Every homeowner's goals, budget, and preferences are different — even for the same kind of project, the right solution can look different each time. Here's how that played out for one homeowner's two-story family room.
The goal
The homeowner wanted to fully block out light in her family room, so she could watch TV without glare and nap on the couch without sun on her face. She was fine with slightly different colors for the top and bottom window sets. At the time, she had light-filtering shades on the bottom five windows; the top five had no covering at all.
The problem
Quotes from big-name companies. She'd gotten several quotes from large window-treatment companies: roughly $900 per window for remote-controlled roller shades across all 10 windows — 10 × $900, or $9,000 — plus $120 per window for installation. The salesperson insisted every window needed a remote control, citing liability and child safety, even though her home has no young children. She'd wanted chain-loop shades instead to save on cost, but was told chain loops weren't available at 13 feet.
The timeline was long, too: about a week from placing the order until a technician could come measure on site, another 6–8 weeks after that for the custom shades to be made and delivered, then another week to wait for an installation appointment — 8 to 10 weeks in total. Between the roughly $10,000 cost and the long wait, it was more than she wanted to take on. Her goal was under $2,000 including materials and labor, done in 2–3 weeks.
Home Depot. She also checked with Home Depot. Installations above 11 feet required an on-site measurement before she could even place an order — another long wait — and she still felt the price was high. She didn't want to manage the project herself, and neither the wait nor the quote worked for her.
Between the cost, the timeline, and the complexity, the project sat on hold for years, until she found us through a neighborhood referral, and after an initial consultation, we made it happen.
Our solution: two sets, two phases
Phase 1 — the bottom five windows. These were easy for her to reach and operate herself, so we suggested regular blackout cellular shades — no remote, no chain loop needed — in stock and cut to size. Turnaround was two days: day one, contract signed and shades bought; day two, all five installed.
Phase 2 — the top five windows. We helped her order roller shades with chain loops from a local store with a quick turnaround, specifying a custom 13-foot chain length. We placed that order on day two, waited 2–3 weeks for delivery, confirmed the chain length matched what we'd specified, then scheduled and completed the installation.
Final cost and timeline
Total cost came in under $2,000. Phase 1 took two days; Phase 2 took less than three weeks from signing to installed. She was very happy with the finished project.