Husband-and-Wife Design Team Knows How to Treat a Window

Royal Oak designer Doug Scheibner, 61, was drawn to curtains and drapery as a teenager, learning the nuances of fabric from his father LeRoy Scheibner.

The elder Scheibner manufactured draperies from his home in ‘60s for the likes of Motown honcho Berry Gordy Jr. and pop star Smokey Robinson.

“I was 15 or 16 years old,” said the Royal Oak Dondero graduate, “and I would go with my father to the mansions of these icons and they were just these normal people. We would walk in their houses and they would treat us like a friend or a buddy.”

Drapery was really in vogue at the time, Scheibner said, and he was hooked. In 1977, he opened on Washington Avenue with his wife Cara, an interior designer. 

In the ‘70s, the Scheibners' downtown neighbors included Kresge, Winkleman’s, Kleba’s, and Royal Men’s Wear. In contrast to today, Scheibner said there were only four restaurants nearby — Sanders, the lunch counter at Kresge, R & J Coffee Shop and the Busy Oak.

“It was mostly retail,” Scheibner said. “We wanted to be a unique boutique-type store.” Thirty-five years later, the shop has survived the changing landscape of downtown Royal Oak and interior design trends.

Over the years, It’s Your Window clients have included the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Henry Ford Museum and the as well as numerous area homeowners and more recently, Royal Oak’s downtown condo owners.  Scheibner says the right window treatment brings out the color of furniture, artwork and walls, as well as controlling temperature comfort and the amount of light that comes into a room.

“We have clients who work nights so they want little light so they can rest during the day,” Scheibner said. “Window treatments are a very important design element and we never feel we have to sell any one product. Our job is giving people a vision about what is possible.”

No client is too big or too small for It’s Your Window. Presently, the Scheibners are working on a design solution for , which opens this month above on Main Street.

“We’re going to use layers of material at Pizzeria Biga — one over another,” Scheibner said. “It’s going to be fun and unique.”