What affects the cost of motorized window shades?

Motorized window blinds cost more than traditional, manually operated window treatments because of the motor, the power source, the controls, and the programming that connects them, and the shade itself is often the smaller share of the total. Custom window treatment basics Before adding the automated components, the price of a custom shade is shaped by the same factors as any other window treatment, including size, fabric, mounting style, and the number of windows. Motorization simply adds to those base costs rather than replacing them. Motor type & power How a motor gets its power is the single biggest variable, since some configurations need no electrical work at all while others involve wiring, which brings an electrician into a project that wouldn't otherwise need one. That choice shapes maintenance later as well, because some setups need periodic attention and others don't, and on a window you need a ladder to reach, that difference matters considerably more than it first looks. Controls & what they add Controls stack in tiers, and each one adds capability to your electric window shades and their cost: Handheld remote: The simplest option, and enough for a single room Wall control: Fixed placement, useful when a remote would go missing App control: Scheduling, scenes, and access from anywhere Sensors: Shades respond to sunlight or temperature without you touching anything

Do motorized window shades cost more to install in an NYC apartment?

Not necessarily. Motorized roller shades do not automatically cost more per window just because they are being installed in a New York apartment. That said, the per-window cost is only part of the picture. NYC apartments often come with unusual window sizes, older construction, hard-to-reach placements, and building rules that can make scheduling and access more complicated. So even if two shades are exactly the same, the installation process as well as the final cost can be very different depending on the apartment. A few things shape how that day goes: Building rules: Scheduling windows and vendor paperwork often need sorting well before anyone arrives with a ladder Window variation: Ceiling height, width, and mount depth differ from one apartment to the next, sometimes within the same line of the same building Unusual placements: Openings above radiators, behind furniture, or set into deep reveals all change how a shade mounts Glamour Decorating has been fitting fully personalized shades in these buildings for more than thirty years, which usually means the administrative side moves along quietly in the background instead of holding up the installation.

Are motorized shades worth the added cost?

How much do electric window shades cost against what they give back? That depends almost entirely on how often you use the window, since a shade you adjust morning and evening earns its motor in a way a guest room window never will. Where the cost comes back: Daily use: A shade you touch twice a day stops being something you think about at all Hard-to-reach windows: Tall openings, stairwell windows, and anything sitting behind furniture become usable again Grouped windows: A bank of windows that should move together does so in one press instead of five separate pulls Energy efficiency: Many window attachments can help energy efficiency, and adding a schedule means the shade closes before the afternoon sun hits the room rather than after Warranty: Glamour Decorating backs Somfy motors and controls with a five-year warranty, which matters for a component you expect to run daily for years

4 Curtain Styles Shaping Current Trends in New York

Table of Contents:

What curtain styles are trending in 2026?
Which curtain trends work best in New York apartments?
Who can bring 2026 curtain trends into your home in New York?

Key takeaways:

Sheer linen panels have become the most requested daytime layer.
Pleated headers are back, with goblet and cartridge leading the way.
Contrast trim adds custom detail without committing to a pattern.
Floor length is being taken seriously again, including how the hem lands.
Fabrication quality decides whether any of these read as custom.

Curtains are making their way back into New York interiors, but not in the heavy, overly formal way many people remember. The latest looks are lighter, more architectural, and far more connected to the rest of the room. Fabric is being used to add height, soften hard lines, bring in color and texture, and make a window feel like a finished part of the design.

That shift is especially noticeable after years of interiors dominated by bare glass and minimal window treatments. The curtain trends coming out of 2026 show a renewed interest in drapery, with more attention being paid to proportion, fabric, fullness, and how curtains interact with natural light.

At Glamour Decorating Blinds & Shades of NYC, we see these ideas play out across very different homes, from compact apartments where every design choice has to earn its place to larger residences where the windows can become a defining feature of the room. Four curtain styles in particular are shaping the current direction. Here is what sets these latest curtain trends apart in New York and where they can work especially well in your home.

What curtain styles are trending in 2026?

The four leading 2026 curtain trends are sheer linen panels, sculpted pleat headers, contrast trim and borders, and a return to genuine floor length. All four lean toward craft rather than pattern, which is the through-line for the year.

1. Sheer linen panels

Sheers stopped being the thing you put behind the real curtains and became the curtains. Linen and linen-blend sheers filter daylight into something softer without shutting the room down, and the slubs in the weave catch light in a way a flat synthetic voile never manages.

They earn their place in apartments specifically because of the building across the street. Of the current curtain trends reaching New York, this is the one that answers a problem almost every street-facing room has, since a sheer gives you daytime privacy while keeping the room bright. At night they do nothing, so plan a second layer if the room needs coverage after dark.

2. Sculpted pleat headers

The header is where a curtain either looks custom or does not, and 2026 is paying attention to it again. Goblet pleats have come back strongest, with cartridge pleats close behind, and inverted and box pleats holding the modern end of the range.

Which one suits the room depends mostly on ceiling height and how formal you want it to read:

Goblet: Rounded, cup-shaped tops. Best with high ceilings and enough fabric weight to hold the shape
Cartridge: Softer and more spaced out than a pinch pleat, and forgiving in a wider range of rooms
Pinch: The classic, still the safest choice in a traditional interior
Inverted and box: Flat-fronted and clean, which suits modern apartments and motorized tracks

Goblet and cartridge both need interlining or a fabric with real body, which is why the drapery trends of 2026 sit on the heavier side. In a lightweight linen, these pleats collapse within a season, and that is the most common way the look goes wrong.

3. Contrast trim and borders

A border along the leading edge or the hem is the cheapest way to make a panel look like it was made for the room, and it’s everywhere this year. Velvet piping, braided rope, a flat tape in a contrasting tone, or a wide band in a second fabric all do the same job.

It works best when the panel itself is plain. A trimmed solid linen looks deliberate, but a trimmed floral one looks busy. This is also the detail most people notice without being able to name. At Glamour Decorating, these finishing details are handled in our Brooklyn workroom, where the trim can be positioned and proportioned specifically for the panel rather than added as an afterthought. It is one of the clearest places where the traditional drapery trends for 2026 separate a workroom panel from a shop-bought one.

4. Floor length, done properly

Short curtains are out, and the 2026 curtain trends are specific about what replaces them. Panels should be made to the actual drop and mounted high, usually several inches above the frame, because that is what makes a ceiling read taller.

Where the hem lands is its own decision:

Kiss: The hem just grazes the floor. Cleanest option, and the most demanding of accurate measuring
Break: About an inch of fabric resting on the floor, softer and more forgiving
Puddle: Several inches pooling. Handsome in a formal room, impractical anywhere with a dog or a radiator

Sill length still has a place in kitchens, bathrooms, and above a radiator, where floor-length panels are not an option regardless of what is trending.

Which curtain trends work best in New York apartments?

Sheer linen and sculpted pleats travel best. Both work in a prewar apartment and a new build, and neither depends on having a wide wall to stack fabric onto.

Trim is the low-risk way to try something, since it changes the character of a panel without changing the panel. Puddled hems are the one to think twice about in a city apartment, because a floor covered in fabric collects everything and gets in the way of the radiator most prewar rooms have under the window.

What connects all four is how light they have become. Among the window treatment trends for 2026, curtains are the ones moving toward softer, thinner panels, and that only works with a shade behind them handling glare and privacy after dark.

Who can bring 2026 curtain trends into your home in New York?

Glamour Decorating has been making custom drapery in the city for over thirty years, and everything is fabricated in our own Brooklyn workroom rather than sent out.

That matters more with drapery than with anything else on a window, because pleats, linings, hem weights, and pattern placement all get decided during fabrication rather than in a showroom. A goblet pleat is only as good as the interlining behind it. Whether your apartment is near the Flatiron Building or out in Long Island, we measure on site, bring the fabrics to you, and install ourselves.

Ready to talk through your windows? Request a quote, and we’ll take it from there.