Made-to-Measure Curtains
& Blinds in Northwood,
Fitted by the Makers

A large share of Northwood houses have a double-height stairwell window, a galleried landing or gable glazing above a front door. These windows are the ones that get ignored: they are the hardest to dress, the hardest to reach and the most likely to be left bare, which costs both privacy and a great deal of heat at night.

The workable answers are motorised blinds or a ceiling-fixed track with a long cord system, and the decision is made on power access rather than preference. Where a cable route exists or an electrician is already on site, a wired motor is the cleaner long-term option. Where neither is true, rechargeable motors avoid chasing walls that have just been decorated.

Getting this wrong is expensive. A manual blind fitted at four metres will be operated once, then never again; a motor specified without checking the recess depth may not fit behind the reveal at all. Both are avoided by measuring the height, depth and power route on the same visit.

The bigger rooms here invite long, interlined curtains, and interlining adds real weight. A pole that looks generous in a brochure can deflect visibly across a wide span, and a bracket fixed into plasterboard without a noggin behind it will pull loose within months.

So hardware is specified from two figures: the width of the opening and the weight of the finished curtain. Long spans get intermediate support, a heavier gauge pole or a track rated for the load. Bracket positions are set by where solid fixing actually exists, which we establish on site rather than assuming from the plans.

The same logic applies to bi-fold and sliding runs in rear extensions. The track must clear the door leaves through their whole travel, and the stack has to land somewhere that does not block the opening, a calculation, not an estimate.

Loft conversions are common in Northwood, and they introduce two problems at once: rooms directly under the roof gain and lose heat faster than the rest of the house, and roof or dormer windows admit light at angles no ordinary curtain handles.

In practice that means fitted blinds close to the glass rather than curtains hung off a wall, blackout linings for bedrooms, and careful attention to the light gap at the sides, the detail that decides whether a child actually sleeps through a summer morning. Where the window is out of easy reach above a bed, motorisation stops being a luxury.

Fabric choice matters more up here too. Sustained direct sun through unshaded roof glazing fades pale fabrics along a single edge, so light-fastness and lining weight are specified for the window rather than for the room's colour scheme alone.