How to Purchase High-Quality Custom Draperies and Shades
When you decide it's time to add inspiration and beauty to your home by purchasing custom draperies and shades, there are many places you can turn to.
Understanding the true meaning of 'custom' in the window covering industry is crucial. It's the key to achieving the desired result. Without this understanding, you might end up with a disappointing or even upsetting outcome after your window treatments are installed.
Many homeowners and even businesses that offer these products think of custom as referring to getting a particular size of window treatment that isn't readily available. Others expect and look forward to choosing unique colors and fabrics. Only some are aware of the entire process and value of designing custom window treatments.
Justin's living room: clients enjoying sun-filtering custom shades & drapes in their Oregon bungalow.
Once you see the full scope of what's involved, it's actually pretty exciting. The potential for how window coverings transform your home goes far beyond the shape, size, or color of your drapes, shades, or blinds.
Once you understand what's involved, it's easier to know who to turn to. Many sources claim to offer a custom product.
Online catalogs
Big box home improvement stores
Department stores
Membership warehouse clubs
National window covering chains
Interior designers and decorators
Window fashion design specialists
In the end, only a few of these options offer an actual custom process and deliver the level of design and the total value you deserve from your investment.
What does it mean to receive a truly custom window treatment design?
The first shift that helps one understand the value of custom window treatment design happens when you think about more than the final product that hangs in your home.
It is best to consider Custom window treatment design as a process rather than a product. Its goal is to transform your home into an inspiring refuge from the world or a stunning venue for entertaining guests.
| Aspect | Truly Custom (Adrette) | Other Window Treatment Options |
|---|---|---|
| Design Process | Comprehensive, personalized experience | Often limited to size, color, and fabric selection |
| Expertise | Experienced professionals with deep knowledge | May lack in-depth expertise or training |
| Design Integration | Fully integrates with existing interior design | May not consider overall room design |
| Customization Level | Unique, one-of-a-kind expressions | Often limited to trendy or pre-selected options |
| Craftsmanship | Precision craftsmanship from design to installation | May vary in quality and attention to detail |
| Problem Solving | Handles all aspects and potential issues | May leave problem-solving to the customer |
| Fabric Selection | Access to exclusive, trade-only showrooms | Limited to in-store or catalog options |
| Functionality Consideration | Addresses privacy, light control, and convenience | May focus primarily on aesthetics |
| Installation | Overseen by the designer for perfect results | May not include specialized installation |
| Customer Experience | Joyful, guided journey | Can be overwhelming or frustrating |
| After-Sale Support | Ongoing relationship and support | May be limited or non-existent |
| Design Expertise | Often includes interior design background | May lack broader design perspective |
| Project Management | Complete oversight from start to finish | Often fragmented or customer-managed |
Designing custom window treatments is far more intricate than most homeowners realize. When we guide our clients to a beautiful and functional design, they are always surprised at the multitude of details that need to be considered. The final result may look simple, but it's the culmination of a great deal of craftsmanship and technical expertise. Clients are often taken aback by the potential pitfalls in window treatment installations and the amount of work we do to safeguard their projects.
The process should include these elements.
1. Experienced Professionals
Gerri's dining room: a to-scale drawing to help client visualize their future custom draperies.
It takes experience and expertise to bring a stunning window fashion design to life. Many fabrics are unruly, strange things, and it takes an expert to know how they will hang and how they catch the light and interact with a room. Accurate measurements for window coverings are surprisingly technical and specific. Infrastructure in a home, for example, where electrical lines run and how walls are framed, comes into play when engineering a design for fabric weight and the power needed to run automated motorization for curtains, drapes, and shades.
2. Exceptional Artistry and Design Skills
There are two kinds of window treatments you can install in a home. One is whatever is trendy and pushed by a catalog or limited selection in a store. The second is a truly unique, one-of-a-kind expression that matches your vision and integrates with the rest of your home's interior design. Window fashion design specialists have the skill and vision to do the latter.
3. Precision Craftsmanship
Justin's dining nook: custom velvet draperies and handwoven grass shades add warmth to an Oregon vintage bungalow.
You will notice if a window treatment isn't installed correctly and hangs unevenly. And then you'll see it again - and again and again. It takes precision from the designer, the skilled artisans who make the final product, and the craftsmen who complete the installation to create a look that will last many years.
4. A Personalized Experience
Purchasing custom window coverings should feel more like a journey than someone taking an order from you or asking a few standardized questions about what you want. It should be an experience where someone knowledgeable enters your home, becomes a trusted advisor, and helps you create something extraordinary.
5. A Joyful Journey
This last one is simple. It should be a fun experience for you! While your custom window covering provider takes over the project management of the process and deals with any headaches that come up, you should be able to enjoy the journey. Unfortunately, this doesn't always happen. Larger window covering chains and big retail options tend to put the problems back in your court to resolve - and they sometimes make it challenging.
What should custom window coverings accomplish in your home?
Now that you've seen how much depth is involved in a genuinely custom process, seeing what the coverings are supposed to achieve will help you understand why so much experience, expertise, and personalized service is needed.
Custom window coverings need to do much more than be the right size, color, and style. They should . . .
Integrate with the rest of your interior design. The colors, fabrics, and textures should coordinate with your furnishings, flooring, lighting, accessories, and artwork.
Support how you plan to use the room. What a kitchen needs is far different from a space for entertaining or the comfort needed in a bedroom.
Manage your privacy. Many window treatments aim to balance functionality that allows you to enjoy the view outside your window with the need for privacy and security.
Control sunlight. How your window treatments interact with sunlight is a critical design element that affects the room's aesthetics, the temperature, and even your utility bills.
Create convenience. Modern motorization options and even newer options for manual controls make it easier to open and close your treatments and manage the atmosphere in your home.
Coordinate with other interior fabrics. Many custom window treatment designs are paired with orders for custom pillows, bedding, or upholstery for showcased furniture in the room.
Make you happy! We are very serious about this happiness thing! After all of the aesthetic and practical considerations are addressed, the net goal for your project is simple. Your design should make you happy every time you walk into the room. The space should feel complete and genuinely like your own.
Which of the options available for purchasing quality custom window treatments can deliver a truly custom experience?
Now that you understand what to expect in a custom window treatment design experience, seeing your best options is more manageable.
It's important to note that the options listed below are not designed to deliver the comprehensive value of a truly custom experience. Understanding this distinction will help you make an informed decision when choosing a provider for your custom window treatments.
Online catalogs
Big box home improvement stores
Department stores
Membership warehouse clubs
National window covering chains
Typically, their representatives lack the training and depth of expertise needed to consider everything required to create a successful luxury design. Their processes are built for speed and scale rather than personalization and detail.
However, these two options are designed to deliver a truly custom experience.
Interior designers and decorators
Window fashion design specialists
Both of these specialists will approach the design process with a similar ethos. In fact, interior designers often partner with window fashion design specialists on projects because of their shared values and the importance of specialized expertise.
These two options also open up far more choices and options for your design. For example, did you know that window covering specialists and interior designers can access local textile showrooms that are open to the trade only? There, they can find exclusive fabrics, check out samples, and bring a curated selection to your home.
Window Fashion Design Specialists are the Optimal Choice for Purchasing Custom Window Coverings.
Window fashion design specialists have a wide range of knowledge and skills in window treatments and years of experience. Suppose you find one with a degree in interior design, so much the better. You are in luck.
The window fashion designer will help you find the perfect fabric for your windows and ensure that your custom window treatments harmonize with your room's other furnishings and finishes.
It takes someone very knowledgeable and sensitive to tie in the window treatments with an oriental rug that was in the family, artwork found while on vacation, or a recently acquired loveseat. The designer's challenge is to find the perfect fabric and style to marry all these items together.
In any case, choose someone you are comfortable with and with the degree of experience and education you feel is essential to get your job done right. Talk to the design specialist on the phone. Often, they will offer a complimentary virtual consultation where you can run your ideas by them and get an estimate of your project's cost before they even come to your home.
Lastly, a good designer should be with you from start to finish to ensure an excellent result. Make sure that the design professional you choose will personally measure your openings, oversee the fabrication of your draperies and shades, and be present at the installation. Any drapery installer, even those with lots of installation experience, will benefit from the guidance the drapery specialist will provide. Your designer should ensure you receive the proper steaming, dressing, and detailing for a perfect final look.
Quality custom draperies are a significant investment, regardless of who you decide to purchase from. Working with a custom window treatment designer gives you confidence in your decisions. And, as we said before, it also makes the process more fun. At Adrette Window Coverings, we end up creating lifelong friendships with clients.
Schedule a design consultation with us here to receive the personal attention and care you need to bring your vision to life and create warm, inspiring spaces in your home.