By Sviatlana Fedzianiova, 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
There is a question every decorator eventually asks themselves: how many options is enough?
Some colleagues believe that more choice means more satisfaction — give the client ten fabric combinations and let them find their favourite. Others go the opposite direction: don't push your own ideas at all, just show exactly what the client asks for.
I have tried both approaches. Nearly nineteen years of curtain and window treatment consultations will do that — you experiment, you observe, you adjust.
And what I found is that neither extreme works consistently.
The moment I understood my actual role.
At some point in my practice, something became clear.
I am a textile decorator, not a fabric salesperson. People come to me the way they go to a doctor — not to browse options, but to receive a professional recommendation. They want someone to look at their space, understand what it needs, and tell them: this is what will work here, and here is why.
When I offered too many options, I wasn't being generous. I was transferring my responsibility back to the client. And most clients don't want that responsibility — that's precisely why they called me.
Three options. And the logic behind them.
For a first curtain consultation, I now prepare three fabric directions — not more.
The first option is my primary recommendation. The one I genuinely believe is right for the space, based on everything I observed during the site visit: the colours the client responds to, the curtain rod type that suits the room, whether the electrical wiring allows for motorised tracks. This is the option I would choose if it were my own home.
The second and third options serve a specific purpose: they offer a slightly lower price point without changing the core idea. Same style, same logic, different fabric. If the budget becomes a conversation, I already have an answer that doesn't compromise the design direction.
That structure matters. It means we are never choosing between completely different visions — we are refining one vision together.
What the consultation actually looks like.
Before I arrive with fabrics, I visit the site. I photograph the space from the angles I'll need for the Procreate visualization. I ask the same set of questions I've developed over years — about colour preferences, about technical requirements, about how the room is used. I write everything down.
That information is what makes the fabric selection meaningful. Without it, I'm guessing. With it, I'm recommending.
When I present the options, I start with the primary selection. Then I open the tablet — where I've already placed PNG curtain templates into a photo of their actual room — and I explain why this window treatment combination works in their specific space. The client isn't looking at fabric swatches on a table. They're looking at their own room, with my proposal already inside it.
And then something natural happens. They start making small adjustments. Can we try a stripe instead of a solid? What if we changed this to blue? I make the change in front of them and they see immediately how the room responds.
From years of watching this process, I can say with confidence: the first option — the primary recommendation — is approved most of the time.
The experiment I ran on myself.
When I renovated my own apartment, I decided to observe the process from the client's side.
The longer a consultant showed me options, the harder it became to choose. Each new possibility didn't clarify — it complicated. I kept second-guessing what I had already liked. The decision felt heavier with every additional sample.
I already knew this intellectually. But experiencing it personally made it impossible to forget.
Less choice, made with clear reasoning, is a kindness. It respects the client's time and their mental energy. And it signals something important: I have already done the thinking for you. That is what you hired me for.
What this changed in practice.
Consultations became shorter and more decisive. Clients left the first meeting with a clear direction rather than a pile of samples to think about at home. The phrase "I need to compare a few more options" appeared less and less.
And the interior textile visualizations made it work — because a client who can see their room transformed doesn't need to imagine. They just need to decide.
Deciding on the fabric and the style is one thing. But how does that decision naturally become a signed contract — without pressure, without awkward closing tactics? That's what the next article is about.
The consultation workflow I use — from site visit to fabric selection to on-site Procreate visualization on iPad — is what I teach inside my course for textile decorators. Including the questions I ask before I ever open a fabric folder.
Inside a Real Curtain Consultation — Article Series
- When Client Photos Are Terrible (And Why It Doesn't Matter)
- The Moment Clients Start Trusting the Process
- Rough vs Polished: The Decision Timing Nobody Talks About
- Showing Three Options Without Creating Confusion
- From Visualization to Signed Contract
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