Window Treatments Sticker Shock!

[Anonymous]

My god, I could install 45 windows of blinds in a day. That’s like $10,000/hr salary you’re paying them.

[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?

Yeah, yeah, let's use the brown people who make a dollar per day to make our luxury items!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My god, I could install 45 windows of blinds in a day. That’s like $10,000/hr salary you’re paying them.

No friend you don't understand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I bought double-wide curtain panels customized to my desired pleating style and length from an Amazon seller located in Asia. $220 for lined panels to cover a 68" wide window. Amazing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My god, I could install 45 windows of blinds in a day. That’s like $10,000/hr salary you’re paying them.

You're confused. Keep up.

[Anonymous]

We have the type of windows best suited to Roman blinds. Ordered them from one of the many websites and paid between $300-$500 a window. The fabric is nice but I'm sure it's not a premium look. Eh whatever, we are middle class, no point pretending.

[Anonymous]

Yes, unfortunately they are super expensive... especially if you have 45 windows. You can buy from a box store and hire a handyman to put everything up. Maybe an interior designer can help with coordinating that effort.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes they are crazy. About $500/window for shutters and we have 45 windows. Drapes for just one room were over $10k.

45 windows????

Don't be such a peasent. This is DCUM.

DP. Anyone who had a kitchen remodel and complains about treatments for FORTY-FIVE windows is ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

I did some rough calculations for amount of fabric and costs for pinch pleat drapes for a 65" wide window. My sewing books say to use at least double the amount of fabric to the window, ideally 2.5, but let's go with double, for 96" drapes. Add 12" to the 96" for finishing the top and the bottom of each drape. You will need extra fabric for matching print repeats, but that's specific to the print so I'll ignore that here. Most decorator fabrics are 60" wide, and that's close enough to 65" that I wouldn't add more width to each panel. Mid-price ~$50/yard. Average price for lining and interlining $10/yard each.
96+12=108=3yards per length
2 curtains/window = 6 yards per window
6 x $50 = $300
6 x $10 = $60
6 x $10 = $60
Total = $450 in material per window

That's not too terribly bad, if you're willing to do the work yourself. You can also cut the price of the fabric by tracking down sale fabrics. Joanne Fabrics carries a lot of the mid-price quality materials, and they have frequent sales.

[Anonymous]

^Sorry - $420 in material per window.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I did some rough calculations for amount of fabric and costs for pinch pleat drapes for a 65" wide window. My sewing books say to use at least double the amount of fabric to the window, ideally 2.5, but let's go with double, for 96" drapes. Add 12" to the 96" for finishing the top and the bottom of each drape. You will need extra fabric for matching print repeats, but that's specific to the print so I'll ignore that here. Most decorator fabrics are 60" wide, and that's close enough to 65" that I wouldn't add more width to each panel. Mid-price ~$50/yard. Average price for lining and interlining $10/yard each.
96+12=108=3yards per length
2 curtains/window = 6 yards per window
6 x $50 = $300
6 x $10 = $60
6 x $10 = $60
Total = $450 in material per window

That's not too terribly bad, if you're willing to do the work yourself. You can also cut the price of the fabric by tracking down sale fabrics. Joanne Fabrics carries a lot of the mid-price quality materials, and they have frequent sales.

You clearly missed the part where OP pointed out that she is a DOCTOR (ob-gyn to be exact) and has all the money but no time to DIY.

I am always surprised when people who are paid very well for their time balk at paying other people for their time, personally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did some rough calculations for amount of fabric and costs for pinch pleat drapes for a 65" wide window. My sewing books say to use at least double the amount of fabric to the window, ideally 2.5, but let's go with double, for 96" drapes. Add 12" to the 96" for finishing the top and the bottom of each drape. You will need extra fabric for matching print repeats, but that's specific to the print so I'll ignore that here. Most decorator fabrics are 60" wide, and that's close enough to 65" that I wouldn't add more width to each panel. Mid-price ~$50/yard. Average price for lining and interlining $10/yard each.
96+12=108=3yards per length
2 curtains/window = 6 yards per window
6 x $50 = $300
6 x $10 = $60
6 x $10 = $60
Total = $450 in material per window

That's not too terribly bad, if you're willing to do the work yourself. You can also cut the price of the fabric by tracking down sale fabrics. Joanne Fabrics carries a lot of the mid-price quality materials, and they have frequent sales.

You clearly missed the part where OP pointed out that she is a DOCTOR (ob-gyn to be exact) and has all the money but no time to DIY.

I am always surprised when people who are paid very well for their time balk at paying other people for their time, personally.

My friend used to make custom window treatments, and from what she says, people truly used to expect her to work for peanuts, like less than $10/hour. People have no concept of how much time goes into precisely pattern-matching fabric when making multi-width panels, making perfectly balanced pinch pleats with invisible (or precisely even visible) tacks, or hand hemming to make sure the thread catches the front in just the right place to blend with the fabric. Now that she’s shown me these details, I cringe when I go into houses where the fabric panels were pattern matched, or they placed the panel seam in the wrong place so it sticks out in front rather than being tucked right next to a pleat, or they didn’t properly secure (or didn’t use) drapery weights so drapes don’t hang nicely.

[Anonymous]

Nothing new there. They were expensive 30 years ago.

My parents balked and ended up not having any curtains or blinds on the windows except blinds for the bathroom windows.

And it turned out no one noticed the absence of curtains. The simple look is also stylish. I'm sure it also helped they have plenty of privacy as the house isn't parked next to other houses.

We've done the same, with simple blinds and we get plenty of compliments on our overall decor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did some rough calculations for amount of fabric and costs for pinch pleat drapes for a 65" wide window. My sewing books say to use at least double the amount of fabric to the window, ideally 2.5, but let's go with double, for 96" drapes. Add 12" to the 96" for finishing the top and the bottom of each drape. You will need extra fabric for matching print repeats, but that's specific to the print so I'll ignore that here. Most decorator fabrics are 60" wide, and that's close enough to 65" that I wouldn't add more width to each panel. Mid-price ~$50/yard. Average price for lining and interlining $10/yard each.
96+12=108=3yards per length
2 curtains/window = 6 yards per window
6 x $50 = $300
6 x $10 = $60
6 x $10 = $60
Total = $450 in material per window

That's not too terribly bad, if you're willing to do the work yourself. You can also cut the price of the fabric by tracking down sale fabrics. Joanne Fabrics carries a lot of the mid-price quality materials, and they have frequent sales.

You clearly missed the part where OP pointed out that she is a DOCTOR (ob-gyn to be exact) and has all the money but no time to DIY.

I am always surprised when people who are paid very well for their time balk at paying other people for their time, personally.

Actually, I didn't miss it, but did forget to add that if you're a physician the opportunity cost makes it not worth your while to DIY, UNLESS you enjoy the process. I'm a SAHM, and I enjoyed the process when I made my own drapes (some of them weren't perfect, others as pretty as a couture gown). It required a lot of precision and careful attention to detail. I come from a family with a few physicians, and they're cheap. Lovable, but cheap.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, everyone!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did some rough calculations for amount of fabric and costs for pinch pleat drapes for a 65" wide window. My sewing books say to use at least double the amount of fabric to the window, ideally 2.5, but let's go with double, for 96" drapes. Add 12" to the 96" for finishing the top and the bottom of each drape. You will need extra fabric for matching print repeats, but that's specific to the print so I'll ignore that here. Most decorator fabrics are 60" wide, and that's close enough to 65" that I wouldn't add more width to each panel. Mid-price ~$50/yard. Average price for lining and interlining $10/yard each.
96+12=108=3yards per length
2 curtains/window = 6 yards per window
6 x $50 = $300
6 x $10 = $60
6 x $10 = $60
Total = $450 in material per window

That's not too terribly bad, if you're willing to do the work yourself. You can also cut the price of the fabric by tracking down sale fabrics. Joanne Fabrics carries a lot of the mid-price quality materials, and they have frequent sales.

You clearly missed the part where OP pointed out that she is a DOCTOR (ob-gyn to be exact) and has all the money but no time to DIY.

I am always surprised when people who are paid very well for their time balk at paying other people for their time, personally.

Actually, I didn't miss it, but did forget to add that if you're a physician the opportunity cost makes it not worth your while to DIY, UNLESS you enjoy the process. I'm a SAHM, and I enjoyed the process when I made my own drapes (some of them weren't perfect, others as pretty as a couture gown). It required a lot of precision and careful attention to detail. I come from a family with a few physicians, and they're cheap. Lovable, but cheap.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, everyone!

I was being slightly sarcastic about OP's protestations that she has oh-so-little time because she is a doctor. It didn't come through.

My mother is a doctor (pathologist, to be exact) and not only does she cook her own meals, clean her own house, and grow her own vegetables, she also sews her own clothes when she sees a pattern she likes, and made the drapes for our rental house when she was a resident. She is not a normal person (very very high-energy and highly disciplined, I am the opposite), and she is cheap, but she would definitely recognize that custom window treatments are going to cost $$$$$!