In this episode of the Uploft Interior Design Podcast, I begin by expressing my gratitude for the outpouring of support I’ve received after losing my beloved dog, Carson. I then dive into a design question from my friend Mike about choosing curtains for his living room, where I share tips on tackling tricky window treatments, particularly a bay window, and emphasize the importance of selecting the right rods and maintaining a cohesive color palette. I also suggest using a larger rug to enhance the space. If you have questions for me, make sure to submit them here.
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Introduction and New Year Reflections
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Design inspiration, real life makeovers, and the latest in pop culture. This is the Uploft Interior Design Podcast with Betsy Helmouth. Happy New Year. I hope you guys are having a great start to 2026. I really appreciate the outpouring of love and understanding. I got so many beautiful
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messages from you guys about my dog and um yes, it is hard to start the new year losing your best friend. Since the day we adopted him over 12 years ago, he has never left my side when I was at home. He’s a Chihuahua and they picked their person and Carson picked me as his
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person and I always had a little furball within arms reach who was looking up at me lovingly and was my little heartbeat outside my body. And um it’s hard it’s hard to not have him following me around all day cuz I really loved him following me around all day, but your messages
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have made it a little bit more bearable. So, thank you so much for reaching out
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Design Question from Mike
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and thank you so much for writing me design questions that help distract me from my sadness. So, that’s what I’m going to be doing today, answering a design question and talking about a show I watched with my dog by My Side, Secrets We Bury on HBO. I think it was
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the last show we watched together. All right. Anyway, uh let’s dig in. Let’s dig in and first talk about Mike’s question. So, full disclosure, Mike is a friend of mine. He used to be my son’s baseball coach and he’s an all-around great guy. Lives in Dobs Ferry, New York, where I used to
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live. and he wrote me on Facebook with a question. Of course, I’m happy to jump on Zoom or the phone since we go way back, but I can also answer it right here on the podcast. So, I figured I’d do that today because he included great pictures and lots of details that I know
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will help you guys as well. So, Mike writes, “Brianna, his wife, gave me the green light to pick curtains for the living room, and omg, I didn’t realize how hard this stuff is. I think I have an idea of what I want and what I should be looking for, but no idea if it’ll
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actually work, how to do it, and if it makes sense. Was hoping to ask the professional exclamation point. Well, I’m happy to help, Mike. Here we go.
2:24
Curtain Selection for a Bay Window
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Let’s dig in. First of all, congrats on the new place. This is very exciting. Second of all, these are not easy windows. At first blush, some of them look easy, but if you guys are following along on our Uplift Interior Design YouTube channel, only do you see that
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there’s some quirks with these windows that I’m going to get into. Also, you’ll see that I’m recording from a um different location today. I’m in my bathroom. Yes, I’m in the primary bathroom because my baby is napping. We have a handyman drilling downstairs and
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my cottage is cold. The office where I normally work is freezing because it has been so cold here that the heater can’t even keep up in that little stone room. So, here we go. Okay. When I’m looking to dress windows in a room, I always start with the most difficult window.
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That kind of sets the tone for what I’m going to be doing with the rest of those easier windows. I’m going to really get into it today with you, Mike. And so, buckle up. Take out your pen or pencil. You’re going to want to take notes. You’re going to want to put this in chat
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GPT and get a transcript because it’s not going to be easy, but you’ll learn a lot. And I hope it’ll keep you from making mistakes because I’m surprised that you even had an idea of how to treat these tricky windows. As somebody who doesn’t do this for a living, they’re not gonna be
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straightforward. So, the trickiest window we have in this space, and we have four windows I can see, is this bay window. So, we have probably a pre-war space. It has beautiful molding. Not only does it have a picture rail up top, but it has really high baseboards, it
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has chunky framing around the windows. I love this kind of detail. I’m a sucker for it. I also love that there’s already blinds in the windows. So perhaps we just need these window treatments for the visual of it. We don’t necessarily need privacy or shade. I’m not sure if
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you’re planning on removing these blinds, but to my eye, they look fine and I’d probably leave them because a fully dressed window has both blinds and drapes. And you just manipulate the blinds and you leave the drapes to the side. Okay. So, when you’re treating a
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bay rod window, you’re going to need I’m sorry, a bay window, you need a bay window rod. And that’s what we’re going to need here. Now, when you’re looking for a bay window rod, when you’re looking online, here’s the things you want to look for. You want to measure
5:03
Choosing the Right Bay Window Rod
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each window width. And when I’m talking window width, I’m not talking just the interior. I’m talking with the frame as well. If I was going to eyeball these, and yes, you can hold me to this. I would say you’ve got about 34 in on the two sides because this has three panes
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with the bay. So 32 to 34 in on each side and then the center one is probably 42. It’s bigger. And I love bay window rods that are adjustable. The other thing you want to be looking for with this bay window rod is a 1 in diameter. Looking around this space, I’m trying to
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get a clue as to the metal finish you should be using here. The only metal finish I’m clearly seeing, let me scroll through these pics one more time, is well, I think I’m seeing two. Your lamp and your in table hardware are both oil rubbed bronze, which is kind of a darker
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metal, almost a black, if you will, kind of a warm dark brown. And then it looks like you have a black or I’m sorry, a brass surround on your fireplace. I would ignore the brass. That’s an architectural finish. And I would lean into the finish that you’re bringing in
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with the furnishings with the bronze. But actually, taking a closer look, it looks like the legs of your small love seat are brass. So if Briana or you are planning on moving in one direction or the other, that would ideally be the color of your rods. either that brass or
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the oil rub bronze. And you would keep it consistent on all the windows. But you’re going to start by shopping for that bay window rod because you’ll have much less selection. And again, it must be 1 in in diameter or wider. I do not want skinny rods on
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these big, beautiful windows. All right. Now you know the type of rod to get when
7:00
Hanging Curtains: Height and Placement
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you’re shopping for the rods for the more straightforward windows. In other words, the other three in the space, you’re going to ideally use the same brand. So, you’re going to find that beautiful bay window rod and then see what other types of rods are in that
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brand’s collection. And because these other ones are so straightforward, you’ll buy the sizing that works well. All right, I’ll be more specific as we move through. When you’re hanging the rod, the first thing you want to establish is you want to establish how high it’s going to be.
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And when I’m thinking of height, what I’m doing is trying to use a standard size drape. I don’t want you to have to get drapes hemmed. I don’t want you to get drapes that don’t touch the floor. I don’t want you to get drapes that don’t fully cover the top of the window frame.
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Here’s how I measure. I measure from the top of the window frame all the way to the floor. I’m going to eyeball this. I’m going to say you’re at 92 in. The standard length of a drape is 96. Now, it could also be a little bit taller than that cuz it’s 84, which I
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know these are not. These look like beautiful high ceilings. 96 or 108. I’m going to imagine that it’s 92 in from the top of the window frame all the way to the floor, which means that 96 is the closest, but we have to have room above the window frame so that
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we’re not left with a whole bunch of fabric pudding on the ground. You’re going to measure from the top of the window frame to the ceiling. That’s the amount of play that you have to hang that rod. I’m going to guesstimate that that’s 8 to 9 in based on what I’m seeing.
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meaning that 96 will be absolutely perfect for all these drapes. Now, how far out do we hang it from the window frame? This is where we get tricky with the bay window and where we might do something a little bit different than we’re going to do on the
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other three windows. Let me zoom in. Oh, yeah. This is good. This is good. Okay, great. There is some space between the edge of the window frame and the end of the wall and this inset bay window. That’s going to be amazing because you want to make the window look a little bit wider than
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it currently is. You don’t want the drapery panel to encroach so much on the window that you lose a lot of this beautiful natural light. So, I would mount the bracket high enough so that the drapes brush the floor and outside this bay window on the far right hand
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side 3 in. I would do the same on the far left hand side. That 3 in, right? And then, hold on one second. I just accidentally closed the window with the pictures and I need those in this scenario. Okay. And then in the middle where the window frames touch, where
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there is no spacing, you’re just going to hang those center brackets right where that crease is in the wall. Right where the bend is in the window frames, okay? Right where they meet essentially. And this bay window is going to take six panels. Two panels per window.
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So that’s a lot of fabric. But what you’re going to do is you’re going to get a grommet panel, which has the rings punched into the fabric at the top. The thing I love about a grommet panel all the time, but especially in this case, is that it allows you to smush the
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fabric. And yes, that’s a design term, smush, to smush the fabric so that it doesn’t bounce back like it would with a rod pocket or something like that or even a tab top. Oof. And that way, you’re not going to lose a lot of natural light, but you’ll have the
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appropriate drapery if you would ever want to close the drapes on this bay window. All right, that’s how you treat the bay window. Let me get to the second most difficult window because that’s really how I treat every space. I look around which windows have challenges and
11:13
which windows are easy, and you start with the most challenging and work your way down to the easiest. The next most challenging window, if I’m looking at your picture, is to the right of the bay window. And the reason it’s challenging, because it looks very simple when you’re
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just looking at it straight on, is that there is kind of this radiator pipe, if you will, or some kind of structural pipe that’s 2 in outside the window frame. And that is going to be a challenge as we choose the right bracket, but it’s really not going to be
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that difficult. Here’s what we’re going to be looking for. Again, we’re looking for a rod in the same family under the same brand as the bay window rod. With this one, we’re going to hang it further than 3 in out. So, we’re going to do the same height because the window is at the
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same height, the same length of drape for the aforementioned reason. Instead of going 3 in out, since there’s a pipe, I would do this one at 5 to 6 in out. And the other thing we want to be really sure of is we want to be sure that the bracket that you’re
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using projects from the wall at least 4 to 6 in. I really love brackets that have an adjustable projection. So it can be closer when say you don’t have a pipe, but further out when you do have something like this pipe. So, I’m looking for that four to six inch
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projection on the um bracket, which you can easily see by reading the specs of the hardware. Guys, I hope I’m not
12:47
Final Tips for Drapery and Color Palette
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losing you, but this is helpful information for anyone who wants to hang drapes. And drapes really make a room. They elongate. They add splashes of color and texture, and they are so affordable. So, if you can get through the challenge of actually measuring and
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mounting them, it will be worth the work. and worth the listen to this podcast. So, when you’re hanging it five to six inches outside the window frame on one side, you want to do the same thing on the other side. It’s going to make your window look wider, but you
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don’t want to push the fabric so far to the side that you see the window frame on the inside of the fabric. You want to fully conceal the window frame on the side with the fabric. And then as you’re moving around the room to the two easier windows, you’re going to do the exact
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same thing. Hang that bracket outside five to six inches. And make sure that you’re using the same size panel, that it’s brushing the floor, and you’re saying hanging it at the same height. I do not like what you said, Mike, about how easy it’s going to be to find
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drapes. I disagree. Obviously, you need to go back and listen to some past episodes of this podcast because you’re going to need an inspiration piece. Something that gives a color palette for the room because you have these neutral beige walls, white ceilings, white
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baseboards, beautiful floors, but really no color going on in this space that feels intentional besides a navy. I’m going to need you to commit to some kind of color palette rather than just choosing arbitrarily. That’s going to be the work of say a piece of art or a nice big rug
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to introduce other colors besides the blue into this space. And if the rug under that large sectional is not new, if it’s something that you might want to switch out, let me just say it is too small for that area, it needs to be ideally wider than the sectional. That
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is a perfect opportunity to buy something with some colors that will not only camouflage stains that the kids or even when you’re entertaining might happen, but then it will also give you other colors that you could pull for those drapes. Because we have the two
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navy armchairs, I would hate to have navy drapes behind navy armchairs because what if the navies don’t really go? And also, we don’t want this to become the blue and beige room, which right now it’s going that way. All right? Uh so, pick a bigger rug than you
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currently have. Make sure it’s wider than that sectional. Pull a color from that rug for these beautiful drapes. And when you’re looking for the best price for drapes, look at Wayfair and Amazon. Highly recommend for those grommet style panels. You’ll get a much better
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selection than in any other vendor.
15:40
Documentary Recommendation: Secrets We Bury
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Woo! Guys, if you lasted through that, I am impressed. And now you can dress a lot of complicated windows like a pro. Okay, I’m going to quickly segue because that took a little bit longer than I thought. And I’m going to get into a really great documentary that if you’re
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a true crime lover, you should check out on HBO. It’s called Secrets We Bury. Unlike other documentaries that they’re creating now that have like 10 parts and they’re quite lengthy, this is nice and concise, very short, and yet very compelling. It’s about a family in Long
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Island that, you know, everybody thought was like the perfect family. The mom is having like skit nights and inviting the neighborhood over. Um there are these beautiful children who all seem to get along and are cute and have paper routes and things like this. And the one issue
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is that the dad has abandoned the mom. So when the kids were 10 and four, the dad just disappeared. The mom said he went out one day to buy cigarettes and just never came home. And the kids feel really strange about this because they always had a close
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relationship and he always seemed to be a very um hands-on dad and they’re feeling somewhat abandoned. But immediately a new man comes into her life, which is maybe not all that rare considering back then, maybe it was the ‘ 50s or the 60s, uh you know, if a
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woman didn’t work, she needed another income. And this woman has four or was it five kids? So, she had her hands full. She now has no income. Her husband has supposedly abandoned her and this other man swoops in and becomes the father figure. They wind up having another child
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together and turns out that this guy is very abusive towards the children. What we learn right away is that he’s physically abusive to the boys in terms of, you know, giving them corporal punishment and spankings and they all fear him. And what we learn later is
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that he’s also abusive to the girls in a different way in a you know um hopefully the kids have left the room by now, but in more of a sexual abuse kind of way. So, he’s not the perfect guy, but the mom keeps him around, which is devastating because we learn that the
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girls try and tell the mom what’s happening and she ignores or doesn’t believe what they’re saying. Maybe because she doesn’t want to believe, maybe because she needs his income. There could be a variety of things. And for me, that piece wasn’t delved into as
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much as it could have been. But I think it’s because the mom had passed away many years ago from cancer. So they almost weren’t able to get those answers. And unbelievably, pretty much the whole family had forgiven her for turning a blind eye to all the abuse,
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whether it was physical or sexual. Gh. Anyway, what we come to learn is that the dad maybe didn’t disappear. The brother and the sister go to see a psychic medium. Neither of them are true believers in this, but they’re just seeking answers. And they’ve always had a nagging feeling
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that their dad didn’t just disappear, didn’t just abandon them, that something more nefarious had happened. And the psychic or medium provides them with very few answers. And then the brother says at the end of the session, I’m really disappointed because
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we came here. We feel something bad happened to our dad. We think he might have been murdered and I was hoping to get more clarity from you. And she says, “I never bring up something like that unless you bring it up first. Now that you’ve said it, I’m going to tell you my
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full vision.” She basically gives them another session for free where she reveals that she feels like the dad has been buried under the house. And I won’t give away the rest because it’s very compelling, very surprising, very complicated. But this small short
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documentary took me on a wild ride. It involves hoarding. It involves PTSD. It involves denial. It involves trusting your instincts. It involves what secrets do to families. Uh I highly recommend and a lot of the themes and a lot of um just the moments in the show have stuck
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with me and I’m still thinking about
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Closing Thoughts and Farewell
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them days later. All right, guys. Well, I’m excited to talk to you again next week. Thanks again for your outpouring of love. Um, 2026 has had a rocky start, but I’m excited for the year ahead. Till next time. Bye. A big thanks to our producer Jeremy
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Young and to Eton and the Embassy for our theme music. And shout out to our parent company, Uploft Interior Design, your trusted source for expert interior design. Visit uploft.com to explore our services and book a consultation with one of our talented designers. If you’re
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enjoying the Uplift and Interior Design podcast, please support us by sharing the show with friends and leaving a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. It’s the best way to help new listeners find us. Thanks for tuning in and we’ll see you next
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week with more pro tips and pop culture dish.
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