French Door Window Treatment Options

French Doors in a home are beautiful in themselves but how does one treat these with window treatments?

One of the best options available are roman shades. Roman shades offer privacy as well as light reduction when needed. Roman shades come in many styles. A drapery company will allow you the opportunity to pick a fabric and material that works well within your home. The drapery company then makes the roman shade for you as a custom look.

Roman shades are also available as a custom look from leading manufacturers like Hunter Douglas and Comfortex Window Fashions. These companies have many fabrics to choose from too. The roman shade in itself can have a rolled or flat style. (more…)

Thanksgiving Decorations

Its hard to believe that Thanksgiving is approaching quickly. If you go to family or friends homes, take a look at their home decorating – especially the window treatments. If they have custom window treatments and you don’t, take a look at how custom just makes the house pop. We often refer to custom window treatments as furniture for the windows.  Window treatments are like furniture in many ways.

We are often asked how often people redecorate . We have found that on average people redecorate every 8-10 years. Keep in mind this is the “average”.  As I think about my own home and think about furniture, I would say that even for furniture, my wife and I change it up every 8-10 years too.

We often find that when people look for furniture, they often will make a change in the window treatments too. Decorating is more than furniture and window treatments and we recognize this at Sunshine Drapery. We are a full service decorating company and our decorators do everything possible to help pull everything together.

At Thanksgiving, look at the table linens…i.e the tablecloth, napkins, the dining room seats, pillows on the furniture, and even the cushion if there is one. We have our very own custom workroom and employ our own seamstresses . We simply pull it together to make everything imaginable and do so with a perfect fit guarantee.

Thanksgiving is a time of thanks and all of the employees at Sunshine Drapery would like to thank all of our customers for your business. We are all thankful to have decorated thousands of homes in Missouri and Illinois since 1969. We continue to work hard to be the best decorating company in St. Louis offering the finest custom work with our top notch staff.

As the owner of Sunshine, I am thankful to not only have many loyal customers, but also an incredible staff. Every employee serves an important role in our company and we ask them to handle business as if it were their own and to ultimately make the customer the top priority.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

What is a Thermal Curtain?

When we hear that a customer wants a thermal curtain, it usually is a curtain or as we like to say at Sunshine, a thermal drapery.

Often, customers are looking for a drapery to keep out the cold air from coming through windows. A drapery in itself will act as protection from the elements like cold air, but what one does not realize is that the lining can make a big difference.

When we have a client who is looking for a new look and also trying to keep out the cold, we will discuss utilizing what is called a thermal suede lining. Thermal suede is heavier and just offers an extra thick layer of protection.

This is not to say that any of our linings are not viable and will not do the same thing. Any type of lining is adding a layer to the main material so it will help out. Thermal suede lining is no different than people wearing “long underwear”. It is heavier and adds a layer for warmth.

Thermal suede usually comes in white and off white and the color makes a difference depending on the main front fabric. If a customer is ordering a white color base fabric, then the white thermal lining is going to be important in the selection because it will show off the main fabric more.  Nevertheless, thermal lining is available to help primarily for the extra protection.

In todays world, we all seem to be wanting to do our part in purchasing eco friendly type products, otherwise known as going “green”. When buying draperies, you can also be eco friendly by purchasing not only for décor, but helping with your energy bills.

We often are asked if there are other eco friendly type products other than thermal draperies in the window covering business. The answer is emphatically yes. But, we’ll save this for another time since the focus today is on thermal draperies.

Meet Decorator Linda Cavitt

As a decorator, when I visit a home, I can be inspired by many things. It could be a piece of artwork, a beautiful area rug, or even an upholstery piece. These items can “set the tone” for color palates, fabric selections, and the style of the drapery project. My goal is to create the perfect design so the pattern and color enhance the room but do not interrupt the beautiful views. Window treatments can make strong color and pattern statements or totally recede into the wall so views and furnishings make decorating statements. Every home is different and presents a fun challenge in my profession.

Hardware

Drapery hardware can often be as important of a selection as the drapery material itself. When I first got into this business, my mentor, Les Finkelstein taught me that a drapery must either go on hardware or in the case of a valance, possibly a wood board. I quickly learned that beautiful hardware just made a huge difference in the final look for many of the window treatments we made at Sunshine. Kirsch Hardware is a major supplier of ours and for the very first time since I began in 1996, we are offering 50% off any decorative Kirsch hardware with your drapery purchase. If you do not need a decorative piece of hardware, then we are offering free superfine white traverse rods with your drapery purchase. I am very fortunate to have an extremely knowledgeable decorating staff who can assist you with your selection. Please call, click or visit any of our locations to schedule a complimentary appointment so we can explore helping you get a great look with extra value and saving.