36 
House & Garden 
VALANCES of UNUSUAL DESIGN 
The Purpose of Valances in General—Color and Pattern—The Length 
and Its Effect—The Unusual Design that Gives Distinction to a Room 
COSTEN FITZ-GIBBON 
.4 valance with a conspicuous 
pattern in contrast to plain side 
hangings tends to emphasize the 
length of the window head 
A VALANCE does not have to be made of 
fabric in order to be a valance. Notwith¬ 
standing popular notions to the contrary and 
certain dictionary definitions which seem to 
imply the use of fabric as a sine qua non, the 
error only proves lack of imagination and 
ignorance of interior decoration, both historical 
and practical, on the part of the lexicographer. 
Fabric of some sort, it is true, is the usual mate¬ 
rial from which valances are made, but it is by 
no means the only possible material, as we 
shall see. However, as fabric is the most com¬ 
monly employed, let us consider it first. 
What a Valance Does 
The two things to consider in deciding upon 
the sort of a valance to use are, first, the mate¬ 
rial, color and pattern—that is to say, whether 
the material and color are to be the same as that 
used for the rest of the window hangings and 
whether or not there is to be a pattern of some 
sort that does not occur elsewhere—and, second, 
the length and the manner of 
hanging. It make a difference 
in the appearance of the win¬ 
dow, indeed in the appearance 
of the whole room, whether the 
valance is too long or too short 
or whether a valance is used 
when it had better be left off or 
left off when it had better be 
used; and the manner of hang¬ 
ing is of equal importance, 
whether it be plain, gathered, 
pleated, straight or shaped. 
Of course a little experimenta¬ 
tion will always help the pro¬ 
cesses of visualizing and decid¬ 
ing, but it is well to keep in 
mind a few general truths as 
the major guides. A tall win¬ 
dow can take a deeper valance 
than a short or low window. A 
short valance over a wide win¬ 
dow will bring down the ap¬ 
parent height of a room and, in 
a low studded room, must sometimes be omitted 
for this very reason. A valance with a con¬ 
spicuous design, of bold pattern and color, will 
naturally focus attention upon itself, especially 
when the rest of the hangings are plain and 
should not be used unless there be some im¬ 
portant reason for stressing the window head. 
The simplest and most informal valances are 
merely gathered and allowed to fall naturally. 
The deliberately pleated valance is a degree 
more formal and the straight and shaped va¬ 
lances likewise carry a note of formality. 
Possibilities in Effects 
The most usual course of procedure is to 
make the valance of the same material as the 
side hangings. Some admirable results can be 
achieved bv creating a contrast, either by color 
or by pattern or by both, between valance and 
side hangings, but unless one is possessed of 
unerring color sense and a true sense of pro¬ 
portion it would be safer not to attempt this 
device. One cannot be too punctilious about 
the adjustment of the length of the valance and 
also about the purely mechanical side of the 
hanging which, if not properly done, will 
mar the whole effect. To mention just one 
instance, the writer saw but recently some 
valances in a seaside cottage where the deco¬ 
rator—and a very expensive decorator, at that 
—had used so much material in the heading 
and employed such high heading hooks that 
all physical balance was destroyed and the 
valance hung at a slant as though it were try¬ 
ing its best to escape from the window. 
And now for a word about getting away 
from the usual. An idea susceptible of in¬ 
teresting development may be taken from a 
room in which the color scheme was developed 
from a screen covered with a black varnished 
paper bearing multi-colored Chinese motifs 
with some touches of gold. The room, though 
not a formal room, was supposed to have some 
suggestion of formality in accord with certain 
balanced and symmetrical arrangements. Ac¬ 
cordingly it was quite in order to make shaped 
valances, rather shallow, from the same paper 
as the screen just mentioned, mount them on a 
valance with an inconspicuous 
border tends to strengthen the 
horizontal line of a window 
backing or frame and varnish them. Heading 
the windows above apple-green rep side hang¬ 
ings they gave the required note of emphasis 
and contrasting color and presented much the 
effect of old polychrome and gilt leather lac¬ 
quered in the most deft Chinese manner. 
Valances of Wood 
The general effect and method of managing 
such a valance suggest what might be done by 
employing painted or lacquered decoration on 
thin wood, shaped to the desired contour or 
left with a plain, straight lower edge. Such a 
treatment could be felicitously carried out in 
the 18th Century Venetian manner. And 
speaking of things Venetian reminds one of the 
fretted, shaped and colored valances, usually 
in cool green and white, that used to adorn the 
heads of windows in many an old-fashioned 
house. The same idea that appears therein is 
susceptible of varied developments. In this 
very connection it will not be amiss to suggest 
that it is often possible to find 
strips of pierced, polychrome 
and parcel gilt Japanese carved 
wood, in which the colors are 
mellow and subdued, that would 
answer admirably in lieu of the 
ordinary fabric valance. Like¬ 
wise one may now and again pick 
up fascinating bits of old Span¬ 
ish carving that could be applied 
to the same end with good effect. 
It is always most interesting 
to devise new and unusual treat¬ 
ments so long as they will stand 
the tests of rigid canons of good 
taste, but the surest way to en¬ 
sure their standing that test suc¬ 
cessfully is to eschew anything 
that savors of the fantastic and 
keep ever in mind the funda¬ 
mental principles, to which allu¬ 
sion has already been made, and 
the dictates of sound common 
sense. 
The plain pleated valance is suitable 
for a tall window. While not formal, 
it is dignified 
A straight patterned and fringed val¬ 
ance immediately calls attention to it¬ 
self by its pretentiousness 
