I'm Here To Help!

Photo by Petr Kratochvil

A lot of Cooper Lace's customers ask for assistance in measuring and selecting the appropriate width, length and even pattern of lace curtains for their homes; often, they seem reticent to do so, as if they were bothering me.  Nothing could be further from the truth!  I am always delighted to speak with our clients, and it's a pleasure to put someone's mind at ease, especially when they have a challenging question such as adding bottom rod pockets to a lace panel for a French door or figuring out how to cover a huge arched fanlight with lace sheers.
  
On countless occasions, frequently during the evening or on weekend mornings, I have listened to clacking of tape measures and the dragging of a kitchen chair towards a bank of windows. So please, if you've got questions or concerns, call me anytime at 888-433-7801 (413-549-1063 for international callers) and I'll speak with you personally. The office phone forwards to my cell in the off hours, but I shut it off when sleeping, so there's no need to worry about disturbing if you're calling from Australia in the middle of your day (it's happened).  Email works as well; I'll respond as quickly as I can, usually within the hour: my address is ceo "at" cooperlace "dot" com.

Photo by Huong Phan

Yours,

Dan Cooper

President and CEO, Cooper Lace

You Gotta Move...

Some may recognize the title of this post as the name of a song on the 1971 Rolling Stones album Sticky Fingers; while not my favorite track, it has some sentimental value, for I learned to play bottleneck slide guitar to it.

But I digress...

Last weekend, we moved all of Cottage Lace's inventory to a new warehouse; we'd grown so much since 2007 that there just wasn't room to organize everything! The new place is much larger and climate controlled, and since we'll be adding some amazing new patterns over the course of 2011, we'll have room for those as well.

As each lace curtain was boxed, labeled and loaded, it made me appreciate how fortunate I've been. We started with six products, and now we have twenty three, with more appearing shortly. The praise and support I've received from all of you has been fantastic, and I'm constantly amazed how you've helped us become the leader in historically-inspired Scottish cotton lace panels, valances and tablecloths.

Oh yes; the other Stones song I learned to play slide to is No Expectations; but I didn't want to use that as the title of my blog, for all of you have helped me far exceed of all of mine.

Thank you!

Dan Cooper, President,
Cooper's Cottage Lace, LLC

Side by Sidelight

Often overlooked when selecting window treatments, sidelights are those narrow, vertical windows located on one or both sides of an entry door. They allow light in, and permit the occupants to see just who is knocking at 8am on a Saturday.

But sometimes, we don't want those folks looking in and seeing us standing there in our bathrobes.

Hence, Cottage Lace has directed a great amount of attention to creating sidelights in just about every pattern we offer. Depicted here is our Grecian Panel sidelight, designed by Steve Bauer of Bradbury & Bradbury wallpapers. It's a Neo-Grec pattern that works in all Classically-styled houses, from Georgian and Federal, to Greek Revival, Second Empire and of course, Colonial Revival homes.

Our seamstress will gladly custom cut them to whichever length works best for your home.

Lace Curtains for the Classical Interior

I've been selling historic lace curtains for roughly 19 years now, and one of the most common requests I've received is for lace panels and sheers that are appropriate for homes built before 1860. Here's the dilemma; machine-made lace curtains weren't yet available in the 18th and early 19th centuries. My clients who owned Georgian, Federal and Greek Revival Houses (along with some Second Empire and Italianates) had to make do with later Victorian lace curtains, but they felt that they were compromising their interior design.

Realizing this, and wishing to expand Cooper's Cottage Lace's line of lace curtain panels beyond the 1880-1920 range, I approached Steve Bauer of Bradbury & Bradbury Art Wallpapers to design several lace panels for me, including one based on the hugely popular Neo-Grec Roomset. Steve presented me with a design that we've called the Grecian Panel and Grecian Sidelight, and they've been a huge success.

The Grecian Sidelights, which are 20" wide, have fulfilled a need for all of those early houses that have narrow sidelight windows where the homeowners wanted privacy but also desired that daylight illuminate their hallways. The Grecian Panels themselves are grand, yet intricate lace curtains that accentuate that huge Empire Sofa you've just purchased like no other lace curtain panel available.

We've woven these 100% cotton panels, in lengths up to 90" long, although we can custom-weave any length, upon request. Our seamstress will also shorten them to whatever length you'd like. As mentioned, the sidelights are 20" wide, while the Grecian Panels are 47" wide. You can find out more about the Grecian Panels and our many other patterns at: http://www.cottagelace.com/