Why do my expensive-ish curtains look crap

[Sickofhousestuff]

Hi, I’ve bought my first house so a newbie to house stuff. Unfortunately, my mum is not good with this sort of thing so hoping for some MN advice.

Why do my curtains look crap? Yes they will look better after a steam but I’m not loving the way they look. We have huge windows so had to purchase made to measure which wasn’t cheap.

Im thinking I need more hoops. DH wanted the curtains to hit where they do but I think it’s a shame they don’t hit just above the window sill. Tempted to get my sewing machine out and watch some YouTube videos!

Please help. I’m gutted. They look really different to the image on the website as well :’(

See my comment above.

Also, unless they break into your house and redecorate while you are out, it’s none of your business. The OP didn’t ask for decorating advice (and from the photo of her kitchen doesn’t need it), she asked for advice on getting her curtains to hang right.

I have a beige sofa with a beige carpet and magnolia (gasp!) walls with wooden furniture with the only colour being cushions, a splash of colour in the (you guessed it) beige curtains and several bookshelves. It’s deeply unfashionable and I don’t care.

I have noticed before on mumsnet that certain people are obsessed with curtains needing to be floor length. Yes, they look nice but aren’t always practical - two of our bedrooms are dual aspect with large windows and if we had floor length curtains wouldn’t have anywhere to put furniture.

I really like your curtains and think they’ll look lovely once they’re gathered and the creases drop out. However, if you need to buy any more for other rooms, we needed made to measure curtains for all of our windows due to their size and found this site reasonably priced, plus they have helpful measuring and hanging guides:

https://www.curtainscurtainscurtains.co.uk/made-to-measure-curtains.html?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI85PHu9bKggMVVfHtCh0F6AqSEAAYASAAEgK88vD_BwE

I love your kitchen especially the tiles.

OP I feel for you. Many years ago I chose a beautiful striped fabric for floor to ceiling, lined, pinch pleat curtains. Cost loads, took the fitters a day to get the rail up due to odd shaped window. Due to my lack of understanding of material/fabric and the terminology the super stylish vertical striped curtains I dreamt of turned out to be horizontally striped. I was so disappointed and embarrassed. But 20 years on they are still up 😂

Why you moving in with her so she needs to decorate to your taste?

I made my own curtains for an old 18the century townhouse, so they’re all floor length. I allow double the width, measured from where I want the curtain to start - so at least 15 cm from the outside of the window frame. Pure linen, and lined, so they hang really nicely without weights. But you might find adding in some curtain weights in the bottom corners helps the hang, @Sickofhousestuff

I don’t really do beige, but that’s a matter of personal taste. I don’t think, with your pale wood floors and the strong blue of the sofa, that you need to be worried about too much colour - if the room’s big enough. For me, being used to high Georgian ceilings, modern houses often feel pokey, but it sounds as though you get lots of light. I wouldn’t be scared of colour so much, OP.

THE sofa is gorgeous.

Most people are inept until they decorate their first home.

I thought curtains had to be customised 🙄, expensive mistake particular if you are going to use shutters or blackout blinds and they will not be closed.

I have never met anyone that hasn't made a couple of mistakes when decorating.

The lucky ones are the ones that aren't expensive and easy to fix at a later date!

exactly what @billy1966 said!

If only we were all so talented as @Sickofhousestuff ….here’s my recent thread about not getting it right, for the record I’m in my 50s and this is far from my first rodeo in decorating!
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/property/4936676-making-changes-following-full-reno?reply=130542713

Another HUGE mistake was a horrendously expensive Italian leather suite in the most gorgeous shade.

I HATE leather suites and realised within months that it was a mistake.

Fortunately it's very comfortable and we still have it, but I really don't like leather, what was I thinking.

I have 3 good friends and we all bought very expensive leather suites we hate around the same time.

One used her son's upcoming wedding and redecorating, as the excuse that justified her finally getting rid of hers, but the other 3 of us haven't a wedding in sight😁so are rightly stuck.

I'm too old and sensible and reared in a time when you didn't replace excellent furniture just because you don't like it......unfortunately!

@billy1966 I'm too old and sensible and reared in a time when you didn't replace excellent furniture just because you don't like it......unfortunately!

you and me both, hence my angst over the flooring! I’m kicking against my upbringing on this one though 😂

Don’t shorten them op, honestly it will look really bad. You just need to steam and gather, it’s fine.

the sofa and tiles are lovely and I strongly suspect the curtains will be too when hung right.

Good for you.
My husband keeps saying to just pick out a new one....ME pick out a new one, not him!!

I can't be bothered with that effort either ....so we are at an impasse.

It's our winter sitting room so it becomes an issue every autumn and subsides in spring!

Ten years from now I could still be bitching about it😄

I agree about the shortening (or rather not shortening). They fall a couple of inches
below the sill which is exactly where curtains that aren’t full length are meant to go to.

I have made to measure in my living room which are the same length as the OPs below the window due to radiators.

The ones in the bedrooms are longer because they are ready made and I have strange height windows but if I cared (I don’t), I’d get them hemmed to the same distance below the sill as the OP’s are. That’s the correct height for non-full length curtains in my view.

My husband has a bit of that going on, he believes if it’s in really good nick and was expensive/good quality to start why would you ever change it, but that’s how our parents ended up living in houses with swirly carpets and avocado bathroom suites long past the 70s..

im more let it live a reasonable life span and change.

My friends have the ubiquitous shiny brown leather chunky sofa, it’s really dated looking and sucks the light out the room, it’s at least 20 years old, but that fucker is never going done, they all hate it now but feel they should keep it. Personally I’d be like it’s 20 years, sell or donate, time for a new one, 20 years is a reasonable time in my mind.

What EXACTLY are you saying????

Whats wrong with swirly carpets and a green bathroom suite????🤣

You would have loved my very old house which we gutted 25 years ago.

Cork flooring
3 huge marble fireplaces with copper canopy 🤢

Lots of swirling patterns, layers of wallpaper which was a bitch to remove.

Wood flecked wallpaper topped with bamboo effect wallpaper.

Dark bown carpets with dark brown wallpaper.

Total horror.

On the plus side it was large, in a great urban location with a fine totally overgrown garden, and the horror turned loads off it.

Styles change partly because we are fed new images - and new looks appealing, exciting - but it's done to sell more . The more often we think "oh that's so dated I have to change it " the more someone else hears money in the bank

meh, I’d agree that’s true for fashion in terms of decor. Like grey now green. But styles move on over the decades, else we would all be living in replica houses from the 1600s …

What a great project though, there is a house near me for sale like that, I do occasionally look at the photos with fascination. Particularly the carpeted bathroom and all the old copper hood and ornaments, with brown and cream tiles, in the kitchen. It’s immaculate to be fair, but not been touched since the 60s or 70s. It is not a style statement though.😂

@Janeandme they can be a good buy if they are well built, which they often are, and you are prepared to roll up your sleeves.
We had all the big jobs done and were left with a blank canvas.
We went with a neutral classic style which hasn't dated, but I still manage to lose the run of myself a decade ago with that bloody leather suite.

Upon reflection it could have been a menopausal buy🤔🤣

I'm quite over invested in getting the curtains right, please update OP.

DH & I were 30 when we bought our first house. MIL had had a bit of a free reign with DHs older single brother and sister houses and assumed we'd be the same. It was a stressful learning curve with them looking over our shoulder.

She had a whole loft of ancient curtains that had been good enough for her or charity shop bargains, I know you get lucky sometimes but thirty year old, sun faded curtains had had their best days.
Not sure she's ever forgiven me for washing a pair which the lining just shredded in front of our eyes and changed from beige to zebra striped , sunfaded pastel and solid green.

We moved a lot further away and mostly have shutters!

That’s precisely what we bought…and I’m now totally blaming the flooring on the menopause-genius 🤣🤣

@Janeandme thats precisely what we bought-woodchip wallpaper, carpeted kitchen and bathroom and all 🤮

When we moved into this house about a decade ago, it has exposed floor boards, I bought a dark brown shag pile rug. With a curious white tip on some of the fibres. I knew it was really bad as soon as I got it. No idea what I was thinking. It was massive as well, so returning was not an option and I had ordered on line.

I lived with it about a year and then my husband and I dragged it out , it’s rolled up in the garage and I really need to organise bin men to collect. Think mice and squirrels live in it.

Think we have all made major mistakes at some point.,😄

I agree, it would be interesting to see some of the house interiors of the people making the nasty comments,

I think she did, she asked why her curtains look crap and I think it’s partly because of the colour and the colour of the curtains are almost exactly the same as the walls so that’s my advice. It’s just boring and bleaches out everything else. I suggest people don’t ask the questions if they only want the answers they’d prefer to hear.

I don’t think I was a cunt. I just expressed an opinion. Personally I think you are the nasty person here, calling someone an extremely horrible name suggesting using some colour. You have issues and I will be reporting your post.