The Shade Store Reveal

I still can’t believe those old vertical blinds are gone. Well, yes I can—there’s something indescribable about having thick, luscious drapery in a room. The sound quality is different. It feels more intimate, and safe somehow. 

This is the final post in a series I’ve been doing with The Shade Store. I got to interview Ian Gibbs, whose grandfather founded the business, and then I chronicled the surprisingly difficult journey of choosing drapery fabric and styles for these admittedly odd windows in our new house. My first round of samples didn’t work out so well, but the final choices came together quickly once I brought in my designer friend, Victoria Sanchez, for direction.

To recap, here are some of the before pictures:

 

 

Now, even in the daylight, those drapery panels at either end make for such a nice anchor—and frame—for the bed. And because the Romans are hung at the ceiling line, the entire windows are exposed.

 

And now for the other windows flanking the wall that separated the bedroom from the bathroom. Here’s the before, as a reminder:

 

And after:

 

Here’s a detail of the Jonathan Adler trim from Kravet, which Victoria picked out. It beautifully ties back into the greens of the bed and striped draperies, and blends in with the apple-green color of the rug.

Here are my takeaways from working with The Shade Store:

—Choosing fabrics is very easy. Their wall displays, and the organized samples stored in wide roll-out drawers, places everything in front of you. Teresa at the Mosaic store sent me home (twice!) with bagfuls of samples to try in the room.

—The Shade Store will use an image of your space to do a rendering of what your room will look like with the chosen samples, so you can get a good idea of what the draperies will look like installed.

Here’s why I didn’t choose this:

 

But went for this:

— Once you choose your fabrics, The Shade Store takes over. Installers call you to come measure. Then they send you a formal quote. After that, you just click on the quote to go into the website and place your order. My total order took a bit longer because of the custom trim—getting the trim ordered through Victoria, and then having it sent to their workrooms—but all the draperies and hardware were sent to my house within a month.

— And you still don’t have to do anything except set aside the boxes as they come in. The same installer will call you again to schedule the installation. (You pay the installer separately for both the measuring and the install.)

— That’s it. The shades are all in. There was literally no fuss.

Meanwhile, all the other windows in the bedrooms and office of this house still have vertical blinds. We’re just about done with all the major work that we started when we moved in on July 1 (new kitchen, new basement, new shelving and wallpaper in the living/movie area, new powder room, whew).

New draperies in the other rooms will have to wait for future budget cycles, but I’m telling you, having interlined, blacked-out drapes in the master bedroom makes this space into a real retreat. I’m glad we didn’t put this one off!

And here’s the best news: since I first started this partnership with The Shade Store, they’ve opened a second location in Georgetown.

Now you can either visit the original location at the Mosaic District in Fairfax, or go to the much bigger showroom on M Street. It’s worth a visit.

[Disclaimer: I received in-kind compensation for my post and review. All thoughts and opinions expressed herein are my own and not influenced by The Shade Store, and/or its affiliates in any way.]