Motorized drapery in Calgary is a curtain system that runs on a powered track instead of a pull cord. You open and close it with a remote, a wall switch, a phone app, or your voice. We measure, we supply the track, and we install it.
Tall windows and wide patio doors are where this matters most. Reaching behind a sofa for a cord is awkward. On a long run the panels never sit evenly anyway, and somebody ends up straightening them by hand. A motor solves both.
We are an Altex certified dealer working in Calgary homes, and drapery automation sits alongside the roller shades we are known for.
Our core drapery product. Altex builds these tracks in Canada, and we cut them to the exact width of your opening. The carriers glide quietly along the rail, so the panels close evenly every time. Choose a ceiling mount for a recessed look, or a wall mount when the framing behind the drywall is the better anchor.
Somfy is the motor we reach for when a client wants hardware with a long track record. It runs from a handheld remote or a wall switch, and it can join a wider home automation setup later without replacing the track. The motor sits inside the rail housing, so nothing is visible at the edge of the window.
Motionblinds runs on a rechargeable motor, which matters when there is no outlet near the window. You charge it a few times a year and skip the electrical work entirely. For a retrofit where running new wire would mean opening a finished wall, this is usually the option that makes the project worth doing.
Once the track is in, it can answer to a schedule or a spoken command. Close the west windows at five, open the bedroom at seven, and leave it alone after that. We set the open and close limits during installation so the panels stop exactly where you want them rather than a few inches past.
This is the setup we install most often. A roller shade handles glare and heat through the day, and the drapery panel adds softness and warmth once the sun drops. Two layers doing two different jobs. Both can run on the same schedule, so the room adjusts itself as the light changes outside.
Two storey windows, corner units, and patio doors are where hand pulled drapery fails fastest. A powered track carries a longer run without sagging or sticking partway across. We measure the full span, check the header depth, and confirm the panel weight before we put a number in front of you.
We started as a roller shade company, and that shapes how we approach drapery. A panel on its own looks good. It does very little against a low winter sun sitting straight in the window, though, and a shade on its own can leave a room feeling hard and unfinished.
Put the two together and each does the job it is actually good at. The shade takes the glare and the heat. The drapery softens the edges, holds warmth near the glass on a cold night, and gives the window some visual weight. One command sets the whole room.
The detail most people miss is spacing. We fit the shade inside the window frame and mount the drapery track above and outside it, so the two layers never touch as they move. Get that wrong and the fabric rubs every time it closes. Both wear out early.
It also means one visit and one installer for both layers. No coordinating two trades, and nothing ends up mounted in a spot that fouls the other.
Cords are the weak point of any drapery setup. They tangle, they wear, and on a wide window they take real effort to pull evenly. Canada regulates them as well. The Corded Window Coverings Regulations, SOR/2019-97, came into force on May 1, 2021 and set strict limits on reachable cords and cord loops on indoor window coverings.
A motorized track avoids the question entirely. There is no operating cord at the window, which is the outcome most parents and pet owners were after in the first place. Everything below is what our clients actually notice once it is installed.
A powered track has no pull cord and no cord loop beside the glass. In a nursery, a playroom, or any home with a curious dog, that removes the hazard rather than managing it with a cleat and a tie down. It also removes the thing that gets tangled every few weeks and eventually snaps.
Hand pulled panels bunch. One side arrives before the other, the leading edge drags, and someone straightens it by hand afterwards. A motor moves every carrier at the same speed, so a twelve foot run closes as evenly as a four foot one and the panels stack the same way every single time.
The motor lives inside the track housing. Nothing dangles, nothing needs hiding behind a return, and the rail reads as one straight line across the opening. On a ceiling mount it disappears almost entirely into the shadow where the drywall meets the ceiling.
Schedules handle the routine. Panels close as the sun comes around to the west side and open again in the morning without anyone touching them. That consistency helps with heat too, because the glass gets covered at the right time rather than whenever somebody remembers to do it.
We install what we can come back and repair. Motors, carriers, and track sections are replaceable parts rather than one sealed unit. If something fails years from now, we swap the component instead of pulling the entire system off the wall and starting again.
We come to you with samples, because fabric against your own paint and flooring settles the decision far faster than a showroom can. We look at the window, ask how the room actually gets used, and tell you what we would do with it. There is no charge for the visit.
We measure the opening ourselves and check every number twice. Header depth, panel weight, stack space, and the clearance the track needs all get recorded on the spot. This is the step that decides whether the finished job looks tailored or merely close enough.
We mount the track, hang the panels, set the motor limits, and pair the remote or app before we leave. Then we run the system with you so you know exactly how it behaves. The site gets cleaned up and every piece of packaging leaves with us.
These come up on almost every in-home visit, so they are worth answering before you pick up the phone. If your question is not here, ask us during the consultation and you will get a straight answer rather than a sales line.
Often yes. If the panels are in good condition and the heading style suits a carrier system, we can rehang them on a new powered track. We check the panel weight and the heading during the consultation, because a heavy lined panel needs a track and motor rated to pull it. Some headings do need altering first, and we will tell you that before you commit to anything.
Our side of the job is the track, the motor, and the automation, alongside the Altex shades we are known for. We work with the panels you already own or the ones you source, and we handle everything on the hardware side of the window. At the consultation we will tell you plainly what we supply and what you will need to bring to the project.
Not always. A rechargeable battery motor needs no wiring at all, which is why we suggest it for most retrofits. A hardwired motor does need power at the window, and that is far easier to plan during a renovation than after the walls are closed. We tell you which route your window suits before you spend anything.
Quiet enough that a panel closing will not wake somebody in the next room. Modern drapery motors run at a low hum rather than the grinding noise older systems made. In practice you hear the fabric moving across the track more than you hear the motor driving it.
Usually. Every system we fit takes a handheld remote and a wall switch as standard, and most can be added to a broader home automation setup for schedules and voice control. Tell us what you already run in the house and we will confirm compatibility before we quote, rather than after the track is on the wall.
It depends on the span, the motor, and the mount, so we will not pretend there is a single number. A wide patio door needs a stronger rail and a motor rated to pull more weight than a bedroom window does. Battery motors keep the cost down by removing the electrical work. You get a firm quote after we measure, never an estimate over the phone that moves later.
The consultation and the measure usually happen in one visit. After that the timeline depends on the track length and the motor we are ordering in. We give you a date range when you approve the quote, and we tell you promptly if anything shifts, because being left guessing is the part clients dislike most.
We work in Calgary and the communities around it. If you are just outside the city, call us with your address and we will tell you straight away whether the trip works for us. We would rather say no on the phone than book a visit we cannot service properly afterwards.
We bring the samples, measure the window, and give you a straight quote for motorized drapery in Calgary. There is no charge for the visit and no pressure at the end of it.
Call 403-681-4457 or send us a message and we will find a time that suits you.
