Home & Design

Designers create inspiring window-treatment solutions in a Richmond showhouse.

Finishing Touches

 

Finishing Touches
For most designers, window treatments represent the final stage of a room’s design. However, that doesn’t mean they’re not important. Window treatments lend a space character, softness and mood, as well as functionality. Their impact was particularly apparent in the Richmond Symphony Orchestra League’s 2008 Designer House, where 16 Richmond-area designers took on the challenge of redecorating a mansion.

Like its literary namesake, Tara II is rich in Southern history. Built in 1901 by Richmond banker E.L. Bemiss, it was moved to its present location in 1925. The house changed hands several times before it was purchased by local businessman Philip Minor in 1994. After Minor’s death in 2007, his wife opened its doors to the Richmond Symphony for a fundraiser in her husband’s honor. Each designer was given a section of the house to redo; the goal was to respect its historic past while breathing fresh air into the traditional interiors.

These pages offer a sampling of the unique window treatments that helped make each room special.

Jeanne Blackburn is a writer in Montgomery Village, Maryland. Photographer John Magor is based in Stafford, Virginia.

 

You may also like:

On the Forefront
The good life in food and fashion
Expert Advice Designer Q&A
Area pros dish on the ways working with an interior designer can help solve even the most vexing decorating dilemmas
Openings Near and Far
The good life in travel and food
HOME&DESIGN, published bi-monthly by Homestyles Media Inc., is the premier magazine of architecture and fine interiors for the Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia region.

The company also publishes an annual H&D Sourcebook of ideas and resources for homeowners and professionals alike. H&D Chesapeake Views is published bi-annually and showcases fine home design and luxury living in and around the Chesapeake Bay.

The H&D Portfolio of 100 Top Designers spotlights the superior work of selected architects, interior designers and landscape architects in major regions of the US.

Stay Connected with HOME & DESIGN Newsletter

Copyright © 2025 Home & Design. All rights reserved. | Back to top
magnifier