I have never bought curtains before - what do I need to know?

[Trills]

Just moved into a new (rented) house. It has lots and lots of furniture (more than we wanted actually) but no curtains.

This is clearly wrong. Someone who wants a furnished house is not going to have their own curtains, and is not going to want to buy them when they may only be there for 6 months. I wanted an unfurnished house and I still expected curtains.

Anyway, I need to at least get curtains for the bedroom and the living room, since it's at the front of the house.

So what do I need to do? What do I need to measure and then where should I go? Obviously if I knew I'd be staying a long time I'd go to John Lewis, but we have had bad luck with landlords deciding to sell up so I don't want beautiful custom made curtains, I just want something to stop people looking in.

Help?

Ikea have great cheap curtains which are really really long and come with hemming tape for easy alteration

I have several pairs from Wilkinsons that were cheap and just fine, ok quality.

Measure from pole to , as long as you want them, for the drop. Width depends a bit on the style of curtain but roughly speaking, each curtain as wide as the window will give you vaguely the right size. It varies a bit depending on pleats etc. JL has a guide for measuring here

You measure the width, then usually double it, so you get the hang/pleats etc. You also measure what length you want (to sill or floor). John Lewis do ready made off the shelf for between £60-£120ish a pair. M&S also do. Ikea are good and cheap, but not lined. You can buy the liners or black out liners on their own to add to your curtain if need be.

So when I'm measuring the length I don't need to take into account the bit of curtain that is above the rail? It already allows for that?

I agree that proper ones with hooks and a curtain rail are better - anyway I do have a rail already so I have to get the kind of curtain that attaches to that kind of rail.

So when I measure the length I need to start above the curtain rail, to allow for the bit that sticks up. Ok. Thanks.