Made-to-Measure Curtains
& Blinds in Hampstead,
for Village Houses

A great many Hampstead rooms face gardens with mature planting. In summer, foliage filters the light and colours read soft and cool; in winter, the same window admits bright, direct light and the same fabric can look flat or washed out.

This is a specification issue, not a taste issue. We recommend viewing samples in the room over more than one day and, where a decision is finely balanced, leaving them with you. It costs nothing at that stage and prevents the far more expensive discovery six months later.

Bedrooms facing gardens raise the second problem: early summer light. A blind fitted inside the recess always leaves a light gap at the sides, so where genuine darkness is required we fit blackout outside and above the opening, or specify lined curtains with generous returns.

Village houses and early Victorian properties here rarely have square openings. Widths differ between head and sill, sills are sometimes out of level, and heads can bow slightly, which affects both blind width and curtain drop.

We measure width at several heights and take the narrowest figure, then check floor and sill level across the opening. Those figures are recorded in the specification so making is based on the building as it is rather than as it should be.

Fixings need the same care. Lath and plaster, and lime plaster over old brick, will not hold a standard bracket under an interlined curtain. Where the wall above the window is unreliable, a ceiling-fixed track or a pelmet board distributes the load, which is safer than adding more screws into failing plaster.

The higher, greener parts of Hampstead can hold damper air than the surrounding city, and original single-glazed sashes lose heat steadily on cold nights. The visible symptom is a cold draught across the floor, even with the windows shut.

Interlined full-length curtains with proper returns are the practical remedy, since they intercept the cold air falling down the glass instead of letting it spill into the room. Where a radiator sits under the window, sill-length curtains or a Roman blind avoids trapping the heat against the glass.

Fabric choice should respect the conditions too. Delicate silks on a consistently cold, damp north-facing wall, or timber poles in a persistently humid bathroom, will not age well, we say so before ordering rather than after.