Curtain Advice

potsy11

Hi All

I need some curtain advice from the experts (if there are any)

I have a corner window/double doors from my living room out into the garden. I will need floor to ceiling (normal height) curtains.

I have been out shopping around and I cannot get over how bloody expensive the material, poles and making the curtains is. For a nice design in Home focus I am looking at anywhere from 1500 to 3000....FOR CURTAINS!!:eek:

Any adivce is welcome. Can this be done DIY style, like buying the material from UK etc....

Thanks in advance...

Potsy

Cleansheets

You are absolutely right, it is terrifying. Your corner window sounds like it's not standard and therefore the cheaper option of ready mades may not be for you.

I made all the curtains for our first house, I did a course in the local Community college and it did save us a lot, however I already owned a sewing machine, had an empty room in our rented house to work in (floor space definitely needed for patio door curtains) and it took up all my evenings over several weeks. As we had no space and a small child and I was expecting when we moved into our new house so I didn't do it. I got an awful shock getting the ones for this house made, sorry for being so long winded but it gives you a good idea of what's involved if you want to make your own.

Enormous saving, enormous satisfaction but quite alot of work. You need to be confident as the material is still expensive and you don't want to make an error and then have to fork out for someone to sort it out.

Good luck!

PS, shop around I find Home Focus expensive for the same fabric thy are good few euro more expensive than the more traditional drapery here.

itsmine

Yes, made-to-measure curtains can cost a fortune.
What I did was buy ready-made curtains in the sale in Hickeys (these were 132" wide x 90" long). I bought 3 pairs for my very wide window and had a curtain maker join them together for me and re-pleat them. They look really good.. as good as made-to-measure, but without the hefty pricetag.
Arnotts bargain basement is also good for sale readymades.

blindman

Not the advice you're looking for, but if cash is scarce, the first thing to do is get a good curtain track up there, (I cannot recomend any of the bent curtain poles i've seen) see how good the fixings are and what weight of curtain can be supported, I generally find that fixings are poor above corner windows.
Curtains that size requires a huge work table, do not be tempted to make them on a kitchen table/floor.
Shop around. Watch the price/meter for fabric, price/width for making. Unlikely to make savings in the uk, that you cannot save at home. A trip to the far east, to buy fabric, could bring significant savings but not self financing.

foundry

What is the width you are trying to cover OP?

If its under 120inchs (10ft) you don't need to go made to measure, ready made will do just fine and Harry Corry's have a great sale on! Sale price you could be talking €150 for 130x90 curtains

Pole wise the biggest I think you can get is 12 ft (€80) and as its a corner you would just use one finial?

potsy11

One width is 2.4 m the other is 1.8m. I had a guy in who says he can get a32mm pole that will hold the weight of the curtain. He said I would not need a corner barcket. Not sure how he was going to do it but a bit nervous to be honest

foundry

Is there a gap between the window and door

i.e put 2 poles up?

Phoenix3

Can you post a photo or 2 of the corner?

potsy11

You must be Reading my mind. My wife took the pics yesterday and I'll post later tonight.

Thanks

Ellechim

if you do want custom made and can find a curtain maker you can find good fabric on ebay for a fraction of the price - just put in 'curtain fabric'. Mostly it's shipped from the UK. Many of them are end of range Laura Ashley, etc. I nearly recently bought 25M of Laura Ashley fabric for £100 plus delivery with which to cover a couple of sofas (but then changed my mind and decided to replace the sofas instead).....