photos by ASHLEY MEDLEY | Voice-Tribune Patrick Payne has been running Spindletop Draperies since 1971.

When Patrick Payne bought Tuskos Interiors in the early 1970s, the custom drapery store had six employees and six sewing machines. Nearly four decades later, the business, now known as Spindletop Draperies, has 24 employees and an on-site manufacturing department.

“I bought the store in late 1971, and we’ve been having fun ever since,” Payne said.

Payne bought the business from Michael Tuskos after seeing an ad Tuskos placed in a local newspaper.

“He wanted to move back to Hungary with his wife and daughters,” Payne said. “So I borrowed some money and bought the business.”

Payne renamed the business Spindletop Draperies after Spindletop Farm, a horse farm near Lexington. The farm’s mansion, Spindletop Hall, now serves as the Faculty/Staff Alumni Club at the University of Kentucky.

Payne is a UK alumnus.

Spindletop is a family business for the Paynes. Patrick is the president and his son, Tyler, is vice president.

“Tyler has been with the business since he graduated from Eastern Kentucky University (in 1989),” Payne said. “He worked here in the summer while he was in high school, too.”

Spindletop Draperies sells custom made draperies, all types of blinds and shades, shutters, headboards, pillows, bedspreads, drapery hardware, cornice boards and top treatments. All products, except for blinds and hardware, are made on-site.

“We don’t out-shop production,” Payne said.  “Most of my employees have been here 20 years or better.”

Spindletop did all of the blinds for the Humana Building – about 500 to 600 windows – when it was built. The company also has supplied window treatments for a number of local hotels and frequently works with the Al J. Schneider Co. on its commercial projects.

One thing that makes Spindletop unique is its free shop-at-home service. An associate will visit a potential customer’s home to take measurements, listen to the client’s needs, show them samples, give quotes and take care of the paperwork and payments.

The client’s purchases are then made in-house, and Spindletop’s full-time installer will come to a client’s home to install the purchase.

“If a customer is dissatisfied, we work with them until everything is right. I guarantee everything,” Payne said. “I grew up in Louisville. I have a lot of friends here. I don’t want to make anyone angry.

“Someone can bring us a picture from a magazine and say ‘That’s what I want’ and our people can do it,” he added.

Spindletop’s Highlands showroom is also a Hunter Douglas Gallery. Hunter Douglas is a high-end window treatment line.

Only a select number of window treatment businesses can host a Hunter Douglas Gallery. 

Payne, now in his early 70s, still puts in a full week’s work at his business. Tyler Payne runs the day-to-day operations.

“(Tyler’s) not interested in me leaving, and I’m not interested in leaving,” Payne said. “I’ll sit at this desk until I can’t sit here anymore.”
Spindletop Draperies is located at 1064 Bardstown Road, 583-5556.