Big Sur Seaside Cottage Window Treatments
Venice Beach based design firm Electric Bowery looked to Field Work Design & Craft to bring their eclectic vision to life for this cliff top Big Sur cottage with a mix of analog and modern window treatment solutions.
Custom bottom up roll shades were given an embroidered border trim and fitted with a manual lift system that had a perfectly analog feel for this Big Sur cliff-side cottage
Big Sur Coast Line…nobody does it better.
Always open minded to projects in interesting places and projects that require truly custom, out of the box solutions, when oft AD featured LA based design firm Electric Bowery reached out to see if we could help bring their window treatment vision to life for an eclectic seaside cottage perched on a cliff in Big Sur with 180 degree Pacific Ocean views, we could not say no.
The main driver on this project was a room full of unlined woven wood style shades that would require a simple rope-rigging style lift system that we built directly into the architecture itself. This sort of system is inherently old school and rudimentary in the world of window treatments, something that feels as if from a bygone era, but a request we have gotten a few times in the past year. It is not something we had previously done, so had to work out a solution from scratch and figure out how it would seamlessly integrate into this original, very unique Big Sur cottage.
Using ropes and eye-hooks that drove directly into the window casing, we created a manual lift system that worked excellently. With any window treatment, an honest conversation about how it will function for everyday use is critical, but particularly when creating a custom one-off manual solution. In this case we were adamant with the Electric Bowery team that this system with not be the quickest or most “convenient,” something many clients demand in 2026, and they assured us that for a cottage in Big Sur with a wood burning stove and not a neighbor in sight, it was perfect. In the end, we all agreed when we saw the result.
This project in Big Sur really gave us the opportunity to flex one of our biggest strengths which is delivering truly custom window treatments across a broad spectrum of treatment types and needs. Sharing the large primary bedroom with these woven-wood roll up shades were a handful of clerestory windows that needed to be both automated due to their height and location, and also blackout material to block the early morning south-facing Big Sur sun. Careful consideration for fitment in the unique architecture yielded a perfect result and that even though highly modern, still felt integrated into this cozy cottage.
The clean lines and modern aesthetic of these motorized roller shades are understated and still felt right at home in an eclectic Big Sur cottage.
Some sights from around the project site. Big Sur has a tendency to show off a full spectrum of personality, from rugged and intimidating to elegant and refined over the course of a pretty short amount of time. One of the most special stretches of coast in the world and for good reason.
The final touches on this project were an unlined pleated drapery in our house European certified linen and an accompanying roman shade in the guest bedroom. The Electric Bowery team selected a dramatic pinkish purple, aptly named “burnt roses” to compliment a linen bedspread and bespoke upholstered headboard.
