passers-by. ”

“ I prefer them slightly inclined, ladder fashion, at an angle of nearly thirty degrees, the lowest perch not lower than three feet from the floor, and not more than three perches parallel. Where the fabric curtain is used, all get the benefit of the fresh air coming through the canvas curtain. ”

“ If your group of windows is so placed that there is no danger of people passing and looking in, then a short sash curtain of swiss muslin is all that you require, with inside curtains of some heavier fabric—chintz or linen or silk—that can be drawn at night.
If you are building a new house I strongly advise you to have at least one room with a group of deep windows, made up of small panes of leaded glass, and a broad window-seat built beneath them. There is something so pleasant and mellow in leaded glass, particularly when the glass itself has an uneven, colorful quality. ”

“ If your wall has a flowered paper, it is well to use some plain material for curtains—or something with very inconspicuous pattern. If your windows are very small and your house is where no one can see in, have your sash window curtains pushed well back to give you all the beauty of your view. ”

“ He drew the curtain aside a little—enough to let me slip through—said something in Spanish, some one musical word which I did not understand, and the curtain closed behind me. I stood there feeling like a doll, absurd, small and lost.
I was aware of a greater sense of air and sun than I had had since I entered the house, of a farther extent of that shining floor, broken by great opaque oblongs which absorbed light and gave out colors beautiful and dim; of a uniform even interplay of color upon all sides of me, as if the walls were hung with tapestry of one pattern ”

“ Really enchanting curtains can be made of ginghams and voiles and many materials that one sees in the day’s shopping. For bedrooms a valance of chintz over the muslin window curtain will give up color—if we don’t want chintz curtains at the sides of our window.
Be very careful that you get the right shade of your color. There are blues that are warm and blues that are very cold. Pink can be one of the hardest tones I know, if it is in a room with the wrong exposure. ”

“ Presently we heard all manner of sounds going on behind the curtain—all manner of voices talking and calling, and buzzing and humming. The moving of boards, and hammering, and the placing of planks and beams, and pushing and pulling about of heavy things; and [148] now and then through one side of the curtain we caught a glimpse of something so bright that went by, like tall flags on painted poles, and tops of spears, and parts of mantles of people’s dresses; and once, underneath the bottom of the dark green curtain, we saw run along a little pair of bright silver feet. ”

“ Many there are, yet so spacious is the room, that they do not appear crowded; there is no suggestion of a well-stocked gallery. And on each side of the room two rich, warm-coloured curtains hang, concealing behind them silent, heavy, doors, deep set within the wall. ”

“ Windows.—If instead of the usual heavy and ugly valances, which so many people still insist upon placing over their windows, as a top-finish to the curtains, we were to provide framed recesses constructed with the architraves, or mouldings, which run round the window-openings, with slightly arched heads, leaving room for a slight iron rod to be fixed behind and out of sight, with space for the proper and easy running of the curtain, we should have not only a much more artistic, but certainly a much more healthy and less expensive arrangement ”

“ I have never seen a house room that was too fine for a swiss-muslin curtain, though of course there are many rooms that would welcome no curtains whatever wherein the windows are their own excuse for being. Lace curtains, even if they may have cost a king's ransom, are in questionable taste, to put it mildly. Use all the lace you wish on your bed linen and table linen, but do not hang it up at your windows for passers-by to criticize.
PRINTED LINEN CURTAINS OVER ROSE-COLORED SILK
Many women do not feel the need of inside curtains. ”

“ The drawing-room curtains at Windy Corner had been pulled to meet, for the carpet was new and deserved protection from the August sun. They were heavy curtains, reaching almost to the ground, and the light that filtered through them was subdued and varied. A poet—none was present—might have quoted, "Life like a dome of many coloured glass," or might have compared the curtains to sluice-gates, lowered against the intolerable tides of heaven. Without was poured a sea of radiance; within, the glory, though visible, was tempered to the capacities of man. ”

“ A cheery fire crackled in the open grate, while a heavy velvet curtain was drawn across the door that gave egress to the terrace, effectually screening out the ubiquitous draught which invariably seeks entry through crack and hinge-space. ”

“ A large sheet should be strained across some open door; folding doors are better adapted to this game, as they give a larger space for action.
The room in which the spectators are seated should be darkened; but in the room back of the curtain, where the Giant exhibits, should be placed on the floor, a bright lamp or candle, with a reflector, either of polished tin or a looking glass. Any one standing between the light and curtain, appears immense in all his proportions, as his reflection is cast upon the sheet. ”

“ Its severe and gloomy frontage presented a curtain crowned with a machicolated, crenulated, covered gallery. This curtain connected two towers unlike in age, materials, height and thickness, which ended in battlements surmounted by a peaked roof, like a cap placed upon a Gothic crown.
Here and there, grated windows broke the bareness of the walls. A wide flight of steps, straight and steep, twenty-two in number, without balusters or hand-rail, took the place of the drawbridge across the moat, which was now filled up: it led to the door of the castle, pierced in the middle of the curtain. ”

“ Inspired by players who played before a figured curtain, we have made scenery, indeed, but scenery that is little more than a suggestion—a pattern with recurring boughs and leaves of gold for a wood, a great green curtain with a red stencil upon it to carry the eye upward for a palace, and so on. ”

“ Opposite the alcove is the window, the cornice of which repeats that of the alcove, and from it fall the curtains, made of the same material as the wall panels and alcove draperies, heavily wadded and lined with silk. They are surmounted by a light drapery, caught into festoons here and there, ornamented with shells or knots of the same stuff, and tassels or bell-shaped balls of silk. The under curtains are white lace, and the heavy curtains are looped back by means of light tassels of various hues. ”

“ The living half-woman is a very ingenious improvement on the decapitated individual. On entering, we perceive, when the curtain is drawn aside, an elegant little room decorated with flowers and lights and hung with curtains and tapestry. In front there are two railings, and the floor is covered with a carpet. ”

“ In curtain B, Figure 59, with Figure 74, the fullness of the curtain, instead of being pleated, is gathered on to the safety pin, but this can only be done with fine curtains. The fullness is equally divided among the pins, and the tops of the small pleats are spread into a small fan shape, making a dainty finish beneath the pole. ”

“ Curtains are now used chiefly to cover windows and doors, but for many centuries every bed of importance was surrounded by them, and sometimes, as in France, the space thus screened off was much larger than the actual bed and was called the ruelle. The curtain is very ancient—indeed the absence of glass and ill-fitting windows long made it a necessity. Originally single curtains were used; it would appear that it was not until the 17th century that they were employed in pairs. Curtains are made in an infinite variety of materials and styles ”

“ Curtain rises showing a comfortable room, strewn with a bachelor's possessions. [R.] a fireplace [33] with wood fire, brass dogs, a large armchair, and footstool on the hearth-rug. [L.] , curtain indicates an alcove with a bed. Near curtain, an old-fashioned low-boy with toilet articles before the mirror,—military brushes, cologne, etc., etc. Lighted candles here, and also on each side of gilt mirror above mantel. ”

“ It has curtains all 'round to roll up to let the air in, and at night we can take out the seats, make up a bed in the bottom, and there is a large front curtain which shuts everything in and keeps out the damp. ”

“ If there is no objection on the score of difficulty of keeping clean, I am fond, in a modern bedroom, of curtains all of one colour, some soft, delicate tint of blue or rose, with a great deal of patternless white muslin either over it or beneath it as drapery to the window. This leaves you more free for bright, effective bits of colour for sofa, table-cover, &c., and the feeling of the window curtains can be carried out again in the screen. A bedroom, to be really comfortable, should always have one or even two screens, if it be large enough. ”

“ A room often needs, for sake of balance, to be weighted by colour on the window sides more than your heavy curtains (silk or cretonne) contribute when drawn back; in such a case decorators use coloured gauze for sash curtains in one, two or three shades and layers, which are so filmy and delicate both in texture and colouring that they allow air and light to pass through them, the effect being charming. ”

“ Talking of doors, when we have no doors we nail up two curtains overlapping, if a big entrance, with an extra one crossway over the top if high, and at bedtime we put crossways over the bottom of the curtain our table-top and frame and two chairs, built up so that, if any one attempts to get in, the whole must come down on to a big copper bath with a crash, and so wake us. ”

“ Almost any shape, if well proportioned as to height and width, can be made beautiful, and the variety and effect desired, may be secured by varying the colours, the design of decoration, if any, or the texture or the length of fringe.
The "umbrella" shades with long chiffon curtains reaching to the table, not unlike a woman's hat with loose-hanging veil, make a charming and practical lamp shade for a boudoir or a woman's summer sitting-room, especially if furnished in lacquer or wicker. It is a light to rest or talk by, not for reading nor writing. ”

“ These frills should go round the bottom and up each side, and the tops of the curtains should be finished by being slightly gathered on a narrow tape, on which the hooks should be sewn which fasten into eyes on the slight brass rods, which are all that are required in these special windows. The hook-and-eye arrangement is much to be preferred to the old manner of sewing rings on the curtain itself; one can unhook a curtain in a minute and shake it out of doors in another. ”

“ The curtain is always difficult to arrange, especially in a parlour. A light wooden frame should be made by the carpenter,—firm at the joints, and as high as the room allows. Attached to the stage, at the foot, this frame forms three sides of a square. The curtain must be firmly nailed to the top piece. A stiff wire should be run along the lower edge of the curtain, and a number 273 of rings attached to the back of it, in squares,—three rows, of four rings each, extending from top to bottom. ”

“ I often have curtains come in which require some mending; if I have time I do this at night, before starching of course; I charge extra for this and according to amount of work required, the ladies are more than willing to pay for this, and it adds to your work too; makes it look so much better.
When taking the curtains off the stretchers, unscrew each corner a little and raise the lower bar, this will bring the curtain off easier and without tearing. Sometimes the edges and joints require pressing, I do this as I take them off the stretcher, or at night, if I am short of time. ”