Window Dressing Up

One of seven Silk Trading Company stores, this one in Costa Mesa, Calif.

The store carries several pairs of each design on display and can usually have more shipped in several days. Panels are available to take home on approval. Customers can also request hemming ($50 a pair), order custom lengths (no extra charge) or -- if they really want something pronto -- let the fabric gather gracefully on the floor, a look known as puddling.

"Some people think of these as party dresses," says Robin Prior, who owns the Fairfax franchise with her husband, John. "We had one customer run in on Super Bowl Sunday, scoop up some curtains and head back to put them up for her party." The couple is considering opening two more locations, possibly in Rockville and Leesburg.

On a recent afternoon, Lori Orta of Potomac had come to the Curtain Exchange for drapery hardware but became enticed by the masses of silk around her. "It's a nightmare trying to decorate my house because I have kids and there isn't much extra time to shop around," said Orta."This is a great concept. You can pick what you like, take it home and see how the color goes with your lighting and furniture. That is hard to do with swatches."

Last fall, Storehouse, a chain of more than 60 contemporary furniture stores, introduced window treatments in their stores, including saffron silk organzas and silk taffeta stripes, some with dressmaker details for about $400 to $500 a pair. Dixon Bartlett, a Storehouse senior vice president, calls them "almost architectural" in feel.

"They are custom quality at ready-made availability," he says. "We have them in stock at our warehouse, and curtains are sent out the day after the customer orders them and they get them in a few days." (They will soon be available at www.storehouse.com.)

"We have been excited about the reception of the specialty silks," Bartlett says. "We have noticed people using more reds and oranges in their homes, warming up the colors and using more pillows. As you warm your homes, that bare window staring at you is a mighty cold element."

Casa Fiora sells its products through specialty furniture retailers such as Hollis & Knight in Georgetown, Abaca Imports in Alexandria, Zaidee CoCo in Great Falls, Gallahan's in Fredericksburg and Mastercraft Interiors at Fair Oaks Mall. Some Casa Fiora styles are available through the Horchow catalogue (www.horchow.com). And some interior designers sell them.

Casa Fiora (www.casafiora.com) was started two years ago by Eileen Simpson from Charlotte. Her home, which had no curtains, had been chosen to be on a house and garden tour and she grew impatient with custom-order delays. "There were way too many steps and too many choices and it was expensive," says Simpson. "I knew there had to be a better way. There was nothing between designer draperies or Pottery Barn and J.C. Penney."

In early 2002, Simpson had some silk curtains made up and opened a tiny shop. She sold 20 pairs in three days. It was clear there was a ready market for her approach, and she took her designs to retailers at the October 2002 High Point Furniture Market. Today, her silk taffeta curtains, priced at $2,000 a pair, are sold through 120 stores nationwide, usually shipped out to customers hemmed to their specifications within 10 to 21 days -- faster for a fashion emergency.

"This is filling a niche nobody has filled before," says Ellen Miller, Simpson's sister and co-owner of the company.

Another major player in the business is the Silk Trading Co., which began in 1993 as a high-end textile boutique in Santa Monica, Calif. When owners Warren and Andrea Kay started making glam window treatments with yards of silk taffetas and brocades for such Hollywood clients as Madonna and Kirstie Alley, the buzz began.

"Many of our customers saw our curtains and wanted them right away. We realized that most people in our society don't want to wait," says Warren Kay. "When you hang them up, the room instantly looks glamorous." So was launched the company's Drapery Out-of-a-Box. Customers were able to choose from dozens of curtain panels, including panels studded with pearls or embroidery.

The company now has seven stores nationally, where many curtains are in stock, and a Web site (www.silktrading.com). Locally, the curtains are sold through small design boutiques such as Vesta in Arlington, Qi in Alexandria and at Peyton's Place in The Plains, Va.

"We get everyone from designers to someone who has just rented their first apartment," says Isaac Myers, who manages the Silk Trading Co. department at ABC Carpet & Home in Lower Manhattan, where customers have been known to arrive in a hired limo and pick up 30 panels at a time. But for the super rich, say company execs, sometimes these $1,000 window solutions are only temporary while they wait months to get their designer creations costing tens of thousands of dollars.

But that's another story.