Those curtains are going to be expensive for sure. Designers have workrooms they use that do curtains and upholstery.

do most designers have people that do this - yes

and is this something that the average person can afford to do? - no

I will need 32 panels in this house all 98" in length, is this going to be a fortune? - yes

If you can afford to build a house, you should be able to afford properly treated windows. :)

not sure i agree with that. What i am seeing online is one panel as much as $1400, thats insane. If i need to spend $5000 for curtains, thats fine, if its going to be 45k, then its not affordable. You can build a house for 300,000 in some areas, that doesnt mean you can afford to spend 45k on window treatments.

https://www.halfpricedrapes.com/headerguide.html

Pennydesign, this is one of the sites that seems very expensive. :( i dont know if its the header type or what, but once i put in what I am looking for, the $69 a panel seems to go to $690

You want expensive curtains. Nothing is going to make them a value choice. Look for simple panel curtains. Spend on extra fabric to make them full and rich looking (meaning more fabric than you think you need, not more expensive fabric). Tailored pleats are expensive; box pleats are nicer and more expensive. You are spending on more material to get the fancy pleats and craftsmanship, which is the real killer here.

Curtains can make a room. By curtains, I mean custom curtains made with high quality fabric, and beautifully made. One window can easily cost $2500-5000, depending on the fabric. But they will last 25-30 years.

Of course today, people prefer change and don’t want anything in their homes to stay that long, themselves included! That’s why we don’t see many curtains in anything other than very high end homes.

Well $5000 divided by 32 panels is only $156.25/ panel. Even if you chose a solid color linen, for example (no pattern to match), 98" panels will require at least 3 1/2 yards of fabric per panel. Once you calculate yardage, plus lining, plus fabrication, then no, you cannot expect to get a quality custom made panel for $156.

QAM, GMTA, i just said this to my husband a little while ago. I think its the only way to go. I will do downstairs main rooms with custom and all the upstairs rooms with nice pinch pleats. Since i can't get 98", its less expensive to buy 108" and have them hemmed. Posting, definitely helps to spark some ideas!

Well...is it time to suggest wood louvered shutters?

I like qam's suggestion.

Is this an option?

https://www.ballarddesigns.com/custom-drapery-panel-with-inverted-box-pleat-2c-30/rugs-drapery/drapery/indoor/271159?listIndex=39

Linda, half price drapes frequently have 40% off sales. Sign up for emails.

Add a 0. Expect to spend much closer to 50K than 5. Custom costs.

Also keep in mind the cost of having all of your curtains cleaned--yearly, or more often (depending on how you do clean).

I've never had a curtain cleaned in my life! Most of my curtains are chintz - it repels dust very well, or heavy Irish linen.

A good curtain should NOT be cleaned - it will destroy the curtain and its lining/interling. Even the best cleaner cannot prevent linings and interlinings from shrinking. A good vacuuming from time to time is all that is needed.

Who cleans curtains beyond vacuuming them? Am I missing something?

This is why all of the 6,000sf McMansions have all of the rooms empty of furniture, and garage sale rejects in others. People stretch their budgets just to get into the house's and forget that dressing for success means looking appropriate and commensurate from head to toe.

It goes no good to wear the new Kate Spade suit with the old plastic Payless clearance shoes. Better to buy the new better shoes and look for a used designer suit at the thrift store.

Buy the drapes once and be done. Case goods and upholstery can be consignment sourced. Drapes can not.

But live wire, your house appreciates in value and furnishings don’t. /s

My home is not furnished with the eye toward an investment. For that matter, not all houses do appreciate, much to the chagrin of their owners!

Pottery Barn has some decent lined curtain panels that come in 96" and 108" lengths. Looks like many are on sale right now and you might get an additional discount by signing up for their email list. I've purchased curtains from them and have been pleased with the quality. Might work for you in some of the less public rooms.

Anglo, I agree with you. The /s at the end of my comment indicates sarcasm.

Sorry Anglo and Zalco, my bad--I have never owned "good" curtains :) I also have never liked a particular fabric or style long enough to invest in it. I have learned to sew my own, or modify existing--and choose washable or dry-cleanable fabrics because that feels cleaner to me, though I'm sure it really isn't.

Chocolate, I didn’t mean to single you out or make you uncomfortable. I don’t have “good” curtains either. Mine are simple panels my mother sewed up with fabric from Calico Corners. I seriously would like to be able to wash them, but they are lined, so no go. But your comment gave me pause. I worry now that maybe I should at least take them down and put them in the dryer with no heat to be sure all the dust is gone.

This thread is interesting. I sewed my own triple-pleated drapes for my living room that were 3x the window-length—that amount of fabric alone is $$$ if you’re going to do it properly. I had them up for ten years. I just recently took them down because I was tired of them (even though they were very neutral—almost same shade as wall color) and the hardware looked dated. They collected dust and, as someone said, you cannot wash them as the folds are very intentional so they stack properly. In other parts of the house, I did custom louvered shutters and I love these. Easy to wipe down, clean look, and affords you plenty of privacy. Good luck!

Zalco, no worries at all--just never occurred to me to not wash curtains-- but I have never owned lined panels. I would hate to have you ruin your Mother's handiwork in the dryer. The experts on the laundry forum may be able to advise you if you decide to try :)

Justin, that made me smile. I guess I'm the one choosing the Lord and Taylor bag because I would never like the Brooks Brothers case long enough to make it worth it; and I hate the bother of resale--so always just give things away. Harder to give away a $12,000 bag though.

imho it's not so much just dust on the curtains. It's dirt from living. If you've ever cleaned the windows that are behind the curtains, you'll see it on the paper towel.

Regarding cleaning, in our old home, I had custom linen drapes in the den. I don't remember the sizes, but six genoursly sized 96" long panels. Original cost in 1990 was around $3,500. I did have them cleaned occasionally, and except for one stain on the bottom of the lining only of one panel, they looked brand new the day we moved out 27 years later. I used a cleaner that specialized in drapery and the cost for the last cleaning before we moved was $960. Expensive, but worth it.

i thought i would update this post since Im sure others are in my position and getting poor advice that this will be $50, 000. I went to an upholstery shop, picked out a few fabrics and got some prices. I had her price out one room. It was about $800. (4 panels). This is certainly do able. Based on that, the entire house would be about 10k. I knew it had to be more reasonable than what some people had posted. There is no way model homes would be spending 50k on draperies in a 500k home. For those looking for custom draperies, go to an actual shop. The online prices seem to be much higher for some reason.

Girlfriend of mine said the way to care for draperies was to not wash them. Rather toss them in the dryer on low heat. This will remove the dust without losing the sizing on the fabric. I've never tried this, but it seemed like a reasonable idea.

$200 per panel? You can’t get fabric for that!

Well apparently you can.

I would want to see an actual item she made (on another board some time back a person had drapes made and the quality of the work was terrible).

This lady has a store in a town where i live. I found her online and went to the shop. Nothing but great reviews and she has tons of quality work on display. Im not looking for drapes that close. Just individual panels. 50" wide, maybe thats where the difference is.

Check out Loftcurtains.com. I built a new house that was completed last fall. I have 9, 10, and 11 ft ceilings, so I wanted longer curtains than the standard lengths that you can find premade. So far, I have ordered curtains for 4 rooms. Two of my rooms had side by side double hung windows, so I wanted wider panels for those. I ordered a 100" length. I also had custom cafe curtains made for the picture window that is over my claw foot bathtub.

I have been thrilled with all of the curtains I have ordered. Loft curtains will mail you free samples of any fabric that you would like and the fabric samples arrive very quickly. You dont even have to pay for postage. You can select from many different fabrics and colors. You can also customize top style. I believe the options are pole top, grommet, tailored pleat, or French pleats. Also, you can get lined or unlined.

I have spent about $400 per room for the rooms with the side by side double hung (100 inch length, tailored pleat to, and privacy lined). The cafe curtains for my bathroom were about $270. The quality and service are excellent and I am a very picky person. All of my orders have arrived at my home in about 2.5 weeks.

Thank you Irunner, THAT is what I was looking for. I KNEW there was no way people were spending 40 and 50k on draperies for new homes that are not necessarily custom homes.

You are welcome. I have been very impressed with Loft Curtains.

Just coming back to update this post. I did order custom window treatments and kept a reasonable budget. Being a novice, I was looking for panels, not curtains. I didnt need to close them. I was able to do most panels for about $200 each. (I was finding panels online for upwards of $400 to $1400). I have one room complete and hung, and the rest being made right now. Here is a pic of one. For those looking for a more custom look, go to curtain/fabric/upholstery shop. Its not going to cost you 40k to do this!

Very pretty, Linda! You did your homework and you should certainly be pleased. Thank you for updating and sharing your beautiful space.

That looks great! And, thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge. This is what makes the forums so useful. Just out or curiosity- did they also install? I ask because that is often such a challenge when considering online purchases. Of course if you know how or know someone who knows how to do it properly it's not an issue but for most people I think it is.

Anyway- looks lovely and I really like your fabric!

Salonva, I did not have them installed because my husband is very good with the measuring tape and a drill. ;) I did get a price on that though from a handy man. He wanted $35 "per window", not "per rod". As you can see, there is 1 rod across those windows, his fee would have been $35 per window. We decided to do it ourselves. Nothing a level and a tape measure can't do!

The panels look great! They look functunal. Are you going to be closing them, I getting blinds/shutters?

Please tell me where you found your rods? I am getting ready to help my daughter hang some drapes that I gave her. She has an extremely long window, like yours.

</nhb22/> We did close them because we wanted to stay in the house, but they are not meant to close. We have ordered remote honeycomb shades that haven't been installed yet. I got the rods on ebay! $99, well worth the money. It was the least expensive place I found and they are quality rods.

Linda, looks great, what is the name of the EBay storefront where you got the rods?

I can see how doing custom drapes with expensive fabric could add up very quickly. I did custom in a few rooms and the fabric for the living and dining rooms was $280/yard and the trim, lining and labor were extra. The fabric is an embroidered linen by Schumacher. If I did the math for your 32 panels that would be $50K++ using that fabric. I splurged in a couple of rooms and then used more budget friendly drapes and/or shades in the rest of the house.

Another design lesson ... don't do so many "single" windows so you won't need 32 panels!