Making choices about drapery hardware can feel intimidating, especially when a mistake may not become obvious until installation. The stakes can feel high because choosing the wrong component, size, or quantity can leave you with hardware that doesn’t work for the project once it arrives at the job site. That can be a costly mistake.
Brimar’s Project Builder tool gives design professionals a guided way to make component choices for custom drapery hardware projects. By walking designers through these choices, designers can work at their own pace and make choices without knowing every detail upfront. They can also reach out to Brimar when they have questions about an order.
Know What You Need Before You Start
Using Brimar’s Project Builder tool is simple. While designers should have a few project details in mind before they start, they can make many style and component choices as they go through the steps. Marc Thiergart, president of Brimar, also stresses that there’s no pressure to know the exact dimensions or measurements of the project at first. Having a ballpark figure is enough.
Designers start by giving the project a name, like “Smith Living Room” or whatever naming convention makes sense to them. Then, they have the option to choose one of Brimar’s many drapery hardware collections. Different collections have different capabilities and components. For example, one collection might support motorization where another collection doesn’t offer any motorization capabilities.
The tool then walks designers through options such as finishes, finials, poles, brackets, and so on. A designer doesn’t have to have every detail figured out or complete the process in one sitting. “You can start it, you can hit save, and then you can come back to it,” Thiergart says. Designers can use that flexibility to explore a collection and its available components before finishing the build.
Let the Builder Walk You Through the Choices
Rather than dumping a list of components on the designer, the Project Builder takes them through the available choices for the collection they’ve selected.Each collection also includes features and recommendations sections with information such as bracket spacing, drapery glides, maximum pole lengths, mounting options, motorization, and custom bending. Designers also have the option to mark down that they don’t need a certain component for the project.
Thiergart recommends that designers start by researching which collections fit the aesthetic and technical requirements of the project. If a collection supports particular drapery styles, pole sizes, or mounting options, you can use those details to narrow your choices.
Designers can also save multiple project builds in their quote folder, then return to them later to make changes or complete an order. That gives them room to revisit a project as details come together rather than starting over each time.
Don’t Know? Ask Brimar
The Project Builder is just one part of Brimar’s process. If a designer is unsure about an order, they can leave Brimar a note asking for a call. Thiergart encourages designers to use that option when they have questions. “If something doesn’t make sense that a designer orders, we won’t ship it out the door. We will call and we’ll go through the order with them, “ he explains.
Designers can also ask Brimar for guidance before they begin building. “We ask the designer to upload a picture of the room or send a drawing that they have and let us quote it beforehand,” Thiergart says. That can be especially useful for a project with unusual requirements or hardware questions that are difficult to answer from the builder alone.
You Don’t Have to Figure It Out Alone
Designers don’t need to be drapery hardware specialists to start using the Brimar ProjectBuilder. They can come in with the project information they have, work through the choices, save their progress, and reach out to Brimar when they have questions.
“Designers are intimidated by drapery hardware,” Thiergart says. “And it really doesn’t have to be intimidating if you go through this process with us.”
