Can anyone help me with curtains/blinds advice?

[ApolloandDaphne]

I need to get curtains/blinds for a whole house. I have enough money (saved for a long time for house renovations) to have most of these custom made rather than off the shelf.

I had someone round to measure up and quote with fabric choices we have made (I haven't had the quote yet). The woman told me I would need to put wooden batons above all the windows to hold the curtains and non-recessed blinds. Is this a thing? I've had many houses (I am 60 so not a curtain novice!) and never heard of this. It's put us off using this place. I know what's above all my windows and I also consulted the joiner who is working on my house and he said I would not need batons.

So to my next question. Where do people go to get curtains made? I would also like advice on whether my fabric choices are right so maybe I am thinking design advice too? I suspect it is going to cost a fair bit for these and I don't want to have to ever change them again. I need to make good choices!

Any curtain advice would be fantastic. Thank you.

We have had our curtains & Roman blinds M2M at Dunelm for quite a few years now, recently moved (newbuild so starting from scratch) and once again have been really pleased with the quality.
Shutter blinds were provide by a local independent though which are much better quality than the Dunelm ones at our last house.

Haven't used battens here, as long as you can get a good fixing there is no need.

Thank you. I did have a look at Dunelm but i wasn't keen on their fabric choices. I might need to go and look again.

The batten thing will depend on what the walls are built from , and the type of plaster finish ( board, lathe and plaster etc) So the age of the house will often dictate that.

There are a lot of independent makers around, but I always find my local and independent furniture store dies a great job, including putting up appropriate poles and hanging curtains, plus checking to ensure they are hanging well after a month or so.

The house was build in 1996. It is built with big grey blocks from what I have seen.

Sorry if I have got baton/batten wrong!

My house was built mid-60s, as was my late parents'. Mine has battens above every window (here already when we moved in) and they're camouflaged by being painted the same colour as the wall. I didn't even know they were a thing but I think they're great.
The walls above some of my parents' windows were wrecked over the years. One set of heavy curtains once brought the whole rail down, along with chunks of wall. Others had polyfilla'd patches where replaced rails had different fixing points.