Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Why a drapery panel on a non functional rod does not work?


A lot of customer come to me wanting to have a pair of drapery panels on a simple rod on their 100" wide sliding door just like the pictures on the Hardware Restoration website.
I agree this look is simple elegance and beautiful but this type of setting is the best for a small window or best for using as decorative panels while you don't draw them open and close.

Reason #1: The decorative rod has a pair of side bracket and can only have one center bracket. If the pair of drapery is lined with blackout lining and they can be heavy with just one center bracket.

Reason #2: It is not easy / smooth traversing if one need to open and close the drapery daily because the rings on rod just do not work that well.

Reason #3: For a sliding door, we need to clear the door opening when the door is open to one side. At that point, the panel in front of the door should be pull to the other side so it is not blocking the opening.

Solution : Use a custom traverse rod that can carry the drapery panel back and forth smoothly. The custom rod comes in wood & metal finish and with many different style of finals. The main difference is that it has hidden carriers in the back of the rod to make the traverse of the drapery easier.