Window Treatments Sticker Shock!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m reading this thread kind of stunned that someone would go through the process of having custom drapes made and be so irritated by it.

I’d LOVE to have fabrics from Schumacher, Thibaut, etc in front of me and get to have drapes designed for me. What a dream!

I agree that I’d this isn’t something you enjoy or value, just go with a simple linen from Pottery Barn (or Ballard, Restoration Hardware, etc). It’s seems like a waste to use gorgeous fabric and manpower to make something you’re not really interested in.

You people have active dramatic imaginations. Where did it say the OP is irritated with it?

I also have custom shutters and curtains. Cost me 46k for 17 windows and 2 doors. The reason we went custom is because I didn't want to shop, I wanted a designer to come to my home with samples. I actually don't really care about whatever brands you are mentioning, don't give a single fu%K. I just wanted a designer to come in, match my house and furniture and be done. I wasn't going to schlep to Pottery Barn or Home depot.

That is a LOT of money to avoid schlepping to Pottery Barn! Although imho more worth it than a Tesla or whatever.

[Anonymous]

Who ordered Pottery Barn or any chain store curtains by going into the store? Open your phone, click-click-click, done.

Maybe there are some issues with functioning outside your lane here? I don’t work anywhere near the interior design world and I know how to order curtains.

[Anonymous]

There’s nothing wrong with curtains from Pottery barn. The main disadvantages are limited fabric selection, they only come in a few lengths, they typically don’t have interlining (the felt-like layer in the middle that makes them look beefy and hang pretty) and they don’t have nice pleats are the top. They’re not pleated because they’re just one width of fabric, although I know some of them come in a double width. If you pleat them yourself they’re not going to be functional any more except on a pretty small window. You’ll have to cheat the stack to the inside to make them close and that will make your window look smaller and block light. My custom drapes for most of our windows (which are about 32” across iirc) are 1.5 widths.

I like pattern on drapes and I like the cohesion of having related fabrics for upholstery, accessories etc. You can do that with Pottery Barn but I think you’d need to start with the drapes and design around them, the way people often do with a rug. I’d be much more likely to use store panels in a room where I wanted white cotton or something but once you do a double width, pleat them and whatever it’s not that much cheaper and I didn’t get to use a Sunbrella or Perennials fabric or add a pretty tape.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who ordered Pottery Barn or any chain store curtains by going into the store? Open your phone, click-click-click, done.

Maybe there are some issues with functioning outside your lane here? I don’t work anywhere near the interior design world and I know how to order curtains.

Sure, but the options are limited and you have to first order samples to see the real color and texture. I think someone spending 47k on window treatments probably also doesn't buy their kitchen cabinets at Home Depot and doenst shop online at wayfair for their rugs.

Some people are wealthy and that's OK.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hate seeing blinds in a house. The honeycomb ones are the worst. Ew.

This is how I feel about shutters. So big and awkward. Like a prison.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m reading this thread kind of stunned that someone would go through the process of having custom drapes made and be so irritated by it.

I’d LOVE to have fabrics from Schumacher, Thibaut, etc in front of me and get to have drapes designed for me. What a dream!

I agree that I’d this isn’t something you enjoy or value, just go with a simple linen from Pottery Barn (or Ballard, Restoration Hardware, etc). It’s seems like a waste to use gorgeous fabric and manpower to make something you’re not really interested in.

You people have active dramatic imaginations. Where did it say the OP is irritated with it?

I also have custom shutters and curtains. Cost me 46k for 17 windows and 2 doors. The reason we went custom is because I didn't want to shop, I wanted a designer to come to my home with samples. I actually don't really care about whatever brands you are mentioning, don't give a single fu%K. I just wanted a designer to come in, match my house and furniture and be done. I wasn't going to schlep to Pottery Barn or Home depot.

That is a LOT of money to avoid schlepping to Pottery Barn! Although imho more worth it than a Tesla or whatever.

The poster also avoided looking like yet another Basic Bitch designed house in Bethesda. That has value as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m reading this thread kind of stunned that someone would go through the process of having custom drapes made and be so irritated by it.

I’d LOVE to have fabrics from Schumacher, Thibaut, etc in front of me and get to have drapes designed for me. What a dream!

I agree that I’d this isn’t something you enjoy or value, just go with a simple linen from Pottery Barn (or Ballard, Restoration Hardware, etc). It’s seems like a waste to use gorgeous fabric and manpower to make something you’re not really interested in.

You people have active dramatic imaginations. Where did it say the OP is irritated with it?

I also have custom shutters and curtains. Cost me 46k for 17 windows and 2 doors. The reason we went custom is because I didn't want to shop, I wanted a designer to come to my home with samples. I actually don't really care about whatever brands you are mentioning, don't give a single fu%K. I just wanted a designer to come in, match my house and furniture and be done. I wasn't going to schlep to Pottery Barn or Home depot.

That is a LOT of money to avoid schlepping to Pottery Barn! Although imho more worth it than a Tesla or whatever.

The poster also avoided looking like yet another Basic Bitch designed house in Bethesda. That has value as well.

Well, you can absolutely spend that and still have a basic bitch house. In fact most expensively and even well decorated houses are basic bitch. Super rich people start to have good art, which helps. But it just makes them look like they’re buying it to put humanity back in their basic bitch house. You know why our houses look like that? Because we’re mostly basic bitches. All of the interesting parts are suppressed for the sake of our jobs, our kids, appearances, whatever and we’re mostly all towards the middle of the curve anyway because that’s how curves work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There’s nothing wrong with curtains from Pottery barn. The main disadvantages are limited fabric selection, they only come in a few lengths, they typically don’t have interlining (the felt-like layer in the middle that makes them look beefy and hang pretty) and they don’t have nice pleats are the top. They’re not pleated because they’re just one width of fabric, although I know some of them come in a double width. If you pleat them yourself they’re not going to be functional any more except on a pretty small window. You’ll have to cheat the stack to the inside to make them close and that will make your window look smaller and block light. My custom drapes for most of our windows (which are about 32” across iirc) are 1.5 widths.

I like pattern on drapes and I like the cohesion of having related fabrics for upholstery, accessories etc. You can do that with Pottery Barn but I think you’d need to start with the drapes and design around them, the way people often do with a rug. I’d be much more likely to use store panels in a room where I wanted white cotton or something but once you do a double width, pleat them and whatever it’s not that much cheaper and I didn’t get to use a Sunbrella or Perennials fabric or add a pretty tape.

I think a lot of the people on this thread totally agree with you. They like nice window treatments.

OP is the one who is shocked and thinks it isn’t worth their time to pick everything out.

[Anonymous]

Believe it or not, JCPenney has a great design service for window treatments. Wait for a sale and you can get a really good deal for custom treatments. I had this done years ago and I remember the woman who came to my house said she had just finished doing Colin Powell's entire house.

We moved a few years ago and the first thing I did was rip down all the ugly custom swags in my living and dining room. So old and fuddy-duddy. I don't have anything up right now and I think it looks 100 times better. Fortunately, we have no need to have any treatments for privacy where we are situated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s nothing wrong with curtains from Pottery barn. The main disadvantages are limited fabric selection, they only come in a few lengths, they typically don’t have interlining (the felt-like layer in the middle that makes them look beefy and hang pretty) and they don’t have nice pleats are the top. They’re not pleated because they’re just one width of fabric, although I know some of them come in a double width. If you pleat them yourself they’re not going to be functional any more except on a pretty small window. You’ll have to cheat the stack to the inside to make them close and that will make your window look smaller and block light. My custom drapes for most of our windows (which are about 32” across iirc) are 1.5 widths.

I like pattern on drapes and I like the cohesion of having related fabrics for upholstery, accessories etc. You can do that with Pottery Barn but I think you’d need to start with the drapes and design around them, the way people often do with a rug. I’d be much more likely to use store panels in a room where I wanted white cotton or something but once you do a double width, pleat them and whatever it’s not that much cheaper and I didn’t get to use a Sunbrella or Perennials fabric or add a pretty tape.

I think a lot of the people on this thread totally agree with you. They like nice window treatments.

OP is the one who is shocked and thinks it isn’t worth their time to pick everything out.

Okay I am the PP and just to clarify I am not into the OP-bashing and I was also shocked by the cost of window treatments the first time I had to learn about it. She's a motherf-ing doctor okay (that was just for emphasis not an OB-GYN joke). She deserves a great decorator and she never has to notice or think about the weight of interlining. She should peruse some magazines on her precious one day off a month or whatever, clip a photo and pay to have it recreated. Godspeed, doctor. Sorry it costs so much, just think of it as the healthcare of your house.

[Anonymous]

Is there a business opportunity here? I get that a big cost of custom treatments is in the labor. What about setting up a workshop in a place with low labor costs like the midwest, and shipping the completed work to this area? Or do they already do that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You made your bed, OP. You can't complain if you decided to go the custom route and eschew semi-custom companies like Budget Blinds (which are not cheap, by the way, they have some very high-end items).

I'm not complaining, just really surprised. I know nothing about home improvement, I've spent most of my adult life in school and never thought twice about peices of home improvement.

Got it, and thanks for explaining your predicament. I get it! Honestly it sounds like you might be the type of person who needs to hire a decorator. Believe it or not, buying from someone who can buy at to the trade prices sometimes ends up being overall cheaper.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there a business opportunity here? I get that a big cost of custom treatments is in the labor. What about setting up a workshop in a place with low labor costs like the midwest, and shipping the completed work to this area? Or do they already do that?

A lot of big companies will outsource to Asia or south america.

[Anonymous]

Some people are rich and some aren't. I don't have $50k to spend on window treatments but I also don't make as much as op.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there a business opportunity here? I get that a big cost of custom treatments is in the labor. What about setting up a workshop in a place with low labor costs like the midwest, and shipping the completed work to this area? Or do they already do that?

No. A) they already do that and B) all the profit is in marking up the fabric. Making the panels is practically just a retail service. You might not even “pay” for all the labor (of course, you could call that a discount on the markup. It’s a competitive market so your price is probably P=2(wholesale materials)+.8(labor cost) or something already).

Fabric is really expensive and it takes a lot of fabric to make drapes. One window in my guest room with 1.5 panels is 9 yards of fabric. There are two windows I don’t have the real numbers but let’s say lining and interlining are $5/yard.

If I pick a nice, midrange fabric at $50/yard, I’m looking at

18*60=1080, plus maybe $200 for the rods, before any labor. And those are more like wholesale fabric prices. Plus really I want the $75/yard fabric.