First-time house renovation

TomsMom

Canucklehead wrote: »

Hi

Just about anything is possible, brother uses this place Nowhere near you of course but your curtain maker must have some contacts? As for the weight ,

Corgi Guy

Thanks for the link Corgi Guy, I've made a note of it. The curtain maker has 3 big branches in the north west and all we were offered was brass. But we can check out places on the 'net to see if we could get one made the right length.

how good a fixing will you get on the centre bracket?

This is why we're a bit worried. It's going into a good solid brick wall (above the new steel which was put in when the french doors/windows were installed), but those curtains are going to be HEAVY. Maybe a normal track with lots of brackets spaced along the length is the right answer. I don't want to talk myself out of eyelets so it needs a lot of thought. I wonder if they can tell me how much a metre of the material weighs so we can work out how much the curtains will weigh , perhaps not, she was a bit of a snotty mare when we enquired about them as it was 5 minutes before closing time and she was obviously chomping at the bit to get off home and didn't have time to talk to customers :rotfl: .

PurpleK8

TomsMom;19049447]Can any of you guys help with my curtain question here?

I've got really heavy curtains, lined chenile, they're not as wide as yours (10' pole so 2xwidths) but the drops pretty long (8'). I was worried that they wouldn't gather very well but they've gathered lovely and quite tightly, just choose the tape carefully so that the gather looks right

The pole I've got them on isn't the best, I thought it was a bargain because it looked just like the far more expensive one in the dining room for half the price. When we came to put it up it was the brackets that are obviously cheaper, I was convinced it was going to fall down but its still up after 14 months (it'll probably fall down this afternoon now I've said that:rotfl: ) so I'm sure yours will be ok

I've had my break for the day so I'm getting back to tiling my bathroom now, I've just got to finish the mosaics in the curved shower and the tiles on bath panel so hopefully i'll finish it today

TomsMom

PurpleK8 wrote: »

I've got really heavy curtains, lined chenile, they're not as wide as yours (10' pole so 2xwidths) but the drops pretty long (8'). I was worried that they wouldn't gather very well but they've gathered lovely and quite tightly, just choose the tape carefully so that the gather looks right

I'd have to have these biggies made so hopefully the retailer will choose the correct heading tape, or should I ask specifically for something?

I've had my break for the day so I'm getting back to tiling my bathroom now, I've just got to finish the mosaics in the curved shower and the tiles on bath panel so hopefully i'll finish it today

Can't wait to see the photos (hint, hint).

Josepina

Toms mom, Hi, I really wouldn't choose eyelet type for such lovely fabric I always associate those with cheapy curtains. How about the heading type where you get 3 gathers then a straight bit - pinch pleats or goblet pleats might look good?
Also why do you need 3 widths, I usually use double width and my curtains always appear full. I would have thought 3 would be far too much?

TomsMom

Josepina wrote: »

Toms mom, Hi, I really wouldn't choose eyelet type for such lovely fabric I always associate those with cheapy curtains. How about the heading type where you get 3 gathers then a straight bit - pinch pleats or goblet pleats might look good?
Also why do you need 3 widths, I usually use double width and my curtains always appear full. I would have thought 3 would be far too much?

Thanks Josepina. I'll have a look at the other types of headings before making my mind up.

If I do wall to wall curtains (or thereabouts) the width of the wall is 153". The 3 widths is not 3 x the width of the wall for fullness. I asked the lady in the shop to work out how much fabric and the cost. She said eyelet curtains and pencil pleat needed the same amount of fabric for fullness, i.e. approx 2 x width of your opening. So 2 x 153" = 306". The fabric is 48" wide therefore 6 widths of fabric is needed to have the right amount of fullness to cover the opening, i.e. 3 widths of fabric in each curtain.

Didn't mean to give you a maths lesson :rotfl: but hope I've made it a bit clearer about the widths.

Josepina

thats ok double the window width is what I usually aim for

BB1984

TM - it's a pee-pipe isn't it....?! :eek:

(we had one for a short while....no use to me though!!)

BB

latecomer

@BB - I'd definitely go for the 3rd choice of door, just looks a little different and its a nice light colour too.

@Andy - are the channels being cut in concrete and are you doing it by hand?

@jamtart - good job on getting someone to draw your plans. We are still being ignored by the architect we are using. I'm going to go and see one of our neighbours that recentlty had some plans done and ask about who did them as we're now at the stage of needing to get plans submitted if we want to get it done this year.

@purpleK8 - need to see pictures of your tiling

We had a good weekend. I went to the timber yard and spoke at length with the manager and he's not happy with the quality or service from the saw mill. turns out the guy I was dealing used to work there which might explain why he was reluctant to make a fuss. Anyway he's going to get their rep to come to examine the wood in person and then see about getting it sorted out. He offered to phone as soon as he has an update but I've told him that there is no rush as he must be a busy man with more important things to worry about (no harm in massaging his ego a little to help things along! ) as long as it gets resolved in the near future. So he's going to let me know once he has made some real progress.

We then spent most of saturday going round bathroom showrooms trying to find a showerbath we both like. Didn't make a huge amount of progress until the last 2 of the day. We both like the MIL's Ideal standard sink so were looking at that and the salesman got us interested in a different bath which I cant remember the name of. And on we went to the last place where the first suite as we went in the door had a very unusual sink, matching toilet and different but nice bath. Asked the salesmen about it and its Kohler, and the suite price is nearly £3000 :eek:
Not going to happen but as both really like the sink ( link ) we are probably going to go for it and the matching toilet which we can get online for around £900. We found an ex-demo bath on ebay (described as As new) for £350 (retail price is about £1550) but its a right hand instead of a left
He did recommend another make for about half the price but again we want to see it. So we've got the in-laws phoning round the showrooms near them to see if anyone has the baths on show so we can go see them.

Sunday was tiles and we've narrowed it down to a 2 for the walls. I love the travertine stone we saw but one of our friends bought some online and its pretty bad and we've also been told that due to the weight it should be fixed to either brick or plasterboard rather than plaster. Might use it for the flooring and a ceramic tile for the walls. Both the travertine and the ceramic tiles we like are around £30/m so its going to be an expensive bathroom, just as well we are fitting it ourselves

TomsMom

BB1984 wrote: »

TM - it's a pee-pipe isn't it....?! :eek:

BB

:T

:rotfl: 5 fellas and one toilet makes for desperation.

Situation should be rectified within the next few days as once the tiles arrive for the en-suite tomorrow (am I being a bit too optimistic here ) they can start in there.

By the way, it took my son a few minutes to work it out which really surprised me!

TomsMom

latecomer wrote: »

Asked the salesmen about it and its Kohler, and the suite price is nearly £3000 :eek:

Nothing like having expensive tastes and not enough budget - that's my problem too!

I love the sink, should look fabulous. Hope you find the bath you want at the right price.

Sunday was tiles and we've narrowed it down to a 2 for the walls. I love the travertine stone we saw but one of our friends bought some online and its pretty bad and we've also been told that due to the weight it should be fixed to either brick or plasterboard rather than plaster. Might use it for the flooring and a ceramic tile for the walls. Both the travertine and the ceramic tiles we like are around £30/m so its going to be an expensive bathroom, just as well we are fitting it ourselves

It's amazing how it all mounts up. We were shocked at the prices of most of the tiles but I'm glad to say we've nearly finished in that department, just have to look for kitchen wall tiles now and I'm really not looking forward to it.