A workroom that travels
Before Exotic Shades & Draperies opened in South Florida, our founder was designing and installing motorized shading and couture drapery in Montreal - glass-roofed solariums under snow, double-height penthouses in the Old Port, and clients who noticed every millimeter. Those projects are where the obsession with precision comes from, and two of them are told here.
Today the same standard goes wherever the project is: Fifth Avenue in New York, six villas on Big Ambergris Cay, and the Caribbean - fabricated in our own workroom, measured and installed by our own crew.
The Impossible Roman
A roman shade has no business on a skylight - gravity runs the wrong way. In this Westmount solarium it travels across the glass roof anyway, on two Lutron Sivoia QS drapery tracks, sewn to run on the track by our seamstress.
The Impossible Roman at a glance
Location
Private residence · Westmount, Montreal, Canada. Designed and installed by our founder.
The problem
A glass-roofed solarium - full sun, full view, and no vertical window for a roman shade to hang from.
The solution
Two Lutron Sivoia QS drapery tracks along the skylight carry the roman across the glass; the folds gather and release as the motors travel.
Fabrication
Our seamstress sewed the roman to ride the track - a drapery track carrying a roman shade, which is why it earned its name.
Fabric
Kravet Basics 4764-101.
System
Lutron HomeWorks, in collaboration with Adom Smart Home (AV integration).
Tap the fabric for its specification.
Kravet Basics · 4764-101 — The Impossible Roman
| House | Kravet Basics |
| Pattern · Colour | 4764-101 |
| In this project | The motorized roman shade across the Westmount skylight |
Under the glass roof
Open to the Sky
Traveling on the Track
Kravet Basics 4764-101
Old Port Penthouse
Double-height glass over the Old Port, winter light, and sheer curtains that travel the full wall on Somfy Glydea 60 motorized tracks - living room and bedroom.
Old Port Penthouse at a glance
Location
Penthouse · Old Port, Montreal, Canada. Designed and installed by our founder.
Treatment
Sheer curtains across the double-height glass wall of the living room and in the bedroom.
Motorization
Somfy Glydea 60 drapery tracks - quiet, long-travel motors sized for panels this tall.
Why it mattered
Two storeys of glass facing the city: the sheers soften the light without giving up the view of the Old Port and the skyline.
Inside the penthouse
Two Storeys of Glass
Sheers at the Glass
The Bedroom
Where the workroom has been
Frequently asked
Were the Montreal projects done by Exotic Shades?
They were designed and installed by our founder in Montreal before Exotic Shades & Draperies opened in South Florida - same person, same standards, same insistence on the millimeter.
How do you motorize a roman shade on a skylight?
Two Lutron Sivoia QS drapery tracks along the glass carry a roman sewn to travel on them; the folds gather and release as the motors move. It runs on Lutron HomeWorks, integrated with Adom Smart Home.
Do you take projects outside South Florida?
Yes - New York, Turks & Caicos and the Caribbean recently. Fabrication in our own workroom, our own crew on site. Talk to us.
A window nobody else will touch?
Skylights, curved glass, double-height walls - the projects that make other shops say no are the ones we like. One free hour with our team routinely saves owners thousands in avoidable mistakes. Start with the free guide: the 5 costly mistakes.