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Finding Your Window of Opportunity

How do you know if you should choose custom-made window treatments, or opt for one of the many attractive ready-made draperies in stores and catalogues? Here's a quick overview:

Choose custom

• If your windows are an unusual size
• If you plan to stay in your home at least 5 years
• If you need the advice of a professional to decide on the best treatments, have a wide choice of unique, trade-only fabrics, want professional measuring and installation
• If you want to make sure your drapery fabric, lining, and, for certain fabrics, interlining, are of lasting quality
• If you want hardware that is distinctive and sized to fit your windows exactly and complements your room design.
• If you want the advice of a professional who has seen many different windows, sizes, and shapes, as well as a variety of design solutions.

Choose ready-made

• If you are planning to move within a few years
• If your furniture, and taste, is in transition and you don't want to commit to one look
• If you want a less costly solution
• If you want simple panels or shades and your windows are of average size
• If relatively lightweight, adjustable rods will work for you.

Q and A

Why does it seem like ready-made panels are so much less expensive than custom?

Ready-made draperies may seem less expensive, but in terms of value, you get what you pay for. All silks, for example, are not created equal. Go to your local fabric store and look at and touch the silk on the remainder table. Then look at and feel the most expensive silk. Check out the silks in the middle as well. The lowest price silk looks lovely at first glance, but it is much lighter than better quality silk, and has a tendency to sag or stretch. Mid-priced and high-end silks are heavier weight, and often have a more lustrous sheen: the color has more depth. Likewise, panels of cottons and other fabrics sold ready-made often will be available in only a few widths or lengths, which may mean you need to pay an additional charge for alterations. They may be available only as rod-pockets or pinch pleats, but you may want more choices.

Why are custom rods so much more expensive than ready-made?

Almost all ready-made rods are adjustable. This means that in the middle of your rod you will see the place where the larger end meets the smaller end, in order to create the adjustable fit. These rods work best when you are able to use the smallest of a range of measurement, for example, if your window is 36" wide, and the rod will fit windows 36"-54". Then, the rod will appear more solid, and you will partially avoid the second problem with ready-made rods: lack of sturdiness. Ready-made curtain hardware is often relatively light-weight. Depending on the weight of your curtain, they can easily bow downward in the center. Also, the screws that come with the hardware are often inadequate for the job, leading to pulled-out brackets.

Custom rods are heavier, of higher quality, and are available in a huge variety of styles, finishes, and thicknesses. Best of all, they are installed by a professional. Window treatment installers carry a variety of anchors and other equipment to make sure your rods and window treatments are installed correctly the first time. They cut your rods on site, so everything fits precisely. And should there be a glitch, a good installer often finds a way around the problem.

On Window Coverings Today

What I like, and what I've found appeals to most of my clients, is a relatively simple window treatment that lets in the maximum amount of light. Today, even in traditional rooms, people seem to prefer that the emphasis be on beautiful fabrics, and window treatments crafted with simplicity but very high quality, as opposed to the formal swags and jabots of the 80's and early 90's. Best suited to very grand residences, complicated and overly formal window treatments can make people feel on edge, as though they must dress formally and be on their best behavior. I would rather have my family and my guests enjoy the beauty of my home, rather than be intimidated by the furnishings. A beautifully crafted roman shade or panels with interesting detail are simple and elegant. The goal is a sense of relaxed luxury and style.

Interesting and different window hardware is important as well. There are many more contemporary rods and finials on the market lately, as well as beautifully finished traditional rods. Panels hung from beautiful rods and rings have a modern feeling. They are less heavy than using a cornice or a valance, and pleats can be made in a wide variety of ways to express your personal style, as well as to bring out the best in the fabric.

That's not to say there's no place for a valance. Simple valances with inverted pleats look both classic and modern. Used alone, they can act as a punctuation mark for windows; used on top of panels, especially on a very long window, they can provide continuity and can visually knit a large space together. A valance of a different color can make you see the fabric below it in a whole new way.

Sometimes the best window treatment may not involve fabric at all. Blinds, shades, and shutters bring an architectural, clean look to rooms, and may be the only solution you need. Or, if you prefer the look of fabric but feel drapes are too overwhelming, simple roman shades may be the answer.

Whatever the style, I believe the watchwords are simple, clean design and spectacular materials.