Curtain & Blind Design
in Rickmansworth,
Measured & Fitted by Us

In the older Rickmansworth housing stock, window openings are rarely true. A reveal can vary by a centimetre or more between top and sill, and a blind measured only at the head will either bind on the way down or leave a visible light gap at one side.

We measure width at several heights and take the narrowest figure, then decide fitting position from that: inside the recess where there is clearance, or outside and above the opening where there is not. Outside fitting also recovers usable sill space, which matters in a small room.

Proportion is the second issue. Low ceilings and short drops mean a heavy floor-length treatment can close a cottage room down. Sill-length curtains on a slim pole, or a neat Roman blind, usually keeps the room feeling its full size while still giving warmth and privacy at night.

Older properties near the canal, the Aquadrome and the river have a genuinely different microclimate from a modern estate: cooler, damper air, and in unimproved houses, single-glazed sashes or casements that lose heat steadily on winter nights.

Interlining is the practical response. It adds thermal mass and improves the way the curtain hangs, and combined with a full-length drop and proper returns at each end it stops the cold draught that falls down old glass from reaching the room. Where the window sits above a radiator, we specify sill-length instead so heat is not trapped against the glass.

In persistently damp rooms, fabric and lining choice should account for it. Timber poles in a consistently damp bathroom, or a delicate silk on a cold north wall, will not age well, and we will say so before it is ordered rather than after.

On the Loudwater and Moor Park side the windows are taller and the drops longer, which changes the engineering. A three-metre interlined curtain is heavy, so the pole or track is specified for load, and the fixing has to reach real structure rather than plaster.

Many of these houses also have working shutters or deep architraves. Where shutters remain in use they are already doing the blackout and security job, so the window dressing can be softer and more decorative, which changes the fabric and heading choice significantly compared with a window that must do everything.

Fitting height is decided on site too. Where a cornice, deep architrave or shutter box removes wall space above the opening, a ceiling-fixed track is the honest answer rather than forcing a bracket into a compromised position and hoping.