unisex curtains?

[Misty9]

We're sorting out the nursery for when the baby goes into her own room, but it's also likely that it'll eventually be shared with her brother so I need blackout curtains to suit both genders. Bright colours i thought, but can't find much.

Any ideas? Prefer eyelet as I make a mess of pencil pleat!

Are you looking for plain or print? Off the shelf, DIY or made to measure? Budget.

Off the shelf curtains can easily be lined with blackout fabric, not an expensive thing to have done if you're not up for sewing.

this is nice.

(The Osborn & Little Quintin Blake fabrics are brilliant if you're feeling flush)

money? john lewis always have nice stuff

john lewis childrens blackout curtains

Ikea has lots of bright designs etc. I bought cheap fabric from there and found a local lady to make the curtains, lined with blackout fabric.

unisex to my eye

i really like these

what age do you need them to go up to?

Sorry, I didn't think of all that info! Off the shelf preferably as the budget is probably £50 ish. Maybe a bit more if they will be future proof.
Age-wise, she's 4 months now and ds is 3yo so they'd need to suit a boy up to about 6/7yo I think?

kernow my friend suggested doing that! how much did it cost roughly? They're big windows with 150cm width and slightly less drop.

I've put blackout linings onto ds's curtains and found it a bit of a faff - the curtain hooks could barely stretch to carry two curtains and it doesn't look very tidy. I've fallen a little bit in love with an owl theme now and love the what a hoot fabrics and wallpaper....not at all for a boy I know!

I like the John Lewis striped colourful curtains, but they're out of stock in the size I want.

Mmm, budget possibly a bit stingy. Up to £100 I think.

Seriously ? It's news to me that curtains ever are for one sex or the other. How can curtains be anything other than gender neutral?

Just google childrens curtains then backforgood ....

I think the lady charged 70-80 and that included lining stuff, so I bought the ikea fabric on top of that, but still less than 100 definitely.

That's not bad actually, and potentially affordable despite my expensive taste in harlequin fabrics

Look on ebay for cheap but nice fabrics.

I bought some lovely stuff for ds's bedroom for £15/m that should have been about £70! I had to wait about 3 or 4 weeks for it to come up on ebay in the right colour (I had a search set up so I got daily notifications, rather than having to search myself every day!) but it was so worth it to pay a cheap fabric price for amazing quality fabric that I wanted!

It was this Ooti by Sanderson in a denim blue colour - www.sanderson-uk.com/shop/fabric/colour-for-living-fabrics/ooti/?code=DCFL231269
as I thought it was patterned enough to have some interest but be plain enough to grow old with him and still look fairly timeless.

This is the what a hoot stuff that's currently on ebay - including some people offering to make curtains. if you went for one of the colour ranges that wasn't really pink then it would be ok for a boy I'd have thought! And the fabric works out less than £15/m in many cases compared with £30/m from John Lewis. They also have the what a hoot striped fabric if that's the same as the one you were looking at in John Lewis.
www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_odkw=sanderson+ooti&_osacat=0&_from=R40&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEFSRCHX%3ASRCH&_npmv=3&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR12.TRC2.A0.H0.Xharlequin+what+a+hoot&_nkw=harlequin+what+a+hoot&_sacat=0

scion also have some nice fabrics (and they're part of the Harlequin group) that would work well as children's fabrics. I've got some of their Strata design (an uneven stripe) in navy, lime, white and blues which I really like (and have got white ikea cupboards with lime and blue doors, will transition easily from current blue with jungle mural left by previous occupiers to a more grown up boys playroom in a couple of years time).
www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_odkw=scionfabric&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR5.TRC2.A0.H0.Xscion+fabric&_nkw=scion+fabric&_sacat=0
Their fox designs are fun but if you like birds and want something a bit different that would work for boys or girls - how about something like this:
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SCION-PART-OF-THE-HARLEQUIN-GROUP-PASSARO-6-MTRS-DK8544-/380864187708?pt=UK_Crafts_Fabric&hash=item58ad464d3c

They also have lots of geometrics which would work well too.

Prestigious Textiles is another one to look at - John Lewis sometimes sell their children's fabrics as their own, likewise their oil cloth fabric. And it's often much cheaper than Harlequin! Their Forest Friends fabric collection is similar to what a hoot with owls but other animals too, plus stripes, grass, patchwork and all sorts of other gubbins
www.prestigious.co.uk/collections/forest-friends
Plus they have other kids collections too. And again - look for it on ebay!

I've just had a google, and pretty much what I expected - spots, stripes, jungle animals, dinosaurs, footballs, film characters, robots, space theme, Winnie the Pooh, transport/vehicles, etc - nothing there I wouldn't put up for my ds or dds (when they were little).

Wow, thank you zip ! Great idea to check out ebay. I didn't realise it was that collection but I'd actually bookmarked the Olli owl fabric in paintbox - but husband has declared it 'too busy' and I don't think we can stretch to harlequin fabrics, even on eBay.

The search for funky striped curtains begins!