The Ultimate Philadelphia Dream House: Get That Special Touch

Windows

DEL Motorized Solutions,
the Atrium, 2075 Byberry Road, suite 108, Bensalem, 215-639-3880; motorizedsolutions.com

SPECIALTIES: Affordable high-end motorized blinds, shades and draperies; home theater shades that reveal the screen at the push of a button; remote-controlled skylight shades. They can even rig motorized drapes with a timer so they’ll automatically close during strong sun hours.
COOL PROJECT: Ed Snider’s entire manse.
WHERE YOU CAN SEE IT: The cafeteria windows at the Constitution Center.
WHO LOVES THEM: Architect Marc Pinard called on DEL Motorized to rescue windows in a loft that were 14 feet from the floor. “There was no way for the homeowner to even reach the shades,” says Pinard. The client had too much light: “DEL was able to come in and provide us with sleek electric roll-up, room-darkening fabric shades on all of the windows. It’s a neat, futuristic and accommodating feeling to push buttons like you have a dimmer switch on the sun.”
PRICE: Battery-operated skylight shades are $500, including remote; a 12-by-five-foot theater window with side channels for maximum blackout is $1,000 to $1,200.


Draperies by Design,
289 Lancaster Avenue, Frazer;
610-644-0888
SPECIALTY: This small custom workroom with its six-person shop offers individual, personalized attention and one-of-a-kind window dressings. Choose from their high-end fabrics, or bring your own. (Or bring a swatch of a fabric you like, and the company’s scout will hunt it down for you.) Owner Maddie Hamilton can advise you on what’s best and most functional for your room; she’ll send out an installer to do the measuring, and even do a muslin mockup for tricky designs, so you can see and approve before a single thread of your expensive fabric is sheared. 
WHO LOVES THEM: “It’s hard to find a workroom that’s consistently good—that delivers a quality product on time,” says Linda Wiley, of Linda Wiley Interiors in Malvern. “They’re about to begin a 33-window home at the Shore for me.”
PRICE: Swags are $50 for labor, plus the fabric cost; a pair of jabots is $70 for labor, lined; single-width lined, pinch-pleated drapes run from $40 to $50 for labor.