And now we go again...

Cheery_Daff

Lovely to hear you working things out as you get used to your new house 😊😊

Re the curtains... Have you considered a sewing project? I know it's not something you've done before... and I realise it may not be something you want to do, and that's fine of course. But curtains are relatively straightforward (although I'm saying that as someone who's only altered, not made them...). 

We've also had several pairs of long velvet curtains from charity shops over the years - although clearly you can't just waltz up and buy exactly the right thing off the peg! 

Alternatively sewing your own thermal lining into ready made curtains might save a little bit? It could be done by hand, and not need to look perfect as it'd be at the back.

Anyway, just a thought. I know not everyone is as extreme when it comes to DIY - but we did save a small fortune last year with me making thermal blinds for our kitchen and bedroom (there was a LOT of swearing... but they do look lovely now!)

kayannie

I bought 3 pairs of curtains recently for the 3 windows in our living room. 1 pair were the right length, but the other 2 pairs were about 6 inches too long. As they dropped onto the ledges of our bay windows, they had to be exactly the right length. I decided, with trepidation, to alter them myself. Once I plucked up courage to actually take the scissors to them, the rest was straightforward. They say 'measure twice & cut once', but I think I measured about 6 times, just to be safe! As I usually make my own curtains, I don't really know why I was so worried! KA 

EssexHebridean

If my sewing machine was in decent working order I would indeed be cheerfully buying ready mades and taking them up myself - I've done that previously and am very confident in being able to do so again (although making from scratch would be more of a challenge as these will be eyelet, rather than pencil pleat or tab-top) - but it's not, and it needs to go for a full overhaul before it will be I think, as I've exhausted the possibiities in trying to fix it myself, sadly. And right now, while it *might* behave itself for long enough to do the job, it might also go ahead and chew up a reasonably high financial investment in curtains, so I'm not willing to risk it!  

Kayannie I can completely sympathise with measurement anxiety - we've already measured multiple times last night, and will no doubt measure multiple MORE times before actually buying either the rails or the curtains!  I was delighted to realise that the two "window" curtains in the living room aren't at all fussy on length as they hang cleanly down the wall, without even a radiator to take account of! 

Sunshine_girl2

Sounds like you are getting things sorted out for the house. I have no curtains in my flat for the reason that the windows are very strange and curtains would look odd . On one side of the window it's flush with the wall on the other side it's 18 inches from the window and the window goes in. Hope you find a compromise for yours that it isn't to costly. 

Hope whatever put you out of sorts yesterday isn't affecting you today. 

foxgloves

Measuring is SO important. Mr F & I made a really silly error during our 2020 -2022 house refurbishment project. We needed to order a made-to-measure blind for our bedroom. We measured both the drop & the width multiple times, but for ease of use (especially as me being short & I had one end of the tape measure), we ran the tape along the windowsill. We got it to the nearest mm & thought we'd done a fine job. Of course a made-to-measure using customer measurements can't be returned, so we were not happy when our painter & decorator (whom we'd also asked to include other fitments jobs in his quote) went to put it up for us & it didn't fit because the width across the top of the window recess was not square with the width at the bottom! I'd have had a tantrum & probably binned it, but he cut a dip in the plaster (not visible) & managed to do a good job of fitting it. No money wasted that time, but we won't make that error again when measuring. Should have known better as quite an old house - 1930s.
F

Sun_Addict

On the cast iron pan/dish front, I picked up a Lid! magazine yesterday and from 1 to 10 October they will have 20% off their Ernesto cast iron range via the app. It says suitable for all hob types including induction. I don’t know what they’re like quality wise though. 

milann

We have two windows in our bedroom and one is a bay so makes for expensive curtain buying. My favourite curtains were a burgundy velvet(esk) ones. They were the most expensive curtains I’d ever bought and they were worth every penny….looked good and kept the draughts out. I had them up about 20 years and they’d definitely seen better days….the sun had faded them and they were getting flecks of mould so we replaced them. I’ve never had a pair as nice as those red velvet ones though……couldn’t afford the same now 😢

joedenise

I've got several Lidl pans and they seem to be fairly good quality for the money.

savingholmes

Hope the Swedish shop stuff all works to plan. Presumably lots of diy this weekend!

rtandon27

I'm stupidly excited about your Swedish shop delivery - lol - living vicariously!