TL;DR
Interior designers Maci McGee and Kistna Conely shared approaches to custom window treatments used in the 2026 Whole Home in Charleston. Their advice focuses on balancing pattern and texture, layering for light and privacy, connecting rooms without matching them, and getting proportions right.
Interior designers Maci McGee and Kistna Conely have outlined how they used custom window treatments at the 2026 Whole Home in Charleston, South Carolina, pairing shades and drapes to balance a room’s patterns, texture, daylight and privacy. Their advice, reported by House Beautiful, shows how window coverings can connect a room’s design while serving everyday needs.
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In a bedroom designed by McGee’s firm, Ellerslie Interiors, a blue ceiling, patterned mustard wallpaper, velvet upholstery and antique furniture already brought strong color and texture to the room. McGee paired patterned drapes with a woven bamboo shade to add softness without competing with those elements, an approach that complements these modern farmhouse window treatments. She said the shade filtered light and brought in texture, while the drapery added character.
Conely’s House Seven Design bedroom faced a busy urban street, making privacy a priority while the designers also wanted control over daylight. They layered two shades with linen drapes, allowing different combinations for filtered light and privacy. The report also highlights a whole-home approach: repeat a color or texture between rooms, rather than using identical treatments everywhere.
Both designers stressed scale and finishing details. Conely said drapes that are too short or too narrow can throw off a room’s proportions. McGee recommended planning mounting height, panel fullness and fabric weight, while accounting for how much privacy, blackout and light filtering the room requires. Custom trim can add another detail without dominating the design.
Balancing Style With Daily Use
Window treatments affect more than the appearance of a room: they can shape how much daylight enters and how private a space feels. The designers’ examples show why those practical requirements should be settled alongside choices about color, pattern and fabric, rather than treated as an afterthought.
For readers planning a room update, the report offers a way to think about cohesion without making every space look alike. Repeating a color or texture can create a connection between rooms, while varying the material or treatment style lets each room respond to its own needs. Proper proportions also matter: undersized or poorly placed drapes may make the window—and the room around it—feel unbalanced.
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Design Lessons From Charleston
The advice comes from the 2026 Whole Home, a design showcase in Charleston featured in House Beautiful’s report. McGee and Conely describe decisions made in bedrooms with different design conditions: one had a dense mix of color and pattern; the other needed a response to a street-facing window and privacy concerns.
The report presents these projects as examples rather than a controlled comparison or a guarantee that one treatment will suit every home. Its practical guidance centers on matching the treatment to the window, the room’s visual balance and the occupants’ needs.
“They help set the mood, soften the architecture, and make a space feel finished in a way that’s hard to replicate with anything else.”
— Maci McGee, Ellerslie Interiors
Details Each Home Must Resolve
The report does not provide measurements, costs or installation instructions for the featured treatments, and it does not establish how much light or privacy any specific combination will provide in other homes. Those results depend on factors such as window orientation, the fabric and shade selected, and how the treatments are fitted. The designers’ recommendations are general guidance, not a substitute for measuring a particular window or checking product specifications.
Measure Before Choosing Treatments
For a planned update, the next step is to identify each window’s needs: privacy, light filtering or blackout, then measure the opening and decide where the drapes will hang and how far the panels should extend. Homeowners can compare fabrics, shade styles and samples against the room’s existing colors and textures before ordering. The source gives no follow-up event or product announcement; its advice is to plan for function and proportion before choosing finishing details.
Key Questions
How can window treatments make a room feel more cohesive?
McGee and Conely recommend carrying a color or texture between spaces while varying fabrics and treatment styles. That creates a visual connection without making every room identical.
Why layer shades and drapes?
Layering can provide different options for daylight and privacy. In Conely’s street-facing bedroom, two shades and linen drapes let the occupants adjust the window’s coverage.
What proportion mistakes should homeowners avoid?
Conely warns against drapes that are too short or too narrow. Plan the mounting height, panel width and fullness in relation to both the window and the room.
What should be decided before selecting fabric?
Consider the window’s privacy, blackout and light-filtering needs, along with where the treatment will hang and how it should relate to the room’s existing finishes.
Source: rss
