Went shopping for drapery again for the umteenth time today and am left feeling more confused that ever. A few weeks ago I turned over the challenge to an interior decorator at Ethan Allan and what I liked that she came up with was way overpriced, other items I felt were just not "me" so decided to take some of her ideas and go with them and tweak it on my own. Sound good, so far. I was excited to see some very similar fabrics at Calico Corners yesterday that fit my budget, but I think their custom drapery is outside our budget. Or is it? It's not that we can't afford it, but we just completed an expensive remodel going over budget and I'm really trying to keep this on budget. The interior designer said I was too afraid of making a bad choice because I was worried about the future and if I would grow tired of things.... After today, I'm beginning to feel she's right. Meanwhile the front rooms of my house are bare with no drapes and no furniture in the living room.

I'm afraid to order anything until I can envision the overall look--problem is I can't make up my mind where the focal point should be fabricwise--the drapes or armchairs... and then I'm worried I'll end up with a beige room. I painted the fireplace wall green which I thought would be a nice accent wall, but that is complicating the drapery selection for the adjacent wall as so many greens clash so it's safer to choose something else... but what? Reds I'm worried will make the room feel like Christmas. The two other neutrals would be an ivory or wheat color--problem with that is I painted the dining room in wheat and the other walls of the living room are a bone color. We remodeled with more of an open floorplan so that repainting the rooms becomes difficult without repainting the whole house since there is no logical end to them.

All I want is to do some elegant drapes with privacy for $2,000 (or $3,000 max). One window is 8' wide the other is 6' wide bay window. Windows are northern exposure and don't get any direct sunlight. At this point, I'm beginning to kick myself for getting rid of some perfectly good, but very dated custom drapes we had there for past 17-years--gold pinch pleats. I could've just updated the look by hanging them on rings... Water over the bridge.

I find myself drawn to the silk taffeta drapes at RH--though the ones I like are not in the store. There is one on clearance that might work--though would have to order online. Perhaps I should just get it?

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But then I think that might be too boring for the 8' window wall since it would span 9+ feet of drapery. Some thing like this?

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Or this I saw at Potery Barn though only comes in 84"L and the interior designer said the 96"L would make my ceiling feel taller (it's 95" tall so drapes would "kiss" the floor as she put it).

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I would still pair these with silk roman shades in a gold/sand which could be an interesting mix of textures. Do reds make the room feel too much like Christmas with the green wall? Should I just repaint it so it's all the same color or another shade of green?

I'm thinking I should just get CC to quote me on some custom drapes on rings (inverted pleat as I'm just tired of pinch pleat) that open and close and ditch the roman shades idea. How expensive could it be for 2 windows??? More than $3K? They quoted me $3K for the roman shades though I know I could get cheaper at JCP. Went to JCP today, but find their treatments lack the fullness that I like at RH or custom with the dual linings. Perhaps I should order online through Silk Trading? If I go that route, should I just order my sofa and arm chairs at CC and then work from there or hold off until I get it all worked out?

Here is a link that might be useful: My rooms