From Builder-Grade to Beautiful: How Draperies Transformed This Dining Room

By Jacqui McCowan

Often, I find my clients struggling with how to add color and character to a clean, builder-grade home without making significant changes to the materials. Everything is so new and fresh, and it can be hard to know where to start. That was exactly the case in this dining room. It had great natural light, beautiful pond views and a high vaulted ceiling. We wanted to take it from “unfinished” to “wow” — without painting or making any other major changes.

The Starting Point: A Blank Canvas

The dining room already had a few strong architectural features but it lacked character. It was our job to rework the existing dining set and the china cabinet into the new home. What the space really needed was a design element that could tie everything together.

Curtains: Linnea Linen Cotton Embroidered Curtain Pleated

Adding Character with Draperies

Enter: draperies from TWOPAGES. It may seem like a small detail, but the right window treatments completely change the energy of a room. We chose the Linnea pleated curtain. It’s a light, neutral linen-cotton fabric with a blue embroidered stripe that adds a touch of boho-inspired pattern to the space. Instead of blocking that gorgeous natural light, the draperies framed the windows, drawing the eye upward. They instantly added height while softening the room and giving it a more polished, intentional feel.

Balancing Old and New

One of the challenges in this dining room was blending styles. The homeowners adored their sleek, modern light fixture but also wanted to highlight a meaningful heirloom—their mother’s china cabinet, which had been refinished for a fresh, updated look. These draperies ended up being the bridge between those two pieces with their pinch pleat detail and embroidered pattern. The classic, tailored look worked beautifully in this transitional space, pulling modern, boho and traditional styles together in a way that felt seamless. 

Touches of blue — artwork, décor, and accessories — played off the draperies, giving the room a cohesive look without being overly matchy, taking this otherwise neutral palette to a whole new level.

The Final Touches

With the draperies in place, everything else began to shine. The greenery from the plants popped against the soft backdrop. The boho inspired rug mirrored the crafted texture from the curtain embroidery. Even simple styling elements, like a piece of art on the wall, read more elevated. 

The Takeaway

This dining room is proof that you don’t always need a big renovation to get a big transformation. Sometimes, all it takes is one thoughtful design choice — like the right draperies — to turn a builder-grade space into a room that feels unique, layered and inviting.

*Photography by M. Grega

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