A home as nostalgic as Christmas morning. The stately red bricks, the myriad of lighted windows … the sculpture that gets knocked down by Little Nero’s Pizza workers. Yes, we’re talking about the legendary McCallister house. For our final SelectBlinds review of the year, we’re looking at window coverings in the 1990 comedy, Home Alone.
First off, this gorgeous home is real and located in Winnetka, Illinois. Tourists visit it throughout the year, admiring it outside the gated driveway. It is someone’s actual living residence after all.
As we mentioned earlier, the front of the house has a lot of windows – 17 to be exact – which led us to wonder what their window coverings were. An hour and 43 minutes later, we concluded that the McCallisters really, and we mean really, liked drapery.
- Emerald, embossed, velvet drapes over sheer drapes in the living room with matching tiebacks. Iconic.
- Sheer curtains with Rod Top and Bottom red, patterned drapes in the kitchen.
- Light blue, floral drapery with sheer drapes in the master bedroom.
- A roller shade (sunlight made it hard to tell color) under gray curtains in Buzz’s room. Throughout the movie, you can see roller shades halfway down in other windows on the second floor.
- White, laced curtains appear to be in the infamous bathroom scene. Questionable, given curtains aren’t moisture resistant.
- Soft gold, embossed, velvet drapes with sheer shades in the dining room. It also is embossed with a pattern. The tiebacks are maroon with the soft gold outline.
- Countless Rod Top and Bottom sheer drapery covering smaller windows, like on the sides of the front door.
- Red and white patterned curtains on the basement door.
- White, or a very light grey, drapes over the window Kevin ziplines out of.
- Green and red floral pattern on creme drapery over sheer shades is the last window covering we see in the movie – right before Kevin looks out to see his neighbor hugging his granddaughter (tears).
We told you – it’s a lot of drapery! We were surprised though to see roller shades vs cellular shades; cellulars are the best window covering to insulate homes from the cold or heat. However, cellular shades were released in 1985, a mere five years before the movie premiered.
Our three theories: Peter McCallister wanted to see how cellular stood the test of time before investing in them, Kate McCallister loved the drapery’s elegant look, or drapery was simply the best window covering for the movie.
The sheer drapes were perfect to showcase the “dancing” mannequin silhouettes that initially diverted the Wet Bandits. Cellular or roman shades would not be translucent enough to highlight the figures while providing enough depth to hide them.
The living room drapes were also ideal for breaking Harry and Marv to break in. We’re sure they would have even punched through wooden blinds to get Kevin, but they were trying to be subtle. Harry made little to no noise when going through the drapery, until he stepped on the ornaments of course.
The Conclusion
Overall, the McCallister’s home had elegant window coverings that encompassed the spirit of Christmas. Even though it felt repetitive for how big the home is, we can’t think of a better window treatment than drapery to support Kevin’s scheming.
Want to recreate the dashing, drapery style?
Main Living Room: Pair our 100% polyester Jewel Tone Drapery in Velvet Emerald with Sheer Curtains in Sheer Pure White Crepe underneath. Don’t forget the tieback to match!
Master Bedroom: Along with sheer curtains, go with the Select Custom Curtains in Mist Floral Scroll.
Dining Room: We love the soft touch of the Delicate Sheen Curtains in Gold Eclipse.
Kitchen: We don’t offer Rod Top and Bottoms at this time, but Lifestyle Custom Drapes in Bohemian Red is a fresh, modern look.
Living Room: Bring in nature with Select Custom Curtains in Victorian Floral Jade.
Interested in new window coverings? Call or chat with one of our Design Consultants for more info! Call (888) 257-1840. They’re easy to talk to!