By Svetlana, textile decorator with 19 years of experience and founder of an online school teaching Procreate visualization for curtain and textile professionals on iPad and iPhone.
You've probably experienced this scenario dozens of times: you're standing in a client's living room, holding beautiful fabric samples. You can see exactly how these textiles will transform their space. The colors will tie everything together. The pattern will add that missing layer of sophistication. You know this interior is going to be stunning.
But your client? They're staring at those small fabric swatches with pure confusion.
"I don't know... can you show me how it will actually look?" they ask for the third time.
And just like that, what should be an exciting design conversation turns into an exhausting negotiation.
The Problem: When Experience Doesn't Translate
Here's what I learned after nearly two decades in this business: about 80% of clients genuinely cannot visualize how a piece of fabric will look as finished curtains in their actual room. This isn't because they're difficult or unintelligent. It's simply how most people's brains work.
When we show fabric samples, we're asking clients to perform multiple mental gymnastics simultaneously:
- Imagine this 10cm square as a 3-meter curtain panel
- Picture how the pattern will repeat across the width of their window
- Envision how the color will shift in their specific lighting
- See how it will interact with their existing furniture and wall colors
For us, this comes naturally. We've seen hundreds of installations. We know how fabrics behave. We understand scale and proportion intuitively.
For clients? It's like asking them to read a blueprint written in a foreign language.
The frustration goes both ways. I remember one particularly difficult situation in 2018. A client loved a beautiful damask pattern in the showroom. I showed her samples. I sketched rough drawings. I even pulled up similar projects on Pinterest. She kept saying yes, but I could see the doubt in her eyes.
After installation, she was disappointed. "It's not what I imagined," she said. The curtains were exactly what we discussed, exactly what she approved. But somewhere between the fabric swatch and the finished product, the communication failed.
That project haunted me. Not because I did anything wrong technically, but because I realized my process was fundamentally broken. I was relying on my clients to bridge a visualization gap that most simply couldn't cross.
The Context: Why Traditional Methods Fall Short
Before I discovered digital visualization, I tried everything to help clients understand:
Hand sketches worked for some clients—the ones with design backgrounds or naturally strong visual thinking. But they took time to create, and they still left too much to imagination.
Photo references from magazines or Pinterest helped establish style direction, but they showed someone else's window, someone else's room, someone else's taste. Clients would say, "Yes, but what about MY window?"
Fabric draping was better—physically holding the material against the wall gave a sense of color. But it couldn't show the model, the fullness, how the pattern would flow across the panels.
Photoshop or design software like ArchiCAD or 3ds Max existed, but they were expensive, time-consuming, and honestly, overkill for a curtain salon. Learning these programs would take months. Creating one visualization could take hours. And I'd need to be sitting at my computer, not standing in the client's home where decisions actually happen.
The industry standard became a strange compromise: show samples, talk enthusiastically, maybe sketch something quick, and hope the client trusted you enough to sign the contract despite their doubts.
This approach meant:
- Lower closing rates (clients "needed to think about it")
- Constant price objections (without seeing the value, people focus on cost)
- Revision requests after installation (what they imagined didn't match reality)
- Missed opportunities with designers and architects who expected professional presentations
The Solution: Bringing the Preview to the Client
Everything changed when I discovered Procreate—not as an artistic tool, but as a business solution.
I found it almost by accident. I'd bought the app for about $6, took a course, then let it sit unused for six months. I was busy. I assumed I'd need months of practice to make it useful.
Then one client meeting forced my hand. They absolutely could not understand how my proposed design would look in their space. Out of desperation, I opened Procreate on my iPhone, took a photo of their window, and spent ten minutes creating a rough visualization right there.
The client's reaction: "Wait, you can do THAT?"
That moment transformed my entire approach to client consultations.
Here's what makes this work in real business conditions:
It happens in the client's space. I don't need to bring them to my office or ask them to imagine their room. I photograph their actual window, their actual furniture, their actual lighting.
It's fast enough for real conversations. While we're discussing fabric options, I can pull up my phone, apply different textiles to the curtain template, and show them three variations in minutes. Not days later. Not "I'll email you something." Right now, while we're talking.
It shows reality, not perfection. My first pass is intentionally rough. It's not a polished architectural rendering. It's a working sketch that we can modify together. "What if we used this fabric instead? What if the curtains were fuller? What if we added trim?" Each question takes seconds to answer visually.
It builds confidence in real-time. I watch the doubt disappear from their faces. They stop asking "how will it look?" because they're looking at it. The conversation shifts from "should we do this?" to "let's adjust this detail."
On iPhone, this is perfect for on-site meetings. Everything is portable—I'm carrying my entire design studio in my pocket. Later, back at my office, I'll refine the visualization on iPad, creating a polished presentation to email them. They get both: the immediate rough concept that helped them decide, and the beautiful final visualization that confirms their choice.
The Result: When Clients Can Actually See What They're Buying
The change in my business was immediate and measurable.
My closing rate jumped to about 90% for projects where I showed visualizations. Clients who could see the result in their actual space stopped "needing to think about it." They stopped shopping around because other salons couldn't show them this level of preview.
Price objections nearly disappeared. When someone sees exactly what they're getting—when they can see how that premium fabric looks in their living room, how it coordinates with their furniture, how it transforms their space—they stop asking "why is this so expensive?" They understand the value. They see it.
Project revisions dropped dramatically. No more surprises at installation. No more "I thought it would be different." What they approved in the visualization is what they got on their windows.
But the biggest change was in the quality of the relationships. Consultations became collaborative instead of combative. Clients felt like partners in the design process, not people being sold something they couldn't quite picture.
I remember one particular client who had rejected proposals from three other decorators. She just couldn't commit without seeing the result. When I showed her Procreate visualizations on my iPhone during our first meeting, she literally asked, "Why didn't anyone else show me this?" She signed the contract that same day.
Why This Matters Beyond Just One Sale
After I moved to a new country in 2022, I thought about opening another curtain salon. But instead, I kept thinking about those moments when clients' faces would light up: "You can do THAT?"
I realized this wasn't just helpful for my business. This was a missing piece for the entire industry.
Most textile decorators and curtain professionals don't have time for complex 3D software. They don't have budgets for expensive design tools. But they do have iPhones or iPads—devices they already own and carry everywhere.
What if I could teach them what I learned? What if I could help them have those same breakthrough moments with their clients?
That's why I created my online school. Not to teach artistry or illustration, but to teach practical business visualization. How to photograph a client's window properly. How to clean up the image. How to create convincing fabric textures. How to build a library of curtain templates so you're not starting from scratch every time.
The iPhone course is specifically designed for on-site work—everything you need to show quick visualizations during client meetings. The iPad course goes deeper for those polished presentations.
Because here's what I believe after 19 years in this business:
clients don't resist buying curtains. They resist buying something they can't visualize.
When we solve that visualization problem, everything else becomes easier. The sales. The pricing. The client relationships. The reputation.
Those fabric samples in your hand? They're beautiful. But they're also abstract until you show them in context.
Your clients aren't difficult. They're just waiting for you to help them see what you already see in your mind.
Ready to transform how you present to clients?
GET MY FREE LESSON to try Procreate visualization for yourself—no design experience required.