Help! How much will it cost to 'Curtain'??

thriftisthenewcool

Hi,

We've just had our offer accepted on a house. And we are trying to be proactive to budget our costs. One thing I can't seem to figure out is how much it would cost - roughly - for buying curtains. Its a 3 bed house and 2 relatively large windows 12 ft x 6 ft. I'm looking for a ball-park figure. Any help is most appreciated.

Many thanks.
J

P.S - I hope it is the right board.

cally1_2

Depends what sort of curtains you want. The sky is the limit tbh. Depending on fabric and heading type/style. Full length or sill length? You can get them really cheap in places like IKEA or Argos or could get them bespoke for hundreds if not thousands of punds.

WestonDave

Its possible they may leave the curtains especially if they are particularly strange etc.

As for budget its a bit of a piece of string question - if you want made to measure curtains it could easily come to over £2k for the whole house - if you are able to make do with what places like Wilkinsons, Ikea and Shaw's sell then you can possibly do it for around £50 per window on average.

ormus

as above. 50 quid each window from a cheap shop ie dunelm mill.
a thousand quid each if you wanna be posh.

downshifter

WestonDave wrote: »

Its possible they may leave the curtains especially if they are particularly strange etc.

As for budget its a bit of a piece of string question - if you want made to measure curtains it could easily come to over £2k for the whole house - if you are able to make do with what places like Wilkinsons, Ikea and Shaw's sell then you can possibly do it for around £50 per window on average.

Or charity shops, I've both bought and given away curtains to these, also Freecycle. You could also just curtain the main room that would need privacy, probably just your bedroom, then do the rest over a period of time. I've lived here over 8 years and never have got round to doing one of the kitchen windows or the spare room at all. But then I'm not overlooked. When we bought our first house we only did the front windows at first which looked onto the street, then did the others over a year. We didn't even bother budgeting for it, it was such a small amount, however you could spend a fortune. To me it wouldn't be a priority though.

DS

Ladybird20

even e bay ......i have some brand new next black curtains that i bought which i might put on ebay....

thriftisthenewcool

Thanks for all your comments..
The previous owners are leaving the curtains - which are from the 1960s possibly... So they have to go Im afraid... I dont want anything posh or top of the range... just something to get us going till we are able to 'upgrade'...

J

wssla00

I had very large windows and found Ikea were great as the drop was not a usual drop usual drops go 46" 54" 72" 90" etc and the windows were 102" so it was much easier to get floor to ceiling ones from there. My best ones (I.e. most fancy) were £29 for a really heavy fabric and the ones for my bay window were two pairs at £7.50 each. All tab top and all included hemming iron on fabric which was useful.

Edited to say looks as though your drop will be around 72, however if you want floor to ceiling you will need to measure floor to curtain pole. Width wise you are looking at 144 width. This was the width of my bay.

I had no problems using two pairs. Noone can see it and if you are ok at sewing up the curtains then there is no gaps. Even if you aren't they look pretty good- just plain cream but can be dyed in the washing machine.

Remember if you plan to net your house it's double width for a fine pattern, and times and a half for a heavy pattern, i really like nets but im old skool lol

laurel7172

You might be able to use the 60's curtains as liners for IKEA tab tops (or similar). It makes quite a difference to how luxuriously they hang (and insulate-those are big windows you're covering). I have cotton IKEA curtains-nobody is ever going to mistake them for £1000 curtains, but they look far more expensive since they were lined...

sophieschoice

I've just curtained four windows, 2 very large and 2 medium for £15 per pair.
http://www.tjhughes.co.uk/fcp/categorylist/dept/home-and-garden-by-type-curtains?resetFilters=true.

sophieschoice

an example here
http://www.tjhughes.co.uk/fcp/product/brands-for-less/Curtains/Toledo-Fully-Lined-Jacquard-Curtains/148