where to buy curtains

[MetManMark]

Evening all

After 6 months in our house with curtains from our old place we have been looking round some fabric shops for curtains. We have 6 windows that are 2.4m wide and 2.6m drop - the curtains we currently have up are either not wide enough or not long enough! Our requirements are:
Something thick (given the windows are only singly glazed). I now know about interlining and thermal liming
Something in keeping with the house (1777)
Something made of sufficient quality that it will last a long time.

We are not especially fussed about design etc - the walls are all going to be lime-washed white as we have loads of paintings to decorate the walls. The fabrics we have been shown start at £20 and go up to £50 / m + lining and making-up costs. This is a lot!!! My preference would be for velvet but I have been told that this is even more expensive!

Any top tips regarding where to go to purchase material? I bought my suit for my wedding from an online store (having been measured up here) that had the suit made somewhere in China. Is this sort of scheme available for curtains too?

Thanks in advance
Mark

 

[Feltwell]

We are not especially fussed about design etc

You were doing so well until you said that. Now Joce will issue some sort of Haberdasher's Fatwa on you :wink: :lol:

Sorry, can't help much with suggestions, my mum made all ours with relatively cheap fabric mostly sourced from the local branch of Dunelm Mill, lined with interlining as well. Dunelm Mill have a curtain making service, no idea how much it costs though.

 

[Nigel Watts]

Buy a sewing machine and a book on how to make curtains. The investment will soon be repaid. With no previous experience I managed to make a moderately sophisticated set of curtains (lined, interlined, swags, tails). The techniques I used were heavy on hand sewing, making the process time consuming, but much could have been done by machine.

 

[lou]

Much as I admire and envy Nigel's resolve and expertise I'm afraid I resort to eBay. You need lots of patience for this - trawling through acres of rubbish to find the odd gem, but once you have done the initial groundwork you just need to refine sinsequent searches to identify those 'recently listed ' and/or get an alert set up which will send you automatic notification of newly listed items that match your criteria. Put a 'watch' on anything you are interested in and just keep an eye on the bidding till its about to expire.

Couldn't find the exact eBay ref number but I found this earlier. Seems pretty good value compared with having them made.


A HUGE PAIR OF CUSTOM MADE CHENILE CURTAINS IN A STRIKING COMBINATION OF SHADES (Picture 4 is the closest). 

EACH CURTAIN IS 162" WIDE X 98" LONG with a generous 6" hem that could be let down to give more length, eg to 104".  (415 X 251 CMS + 15 cm hem) approx.

THE CURTAINS ARE FULLY LINED AND FINISHED WITH 5" DEEP ADJUSTABLE HEADER TAPE TO TAKE THE EXTRA WEIGHT.

THEY ARE IN EXCELLENT CONDITION but there has been a small tear about 12" in from the edge near to the hem.  (see last picture).  I will repair this before dispatch and it shouldn't be noticeable when the curtains are hung.

OTHERWISE IN EXCELLENT CONDITION AND NOTHING SIGNIFICANT TO REPORT. 

YOU CAN HANG THEM STRAIGHT AWAY.  

COURIER COST £15

BUYERS IN THE HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND, IRELAND, IOM - £20

 

[MdB]

Put a 'watch' on anything you are interested in and just keep an eye on the bidding till its about to expire.

Just for those that don't know, there isn't any point in putting in a bid until the auction is about to expire. Ebay isn't like an auction with an auctioneer, it works differently such that bidding early only gives others the chance to outbid you. Put in your final amount 5 seconds before the auction ends and you will then have the best chance of picking the item up at a low cost. If you can't be bothered to hang around use http://www.auctionstealer.com to put the bid in for you.

 

[JoceAndChris]

As Feltwell suggests, I'm deeply shocked that the OP displays such a nonchalent attitude towrads the design of the single most important feature in the room's decor. :wink: However he gets brownie points for velvet. Include chenille in your online searches if you like velvet!

Lou is absolutely right in what she says; I just watched a really wonderful, large pair of antique "chateau" curtains in green velvet, with matching pelmet, go for £250. I dread to think what the making-up costs would be. As Nancy Lancaster preferred the sun to eat at her beautiful curtain designs a bit I'm coming round to thinking antique curtains have a charm all their own.

Ready mades in the sales at Laura Ashley and Dunelm represent good value. Dunelm does super-wide widths, not sure about Laura Ashley though. These can be modified to suit your taste - adding trims, taking them apart to interline, making matching top treatments in the same fabric. (Laura Ashley sell the matching fabrics on the roll). My hallway curtain job would have cost £2000 for local professionals to make them up in a £22 per metre silk- buying the ready mades and then making the matching swags and tails myself it was around £600 including the pole, fittings etc.

(Still some modifying and moving up of the curtains to do on this)

So keep your eyes peeled and be ready to have things altered to fit!

 

[JoceAndChris]

Put a 'watch' on anything you are interested in and just keep an eye on the bidding till its about to expire.

Just for those that don't know, there isn't any point in putting in a bid until the auction is about to expire. Ebay isn't like an auction with an auctioneer, it works differently such that bidding early only gives others the chance to outbid you. Put in your final amount 5 seconds before the auction ends and you will then have the best chance of picking the item up at a low cost. If you can't be bothered to hang around use http://www.auctionstealer.com to put the bid in for you.

Quite agree - though twice we've had sniping tools fail to work and been glad of a manual bid placed at the last moment.

 

[MdB]

Quite agree - though twice we've had sniping tools fail to work and been glad of a manual bid placed at the last moment.

Which one failed? I've never had a problem with auctionstealer.

 

[Feltwell]

Same here - auctionstealer has been 100% reliable for us, we've used it a lot, just on the "free" option that limits you to 3 uses per week.

 

[MatthewC]

Mrs C has bought two pairs for our house from Debenhams I think. They are certainly thick enough to keep the room dark after sunrise and of good quality - and not that expensive, considering.

No, I don't own Debenhams.

 

[LadyArowana]

Evening all

I bought my suit for my wedding from an online store (having been measured up here) that had the suit made somewhere in China. Is this sort of scheme available for curtains too?

Thanks in advance
Mark

I bought the silk for our bedroom curtains in Singapore, had them made and brought them back in my luggage, but it's not a particularly cost effective solution unless you are traveling anyway :lol: and Mr Penners gave me grief about my strange curtain habits!

 

[JoceAndChris]

Oh, you've awakened happy memories for me, Lady A, of buying red silk in Arab St Singapore. I seem to recall it was around £8 a metre as opposed to the £20 it is in the UK. I made the curtains myself but the window and the shop being so many thousands of miles apart was a serious problem as I hadn't measured up correctly in the first place. I think whatever decorating materials you buy for the home, you need to be able to go out and get the exact same in case things go wrong. Still, at some point I'll go and rescue those wonky too-short curtains in our London flat and do something with that glorious fabric.

 

[LadyArowana]

Oh, you've awakened happy memories for me, Lady A, of buying red silk in Arab St Singapore. I seem to recall it was around £8 a metre as opposed to the £20 it is in the UK. I made the curtains myself but the window and the shop being so many thousands of miles apart was a serious problem as I hadn't measured up correctly in the first place. I think whatever decorating materials you buy for the home, you need to be able to go out and get the exact same in case things go wrong. Still, at some point I'll go and rescue those wonky too-short curtains in our London flat and do something with that glorious fabric.

I used one of the John Lewis leaflets that you fill in with measurements and then took it to the seamstress, and she told me how much silk to get. I was lucky that the guy had a small bolt that was the right colour and a bit more than I needed he didn't want ends left over so I got it all. Had cushions made

 

[vicky whitworth]

Hi Mark, my recollection is that you are somewhere in Cullompton direction? You could try the second hand curtain shop at the top end of Honiton High Street. They often have interlined stuff but it's luck whether they have the right size/colour/etc.
Velvet fabric is easy to order on-line and if you want simple curtains they are easy enough to make yourself or ask around - someone will make them for you at a reasonably price locally.
Good luck.
Vicky