Hand-Cleaning of Traditional Window Treatments
NY Drapery Care’s only specialty is the cleaning of custom fabric window treatments. All our cleaning is done by hand using 100% environmentally friendly solutions made by GreenEarth Cleaning. These solutions are odor free and will not fade or damage even the most fragile fabrics.
We hand clean lined drapery, curtains, sheers and top treatments. The majority of our cleaning is done at our workroom and not in your home. We provide temporary paper shades for those windows where privacy is a must while your window treatments are out being cleaned. Generally turn around time from when we pickup is 10 days unless other arrangements are made.
Drapery & Sheers
Drapery is NEVER put in a dry cleaning machine where it could easily get damaged or shrink. By doing all our work by hand we can effectively eliminate any fear of damage or shrinkage which is often a major concern when using a traditional dry cleaner.
Depending on the fabric, we may clean sheers using a water based wet cleaning process. We repeatedly hand wash and rinse the sheers in long tubs designed specifically for this purpose and then hang them to dry. Once everything is dry we steam the sheers by hand to remove any wrinkling..
Traditional Shades & Top Treatments
We clean all traditional shades including lined and sheer Roman shades and balloon shades. We also clean fabric top treatments including valances, cornices, and swags.
Cleaning elaborate top treatments is not an issue since the fabric is cleaned by hand while it is still attached to the pole or board that it is mounted to. The top treatment is not deconstructed for cleaning so you can be sure when it is rehung it will hang just as it did originally.
Customer Reviews
“Over the past 15 years we have entrusted our drapery, shades, sheers, and whatever else hangs in our house, to NY Drapery Care, and Chuck Strausser for cleaning. We have been consistently delighted with the result, and with the competence and professionalism we find in dealing with him and his team. I cannot recommend them more highly.”
“I found Chuck and NY Drapery Care online, not knowing what to expect. I was pleased from start to finish. Chuck was professional, always on time, if not early, performed whatever the task quickly, efficiently, and politely, always with a smile. All my Roman shades and draperies were returned and installed perfectly. I would recommend this company to everyone.”
“NY Drapery Care did an incredible job cleaning my white roman shades. Chuck took incredible care to ensure we got the best result possible. He was responsive and highly service-oriented. I am not easy to impress, and I was impressed! I will definitely use them again!”
“Chuck is responsive, friendly and extremely honest. He advised me to get rid of my dirty drapes rather than charging me for cleaning, and that was after he had already taken them and I had agreed to clean. I am extremely impressed and when I do need my new ones cleaned, I will certainly use NY Drapery Care. Wonderful service.”
— Tara Pober Thompson, 5-Star Google Review
Traditional Window Treatment Tips
How often should I clean my window treatments?
Ideally we suggest cleaning every 2-3 years. Sheers, especially in Manhattan, become dingy over time as soot and dust get trapped in the fabric. If soot is left on the fabric for years on end, it will, in combination with the sun and the moisture found by the window, often cause some level of permanent discoloration. This discoloration appears as a “graying” of the fabric.
Even if windows are rarely if ever opened soot and dust will still coat the fabric albeit at a slower rate than if the windows are left open. Overall synthetics are the most serviceable fabric with wool sheers being the most delicate given their susceptibility to sun damage.
Can water stains be removed?
A “water stain” that looks like the outline of a “brown mountain range” is actually caused by the fabric getting wet which in turn causes the sizing/starch that was originally sprayed on the fabric to wick up and concentrate. The concentrated sizing oxidizes over time and turns brown.
The older the stain the darker it usually becomes. Old water stains may lighten with cleaning but often a less noticeable shadow remains. If on the other hand a water stain is addressed relatively quickly, the chances of removing it improve dramatically.
From our blog:
What should your client do with their drapery when they redecorate, paint or move ?
I recently completed a project at a magnificent Westchester estate that was being readied for sale. One of the goals in staging the house was to open up the Hudson River views and bring more light into the home. To accomplish this, the staging expert wanted to have the extraordinary drapery removed from several of the rooms. The quandary was what to do with the drapery?
