I am interested to know if you found out anything. Thanks!

The Hunter Douglas rep who came to see my needs wasn't especially helpful, hardly wanted to give me information until I know exactly what I need, so I was put off by that. I was hoping that he would give me more advice, and answer my questions about what kind of expenses it would involve...but he just kind of threw it all back on me, telling me i need to know exactly what i want before he can quote anything...i just didn't feel especially good with the visit. And haven't had time to explore The Shade Store yet....Got sidetracked with other things in the house...

I just posted my findings on this topic on another thread about motorized blinds that you might find interesting. I have received quotes from both and they seem similarly priced. If anything The Shade Store is more expensive for comparable products. This makes sense as they have a ton of overhead to pay for their fru fru boutiques located in the very toniest part of whatever your town or city is. Neither of these would be considered an "economical" choice--they are the most expensive options possible. Frankly, any other vendor is cheaper.

I also can report that Hunter Douglas dealers seem to vary dramatically in quality of service--the are sort of like realtors--a dime a dozen, but not created equal. I talked to three and only liked one.

The Shade Store does have several noted designers they source fabric from and have a number of unique finishes. Hunter is beautiful too, but Shade Store is much more what I'd call "designer." Hunter, however, has a greater selection of product styles. Like a dozen to choose from--The Shade Store probably has half that. You also need to like a pallete of neutrals for The Shade Store. Grey white and beige appear to be the primary colors on offer.

I was not impressed with either company's design of the motorization technology so, if that's important to you, I'd look more broadly. If you are doing manual, both products seem to be made with the highest quality materials and attention to detail.

In my home I've selected a mixture of different products from different vendors for different spaces. It all coordinates beautifully, but no one company offered the right product for every room with the right features. I've got 2 shades coming from The Shade Store and 1 from Hunter Douglas and 6 from none of the above. Other windows I am frosting with window film instead of shading or have already covered with inexpensive cellular shades from Home Depot that work great for bedrooms and don't break the bank at all.

If I was in Brooklyn I might be living in a condo or townhouse and might see all the windows from the same room so consistency might be more important.

thank you, chrisinsd! i appreciate the information! i was going to call the shade store for an appointment, but now am interested to know if you can recommend anyone else besides theshadestore and hunterdouglas.

Dear chrisinsd,
Wow! What an amazing pack of information! So so helpful! I would have spent so much time researching, and been so frustrated with so many decisions, and so much confusion! So really, a big thank you!!
I will seek and find a local good vendor who will work with me, as per your advice!
I don’t know where you are located, might you have any recommendations of shade and blind vendors in New York? In Brooklyn?

Sorry I am in So Cal, but sure you will find someone!

@chrisinsd, thank you so much for this post. I have been down the rabbit hole trying to research the exact names you mention. We have just closed on a new construction home so we need window coverings everywhere. We have already met with Hunter Douglas and Norman and have an appointment with Graber next week. We are also in SoCal. You found a company that carries all three brands? Can you share the name?

Highly recommend San Diego Shade if you are in SD. They sold me some Hunter Douglas and Somfy shades (I wrote about in my other post). They carry Norman and Graber and the others too. If you are in LA, OC, or IE sorry I don't have a rec.

The Shade Store only sells direct from online or their store; I bought two shades from them from their La Jolla store--their very unique XL Vertical Blinds--that perfectly pair with my Somfy shades in the rest of the room.

@grimstead We're in SoCal (OC), too, so looking forward to hearing more of your window shade journey! We have been in our remodel nearly a year and are finally getting around to window coverings.

@Mittens Cat, soooo, it took us forever, but we finally ordered all of our window coverings! We ended up going with Norman - we did Night and Day roman shades in the secondary bedrooms and lined woven wood shades in all of the main living areas. We did interior mount shutters in a custom color to match our window mouldings (we painted all of our doors and mouldings a dark brown/black and the shutters are going to look amazing to match). The roman shades have already been installed and I am really happy with them. I like the day and night feature with a second roller shade behind the roman to darken the room more when necessary. The operation on both shades is very easy and smooth. And I love that the roman shades goes up nicely without needing to been smoothed or straightened after like I've seen on other roman shades. The woven woods are supposed to come in on 1/31 so I can add to this post then to let you know how they came out.

For anyone ordering drapes: here's what I learned going down that rabbit hole ordering linen drapes for our living room: I called a couple local places for a quote (local window covering stores tht sell everything) and they pretty much laughed at me when I asked to get a quote and said plan to spend 10k for drapes for a large living room window. Apparently they are not looking for business? A couple places never called/email back. oh well, moving on I checked out the following:

1. Jcpenney/HomeDepot/Macy's custom window treatments: all served by Custom Decorators Inc. (CDI) (for extra fun, check out their yelp/google reviews). When you call each store for window coverings, the call is answered by Custom Decoratr's Inc answering as JCp/Macy's/HD. From start to finish, everything is handled by CDI, but you think you are working with Macy's/HD/JCP. If there are any problems, there is noone at JCP/Macy's/HD to help you. I found this out when I didnt get a call back from JCP, made a call to Macy's, scheduled an appt., called back to JCP and learned it was the same designer that I had an appt with Macy's. ( why they wanted to schedule me through macys and not JCP?) For drapes and hardware, CDI sells just kirsch brand- it is not explained to you when you schedule an appt-they tell you you'll meet with a designer who has tons of drapery samples and choices. After the free in home consultation, I was nver given a quote. Btw, JCP used to have awesome custom window treatments but within the last 2 years outsoruced to CDI. :(

2. Shade Store- tested samples from Smith and Noble, loft curtains, and a few others from etsy. Shade store had the best quality linen drapes and that is who we chose. Smith and Noble was a close second, but I didnt like how my phone/email was slammed from SN "designers" wanting to "help"-aka get me to order from them. I blind tested my husband several times with samples and shade store always won out. Shade Store also makes curtains for restoration hardware. We did not choose the drapery hardware from Shade Store as the cost of purachsing hardware thrugh SS was at east 2x the cost ( shade store uses Forest brand drapery hardware, good but not "the best"). Shade store has an awesome selection of samples and I felt like all the fabrics were extremely high quality. If there is a shade store in your city they will come out and do a free measure which was very helpful. I was able to work with a design constustlant who was very kind, knowledgable and able to help out getting my cost down. Installation is extra - I felt $500 install was a little steep, so we will be installing ourselves.

3. Drapery Hardware: check out Designer Drapery Hardware, they sell all top brands of hardware: after a lot of research and help, we ended up witha custom Kirsch 1 3/8" desgigner metal motorized rod that can connect to your wfi, and its decorative at the same time. kirsch has several finials to choose if you wantfancy, and plain finials if you are going mdoern and simple. Deisgner Drapery Hardware will schedule a design consultation with you before you order for free, I must have called them 5 times and and they were as patient on the 5th call as the first. Before ordering drapes, be sure to spend time on their website playing around with the different types of hardware-lots to learn. If we hadnt gotten motorized, I would have chosen "select" brand drapery rod.

Drapery is expensive and all in for a 13 ft window- linen drapes with a motorized decorative track rod is coming out to 4k for our project. This pricing is similar to plantation shutters we've purchased through jcpenney cutom decoratoring in the past. ( before they switched....booo- they put out at least 60 longtime employees with this change)

One note, a lot of the companies have these eternal 20% sales- this is true, but I found their pricing to be very dynamic- both the drapes and hardwre price went up the next day after I ordered. i'm sure with supplies and shipping pricing has gone up quite a bit.

Hoping these reviews are helpful for somone out there-drapes were our only choice for this window, it was a big learning curve and thankful to find a solution that completes the room.

I am going thru this now. Can you post a picture when installed?

Thanks @skatermom for this helpful info. I've been seesawing between shades and drapes. (BTW, are you a skater, or a mom of a skater? And I'm presuming it's skater as in skateboarder?)

Lol- am a figure skater- when I started gardenweb was a new mom-I’ve been on garden web I think for 20+ years now-crazy how time flies. I’ll def post when we we get it installed- which will probably involve many 4 letter words and beer to celebrate the installation while we sit and watch it open/close.

Still confused between Hunter Douglas and the Shade Store

Calico Home carries HD and consults in home are free. Lots of options including motorized natural fiber.

I am interested in having Hunter Douglas Silhouette shades installed in my living room. There seems to be very little price transparency for these shades, which is frustrating as a buyer.

I have been quoted approx $740 per window. Each window is about 34x70”. This is for the ultraglide retractable lift system.

Is this a reasonable price? All taxes and installation included.

That is a great price for a Silhouette for the lowest price group of fabrics. It is very much on the low side. Hunter Douglas has another version of the Silhouettes called the Nantucket. The Nantucket is the same quality for the operating part, but not the same quality for the fabric material. The price point is lower and I have found some dealers passing the Nantucket off as a Silhouette. The Nantucket is lower in price, so I would not be surprised if that is what you were quoted and being told it is a Silhouette Shade. Do not get me wrong, the Nantucket is a nice shade and most people can not tell the difference.