Yards of fabric, yards of liner, drapery hardware, workroom charges, valances, tie backs, fringe yardage, installation charges, labor and shipping - the common words of the custom drapery world.
Custom drapery is so beautiful but usually is quite expensive. There is nothing like the feel of a silk, lined panel – so thick, yet soft, lustrous, smooth and elegant. But OMG can it put a damper on your wallet!
I had a client in South Charlotte that had the money to spend. She lived in a beautiful mansion and didn’t lack for anything. Marble was everywhere. Gold was everywhere. The house and grounds were something out of “Lifestyles of The Rich and Famous”. This client wanted custom drapery for her baby girl’s nursery. She choose the best silk, hand knotted fabric for the valance, the best hardware to match the furniture the most elegant fringe and a coordinating shower curtain for the bathroom at $345 a yard. I color co-coordinated the bedding in the crib (one of those round cribs mind you) with the custom upholstered furniture. Even the paint was a custom color to match the bedding in the crib. The color scheme of the room was a soft, Victorian pink with chocolate brown accents – it was the most beautiful drapery I’ve ever designed and it was huge! It was the entire with of the room, which included two windows and a French door.
Well $10,000 later and many hours invested I heard the dreaded words from my clients mouth; “I think I’ll go to Pottery Barn”. Potty Barn?? Are you kidding me? How did we go from high-end silk fabric to off the rack store bought panels? I wish I had just a nickel for every time I heard a client say that. This client could have hands down bought drapery 3x’s as expensive but sometimes the sticker shock just sends them to Pottery Barn.
So getting back to custom drapery, yes it’s beautiful. Yes it’s expensive and yes I get so mad at Pottery Barn!! Are Pottery Barn’s sales up? Probably, they do have nice things but it’s kinda funny how some people want the best of the best but when they see how much “the best” is, they are suddenly very happy with “second best”.
Wow, I didn't see the end of that post coming! I was in one of the furniture stores over there by Carolina Place the other day - one pair of drapes was over $1000. Can't do that when I need 7 pairs just for the master bedroom alone. I like Restoration Hardware better than PB for drapery though.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I think that as a designer we want to do everything so high-end that we lose track of the overall project. There might have been a much different outcome if you had chosen a much more moderately priced fabric. You could have kept the look the same and probably saved the sale. I know we are always looking for that customer that will spend "anything" but their anything as a consumer and our anything as a salesperson are 2 different things. Then once you've shown them the "best" its hard to back sell.
ReplyDeleteJust my opinion.
Carla, I agree with your opinion 100%. She came into the studio with fabric in hand, I knew at that point it would be a challenge but I did put my selling skills to the test. I recommended a similar fabric, just as beautiful but in a reachable price range - no go! She clearly stated that she wanted a certain fabric and it was amazing at that but with that “amazingness” comes a price tag. The price tag of a “no thank you, I'm going to Pottery Barn”. Thank you so much for your post! :-)
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