Carpets and Curtains Question - How to approach

Old_Git

shaneshaneshane wrote: »

Reading the responses here it seems fairly common practise to take curtains.. what is that all about? Chances are they won't fit the new house and will cost an arm and a leg to get adjusted? I am interested to hear from people who take/have taken curtains when moving as to what the main motivation is?

I took my curtains as the house I was buying had none .
I had to buy curtain poles but if I stick to 90x 90 curtains I can buy them cheaply as and when I need .I bought a new pair yesterday for £16.99 .

jbainbridge

shaneshaneshane wrote: »

Reading the responses here it seems fairly common practise to take curtains.. what is that all about? Chances are they won't fit the new house and will cost an arm and a leg to get adjusted? I am interested to hear from people who take/have taken curtains when moving as to what the main motivation is?

We took all the curtains - especially the children's ones (along with the fireman and football curtain poles!) All have been reused.

Any blinds were left behind.

Our vendor took all her curtains too. Fortunately all the windows also had blinds (which she left) so we took our time putting the curtains back up again.

Carpets on the other hand - I cannot see why you would take them!

Elfbert

My vendor left us all the blinds - two of them really good blackout blinds. And the washing machine, fridge-freezer, bathroom cabinet and furniture on the balcony (although we gave him some money for this, as it was very good quality.)

Luckily he was very practical about it, asked if we wanted things he thought we might, and took the things we didn't want to the dump.

Ivana_Tinkle

shaneshaneshane wrote: »

Reading the responses here it seems fairly common practise to take curtains.. what is that all about? Chances are they won't fit the new house and will cost an arm and a leg to get adjusted? I am interested to hear from people who take/have taken curtains when moving as to what the main motivation is?

Er... perhaps they like the curtains and don't want to have to go shopping for new ones? I agree that blinds are unlikely to fit, but you have a tremendous amount of leeway when it comes to the width of curtains and, as for the length, well, I'm trying to think of a DIY task that's easier than taking up curtains but drawing a blank! No able-bodied, reasonably intelligent person needs to pay to have curtains taken up unless they want to!

jhs14

shaneshaneshane wrote: »

Reading the responses here it seems fairly common practise to take curtains.. what is that all about? Chances are they won't fit the new house and will cost an arm and a leg to get adjusted? I am interested to hear from people who take/have taken curtains when moving as to what the main motivation is?

Why wouldn't you? I can see why you'd leave fitted blinds, but curtains generally aren't made to measure - certainly mine arent. I measure the window and get the next sized up curtains from the selection of standard sizes. Chances are they'll more or less fit a window in the next house. At £100 a pop sometimes (even non made-to-measure), I don't see why you would leave them unless they were specifically made for an awkward-sized window in the old house.

shaneshaneshane

Ivana_Tinkle wrote: »

Er... perhaps they like the curtains and don't want to have to go shopping for new ones? I agree that blinds are unlikely to fit, but you have a tremendous amount of leeway when it comes to the width of curtains and, as for the length, well, I'm trying to think of a DIY task that's easier than taking up curtains but drawing a blank! No able-bodied, reasonably intelligent person needs to pay to have curtains taken up unless they want to!

No need for the attitude is there.. leeway on width depends on how you like your curtains to sit I guess and if they are more for decorative purpose or functional.

Not everybody has picked up a needle and thread before therefore may not want to risk doing a poor job, especially if they were expensive (which I imagine is when most people would take them!)

jhs14 wrote: »

Why wouldn't you? I can see why you'd leave fitted blinds, but curtains generally aren't made to measure - certainly mine arent. I measure the window and get the next sized up curtains from the selection of standard sizes. Chances are they'll more or less fit a window in the next house. At £100 a pop sometimes (even non made-to-measure), I don't see why you would leave them unless they were specifically made for an awkward-sized window in the old house.

All my curtains are made to measure, I like my curtains to sit in a certain way. I am fussy I guess.. perhaps your onto something there.

But none the less, thanks for the perspective from all that contributed ( that includes you Ivana.. you raised valid points )

TBagpuss

A lot of windows are fairly standard sizes - the curtains from my last bedroom fit my new bedroom window nicely, and the curtains from my old living room windows fit my new living room windows nicely.

When I am able to decorate I plan to buy new ones, but that's not going to happen immediately.

Paul_the_Painter

Having both fitted and sold curtains, it is very easy to get curtains to fit in a new house. In fact it is often easier to to move a pole up our down on the wall than adjust the curtains. Width wise undo the cords on the heading tape and then adjust to new window width.
Our family members have always gone with take the curtains and poles (making good the wall) leave carpet and fitted blinds.
Poles might seem strange but most have been John Lewis "pole bar" ones, high quality very durable and they sell all the bits separately. So for about 20% of the original purchase price you can convert a 6 foot pole into an 8 foot pole (buy 1 4foot pole cut down the 6 foot to a 4 foot buy a joining piece and a centre bracket, may need to add a few rings)