A Seamless Transition: The Cashiers Designer Showhouse

The 2024 Cashiers Designer Showhouse was a stunning showcase of innovation, craftsmanship, and creative collaboration, and High Country Drapery Design was proud to participate alongside renowned interior designer Holly Watson. This year, Holly was tasked with transforming the mudroom, breezeway, and screened porch, creating spaces that seamlessly blended the natural beauty of the outdoors with the refined interiors of the home.

For us at High Country Drapery Design, this collaboration offered the perfect opportunity to showcase our ability to work in tandem with leading designers, bringing their visions to life with custom drapery and soft furnishings tailored specifically for the space.

Nature as the Guiding Principle

The mudroom and breezeway, traditionally transitional spaces, often serve as the first and last points of contact between the outside world and the interior of the home. Holly’s design for these areas was rooted in the idea of making this transition as fluid as possible, pulling elements of nature inside in a way that felt cohesive and inviting.

Our role in this process was to extend this natural theme into the textiles, using fabrics that not only reflected the beauty of the surrounding landscape but also held up to the functional needs of these high-traffic, transitional spaces. For example, the drapery we created was adorned with colorful, intricate patterns of butterflies and insects, evoking a sense of the outdoors that connected seamlessly with the rest of the space. This natural motif was further enhanced by the soft furnishings, which featured hues of green, blue, and brown, and patterns that drew from foliage, complementing both the indoor-outdoor flow and Holly’s other design elements.

Durability Meets Design

While the design inspiration for these spaces centered around nature, there was also a need to ensure that the fabrics used were functional for transitional spaces. The breezeway and screened porch see exposure to the elements, making it essential that the materials chosen were durable enough to withstand the environment while maintaining a soft, inviting aesthetic.

For the elevated dog bed, a critical focal point of the room, we created custom cushions that brought together vibrant orange and blue hues, mirroring the adjacent wallpaper adorned with working breed dogs. The fabric selected for the dog bed was durable, yet comfortable—ensuring that both function and style were maintained. The construction of these cushions required an exact fit, with attention to dimension to ensure that every piece integrated perfectly with the furniture and design around it.

We took a similar approach with the drapery, using a simple double pinch pleat construction. The light, durable fabric allowed natural light to filter into the screened porch, softly illuminating the space while offering enough protection from the elements. This was particularly important for a space like the screened porch, where the interaction between light and materials is a defining feature

A Delicate Balance

Our soft furnishings, from the pillows to the chair cushions, were crafted to complement rather than overpower the other design elements in the space. By utilizing multiple materials and colors, we ensured that these pieces served as accent points, drawing attention to the natural motifs throughout the rooms while maintaining a harmonious flow.

In this way, every piece we created, whether it was the cushions on a dining chair or the pillow on the bench, played a role in furthering the design’s overall sense of balance. Holly’s knack for mixing old and new was evident in every corner of the space, and we ensured that our work contributed to this aesthetic. The interplay between bold, natural patterns and traditional craftsmanship, whether in the drapery or soft furnishings, reinforced the space’s timeless yet fresh feel.

Collaboration in Every Detail

What made this showhouse so special was the level of collaboration that went into each detail. Working closely with Holly Watson allowed us to bring her vision to life in a way that felt both seamless and intentional. This partnership is a key example of how we at High Country Drapery Design work hand-in-hand with designers to craft custom solutions that not only meet the practical needs of the space but also elevate its overall aesthetic.

We take pride in the attention to detail and precision that each project requires, whether it’s ensuring that the drapery filters just the right amount of light or that the cushions are perfectly tailored for the furniture they adorn. This focus on quality and collaboration allows us to create spaces that not only look beautiful but also function flawlessly within the context of the design.

As the 2024 Cashiers Designer Showhouse drew to a close, we couldn’t be more pleased with the way our work was able to enhance the spaces Holly designed. The mudroom, breezeway, and screened porch were a reflection of how thoughtful design can seamlessly merge the natural world with the comforts of home—an ethos that we share at High Country Drapery Design.