I’m about to reveal a secret that I’ve been hiding from my husband for the past 10 years. Here goes: I hated the custom window treatments in our first home. I hated them from day one. I hated that they never hung right. I hated them even more when I re-hemmed them at 3 in the morning the night before our Christmas party. I still hated them the day we moved out six years later.
I made a huge mistake when I picked them out—and since they cost a fortune, I brought them to our new home. Now they’re in the cedar closet. I haven’t been able to donate them to the Junior League or Goodwill because I simply cannot admit to my husband that I hate them.
I’m not alone in my dissatisfaction. Time and again, clients whisper to me that they picked a certain fabric because it looked great in the store and they didn’t realize there would be “so much pattern” when they hung the panels. Quietly they admit that the swags and jabots they had custom made looked great in a friend’s home but don’t quite make the same statement in their living room. Defeated, they admit the reason they have no window treatments is they couldn’t decide on a fabric and didn’t want to risk investing their money on something they’d regret later.
Thankfully, for Main Liners, there’s a solution to this dilemma. Just like you can go to a store and try on a dress before you buy it, the Curtain Exchange in Wayne lets you take window treatments home with you to try on your windows before you commit to purchasing them. If it works, you can purchase the curtains that day. If you want to change the style or alter the trim or length, custom draperies can be at your home in just a few weeks. Owner Joan Flynn offers a complimentary service in which a skilled designer will visit your home with samples and measure so you get the look you want the first time.
So, if you’re designing a room in your home, make sure to add their showroom to your “must shop” list. Their luscious silks, crisp linens and knockout prints will make it hard to pick just one. The best part is you don’t have to right away—you can take them all home and decide later. Spread Eagle Village, 503 W. Lancaster Ave., Wayne; (610) 765-1142, thecurtainexchange.com.
Have any tips for stretching your design dollar or any resources you want to share? Feel free to contact me at kate@hartstaging.com.
