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 :’(

As said before, iron, gather your heading tape and it looks like you have a joining seam in the middle of your window so I would swap the curtains round so the seam is near the wall which will look much better.

I’m sorry OP but they aren’t especially nice curtains and look cheap. That’s why they don’t look good. Firstly I dislike short curtains and think a Roman blind looks far classier if you can’t do long curtains. They do need to be made to measure and properly hung but someone who knows what they’re doing. A pinch pleat looks far more expensive and having them on a curtain runner rather than on hoops.

@RedorangeyellowBLACK @RachelFuchsalot that is 100% what I would do if not married. DH would not get the point of curtains that we never drew. He’s just that way.

Will focus on the curtains in the extension that I prefer anyway.

When I say expensive-ish we’re not talking anywhere near 4 figures. They’re dear as a person who has never bought curtains outside of IKEA/Wayfair

They’re also on the plain side as we splashed out on a blue l-shaped loaf sofa (dreamt of for years).

^mentioning as my goal is very much to tone down the sofa which shocked me initially (clearly I’m rubbish at home design)

Your DH has no aesthetic sense. You can live with his awful choices or challenge them. A roman blind and long ‘dress’ curtains (basic pair as not having to cover the full window) would look great.

You haven’t said what width you bought compared to the window. I can’t tell for sure if that’s part of the problem or if it’s an optical illusion in the photo.

Gather and press. You can use small coins to weight the bottom. Put with one in each corner, you can usually wiggle a coin into the hemline where it joins the side seam

Unfortunately I think that's the issue, I've bought £100 curtains which have been very nice but look nowhere near as good as the £1000 ones I have. Proper made to measure are fitted and gathered just so with weights, no creases and then stay looking really good. I think some of the tips here will make you feel better, but they're not going to look the same as more expensive ones, that said you've not spent £1000 on curtains which is madness really.

It’s a real learning curve with this type of thing & tricky even at best of times imo.

If you want to raise them higher check if you’ve got your hooks sitting in the top row on the header tape. There’s usually 3 rows - it won’t raise them much higher but you can experiment at least a bit to see.

IMO curtains are expensive & patterns & longer look better to hide imperfections.

To make yours look better if you fitted a coloured blind inside (with a pattern or a colour at least) it would detract your eye from the curtains which would then look like a nice contrast either side.

My philosophy as well

Does the back of your curtains have a header tape that look like this?

It will have been sewn on with the end of the header tape just turned over & under

Very carefully, on each end from underneath the folded header tape find the 3 loose strings, circled red.

At each end of your curtain gently gather so you can hold about 2-3 inches of each of the three strings and tie a double knot. Don’t pull so hard you start unravelling the other end of the header tape.

Do the same at the other end of the curtain.

Once each end is knotted, then pull these 3 tied strings to gather the curtains . I hook the other knotted end over a door handle to give me some tension.

Pull and push your gathers until the curtain you are holding is half the width of your window.

Tie a slip knot when at the correct width - so means you can undo if wrong or when you wash them.

Then even out the gathers & add plastic number 9 shaped curtain hooks under the entire middle loop, circled green

Oh OP, I know how it feels to try so hard to get the right curtains and then be disappointed. Twenty-three years ago when we moved into our current house, I spent an absolute mint on made to measure John Lewis living room curtains (bay window, weird measurements) in a striped fabric carefully picked to go with our furniture. As soon as they were put up, I hated them. Beautifully made, great quality fabric, but they hung a full inch above the bay window sill and they did NOT work with the furniture after all. Small fabric swatches are deceptive.

Life got in the way of replacing them until a couple of years back, and I’m very happy with what we now have.

I suspect your problem is, firstly your curtains need steaming/ironing to get the creases out, and secondly you need some sort of gather at the top. Not a full gather, but an even pull such that you get a finished effect on the tape. Lastly, the tape looks a little narrow at the top which runs the risk of looking cheap (although I’m sure correct finishing will sort this one out). For the future, deeper curtain headings always look more expensive.

I doubt you are hopeless actually , and I don’t say that lightly, some folks really are, they simply can’t see it. You’re clearly trying and can see when something is wrong, that’s important, but it takes experience to be honest, learning from your mistakes, understanding how to do things, when to match , when to tone, when to clash. I suspect actually you’re ok, just learning.

@Sickofhousestuff , did you measure your window and the bought curtains less than that measurement? You are meant to buy curtains that are the size of your window, then when you get 2 in the pack you have the double width needed to have nice full curtains with good folds. I think you have a width and a half there at the most. Unless they are dress curtains and never close, they'd be ok then

Nearly splattered my sherry out then... California Crossroads, by any chance?

I have to admit we spent similar on a pair for floor to ceiling windows in our last place and they looked 10x better. They MADE the room but I put that down to the pattern and colour more than anything.

They do the job so have to be grateful for that.

We’ve put in a new kitchen, 2 new bathrooms and decorated the entire house - wood, carpet etc. I’m completely over interior design at this point.

I’ll have to check for measurements.

While I agree with everyone who has said blinds look better than sill length curtains, that's not what the OP has, and it's not what her husband wants. Working with what she has, the key point is the width - if the curtains are not wide enough, they will never look nice, they'll need extra fabric.

If they are wide enough, they will look tons better ironed and gathered. As others have said, when you gather, secure in a way that you can easily undo. I always wash curtains with the threads loosened, and regather when hanging back up.

I think they look super short which makes them look odd!

My dad once splurged on some bespoke curtains with all the trimmings (80s) for our living room and promised to have them hung by the end of the day, mum took me out.

When we got back, he had hung them so all the pattern and the froofy bits across the top were against the window and the lining was on the inside facing the room! He said he thought that they should hang that way so they looked good for people looking in
😱

Don't worry OP all this talk of 4-figure curtains or they're rubbish is tosh!

Made to measure simply means 'made to specified dimensions'. It doesn't have anything to do with the fabrics etc. A straight forward clean and modern fabric like yours will look perfect in any normal house just once it's dressed.

Doesn't look like you pulled the strings OP.

Also they are a funny length. Curtains are best when the touch the floor or one or two inches from the floor. If your DH doesn't want floor length, then blinds would probably be better.

Dont say that! You're not rubbish at all. Just some tweaking to be done.

The sofa sounds immense and the curtains will be fine once they've been gathered and if it turns out they're not wide enough theres plenty that can be done to add width. You just might need to throw a few more quid at it x