A Conversation with Industry Leaders Elliot Laniado and Ron Cantalupo
After more than 30 years of designing and installing custom window treatments in Monmouth County, NJ, we’ve worked on just about every kind of window imaginable, from small bedroom windows to entire walls of glass overlooking the ocean. And while the products have changed tremendously since Window Treats opened in 1995, some of the problems we encounter haven’t changed very much at all.
Recently, Elliot Laniado sat down with Ron Cantalupo, who has worked in the window treatment industry since 1984, and Devin Frey to talk about what they’ve learned over the years. The conversation wandered from the products they used to sell in the 1980s to motorization, enormous waterfront windows, shutters, and some of the mistakes they still see in newly constructed homes.
They didn’t agree about everything, particularly when it came to which products they would choose for their own homes. But there were several things they kept coming back to.
Precise Measuring Is Absolutely Critical
One of the most common mistakes we see isn’t necessarily an incorrect measurement. It’s failing to allow enough room for a window treatment to operate properly.
“So one of the things I know people ask me all the time, especially architects, designers, they don’t leave enough room to clear the glass,” Elliot explained.
“So many of our homes are water views, ocean, rivers, lakes, whatever it is. And I tell them the rule of thumb is 1/3 of the opening for the stack back. So they have a 72 inch window. They want us to go to 78 inches. It doesn’t work. We don’t clear the window.”
Stack-back is the space drapery occupies when it’s fully opened. If you have a beautiful ocean view, naturally you want to uncover as much of the window as possible. But the fabric has to go somewhere, and depending on the fullness, fabric, and hardware, it can take up considerably more space than people expect.
Elliot had encountered this problem just the day before the conversation, on a project involving a barrel ceiling. The architect hadn’t provided enough clearance for the doors and planned drapery to work together properly.
“I tell them there’s rules of physics. It takes up room.”
That’s why measuring involves more than recording the width and height of an opening. We have to look at the surrounding architecture, where the fabric or shade will go when it’s open, and how the window or door itself operates.
A treatment can be fabricated to precisely the correct dimensions and still be wrong for the space.
Leave Unusual Windows and Motorization Projects to the Pros
Motorization has made window treatments much more convenient, but it’s also introduced some new challenges, especially in homes where architects are trying to conceal everything in the ceiling.
Elliot frequently encounters plans for recessed pockets that are supposed to accommodate multiple layers of motorized drapery, but the space allowed is far too narrow.
“They want to fit everything in two to three inches and you can’t fit anything in two to three inches. You need a minimum of four to six inches per layer.”
Depending on the system, some manufacturers require even more clearance. And the issue isn’t simply getting the hardware to fit.
If two layers of fabric are too close together, one can catch or pull against the other when the motor operates. The homeowner presses a button, the drapery moves, but afterward someone has to walk over and straighten everything out.
“And the whole idea of motorization is that you don’t have to walk over to it and fix it, right?” Elliot said. “You don’t want to walk over and fix it. You want to be able to sit there, push the button, it opens, and there’s no handling of it.”
These are problems that are much easier to solve while a house is being designed than after the ceiling has been finished.
Another challenge involves inward-opening windows, which Elliot has encountered in New York homes. Sometimes the trim extends so close to the crown molding that there’s no room above for an outside-mounted shade. But mounting something inside the opening may interfere with the window itself.
With unusual windows, curved architectural details, or motorized treatments, we want to be involved early enough to work through those questions with the architect or builder, before the available options become unnecessarily limited.
The Window Treatment You Saw Online Won’t Look the Same at Home
It’s easy to look at a photograph of a beautifully designed room and decide that’s exactly what you want. But the photograph doesn’t tell you much about the window itself, where the treatment goes when it’s open, or how the homeowner uses the room.
Even among experienced professionals, there’s room for disagreement about the best solution.
When Elliot was describing the challenges of covering very large windows, Ron pointed out that drapery isn’t the only option.
“There are designer roller shades, designer screen shades now that will go up and off the window with zero stack factor.”
In other words, instead of stacking fabric to the side, the shade retracts above the opening. For a home overlooking the Navesink River or the ocean, that can be a tremendous advantage.
But Elliot often prefers drapery for those very large expanses of glass.
“You have floor to ceiling, wall to wall glass. It’s much, much bigger expanses. Drapery works much better.”
“If you have enough room for the stack factor,” Ron replied.
And sometimes there isn’t.
Elliot described one oceanfront home featured on the Window Treats website where the drapery can’t clear the glass completely. The windows run from floor to ceiling and wall to wall, so there simply isn’t enough space alongside them to hide all that fabric.
But he doesn’t consider it a problem with the design.
“It’s blocking a little bit, but it’s not blocking, because the fabric is then enhancing the room. The fabric is beautiful.”
That’s an important distinction. One homeowner may want the treatment to disappear as much as possible so nothing interrupts the view. Another may enjoy the softness and texture of drapery, even if a little fabric remains visible when it’s open.
The photograph you found online may show a wonderful treatment, but it doesn’t necessarily tell you whether that treatment will be wonderful in your room. That’s where the conversation with a designer becomes important, particularly when we’re dealing with large windows, doors, unusual architecture, or competing priorities.
Trends Come and Go, So Get What You Truly Like
Ron remembers when vertical blinds were one of the biggest parts of his business. There were mini-blinds, wood blinds, elaborate sheers, swags, jabots, and draperies with multiple layers. He even remembers selling shutters that customers finished themselves.
“Some of them were painted, some of them were unfinished,” he recalled.
“Really unfinished?” Elliot asked.
“Yeah, back, you go back that far.”
“And people would finish it themselves.”
“And they would stain them themselves.”
The products have changed enormously. So have the windows themselves. Where a 72-inch opening once seemed quite large, today we’re working with windows 120 or 144 inches wide and sometimes much larger expanses of glass.
Shutters are another interesting example. For a while, Elliot saw relatively little demand for them. Now he’s seeing more people asking for shutters throughout Monmouth County and the Jersey Shore, especially with the newer materials available.
Ron wasn’t quite as enthusiastic.
“I have to be honest with you. If I had a beach house, I think that shutters would be the last thing I would use.”
“Why?” Elliot asked.
“I mean, I want everything to be up. Do you want to look in the horizontal lines all the time?”
It’s a reasonable concern. In a beachfront home, you might prefer a treatment that retracts almost completely so you can enjoy the view.
But then Ron described his own home.
“Now, in my house, I have 10 sliding glass doors.”
He installed bifold plantation shutters, with four panels across each six-foot opening. Because there’s enough room alongside the doors, he can fold the shutters away when he wants the glass completely unobstructed.
So even Ron, who wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about shutters in beach houses, chose them for his own sliding doors. The difference was that his house had room for them to operate the way he wanted.
The three also discussed the advantages of composite shutters, which Elliot likes for their durability and water resistance, compared with the lighter weight of traditional wood, which Ron prefers. They even disagreed over the difference in price.
“You’re funny,” Devin told them during the exchange.
That’s one of the things we enjoy about working with different designers and different products. There’s not always a single correct answer. What looks beautiful in one home might not work nearly as well in another, and personal preferences matter.
We pay attention to trends, of course, and we’re always interested in new products and materials. But we’d rather help someone choose a treatment they will enjoy living with than convince them to buy something simply because it’s popular.
Choose Your Window Treatment Company Carefully
One of the biggest changes over the years is how much more technical some window treatment projects have become.
During the conversation, Elliot described a project involving smart window film, which can change from clear to frosted through an electrical current. It’s an option for homeowners who don’t necessarily want shades or drapery at all.
But installing it isn’t as simple as applying conventional window film.
For that project, Elliot was coordinating both a window film installer and an audiovisual specialist. The glass needed to be prepared, the film laid out and tested, and the electrical connections planned in advance.
“It’s technology,” he explained. “I have a window film guy on the job and an AV guy on the job, because it’s not only installing window film, it’s also… now taking the wiring.”
He had been interested in the technology more than ten years earlier, but at the time the cost and complexity made it difficult to pursue. Now customers were asking for it.
That means learning something new, finding the right specialists, and understanding the installation process well enough to know what you’re getting involved in.
The same applies, in different ways, to a motorized shade, layered drapery, or a large installation overlooking the water.
When you’re choosing a company for custom window treatments in Monmouth County, or elsewhere in New Jersey, we’d encourage you to ask more than which brands they carry or how many fabrics you can choose from.
Ask who will be measuring and installing the treatments. Ask what happens if an architectural detail creates a problem, or if the product you originally wanted isn’t the best choice for your windows. If you’re building or renovating, find out whether the company can work directly with your architect, builder, or interior designer before those decisions have been finalized.
Sometimes the most valuable advice we can give a homeowner is that we need a little more space, that a particular product won’t work quite as expected, or that there’s another option worth considering.
We’ve seen products come and go, and we still learn new things. Ron and Elliot certainly don’t agree on every product. But after all these years, those conversations are still an important part of getting the work right.
Planning custom window treatments for your home? Visit our Window Treats showroom in Red Bank, NJ, or contact us to arrange a design consultation. If you’re building or renovating, bring your plans. We’d be happy to look at them with you.
