LIVE24SEVEN // Property & Interiors INT E R IOR CONSULTANT - JOHN B IDDE L L The Monarch of window


There are many ways to treat a window (take it to the theatre, buy it dinner – sorry, I couldn’t resist), but for me the queen, or king of course, is a fabulous pair of curtains. I just love curtains !!!!


When I first started in the trade some 40 years ago it was in a curtain and soft furnishing shop in Romford, in my home county of Essex (cue the jokes). I wasn’t allowed to even speak to a customer until I’d learned the art of unrolling and re-blocking fabric. I was then sent for time with the curtain makers, time with the fitters, and time with the buyers. It was the type of apprenticeship you just don’t get these days, but boy did it teach you to appreciate the product.


For me curtains make or break a room. They can add colour, texture, drama, warmth (both metaphorically and literally), softness – the list goes on and on. I know a pair of well-made curtains in a fabulous fabric will undoubtedly set you back a good few quid, but believe me it’s so worth it !!


treatments


My heart sinks when a new client comes to us saying that the building work has gone over budget, and consequently they don’t have much left to spend on the curtains. It’s such a shame. The new heating system might be top notch, the technology bang up to date, so much so that you could run a bath at home while you’re on holiday in Crete, but a skimpy set of curtains at the window is going to absolutely ruin the impact of any room, and devalue the overall effect entirely. Not only that, but it’s going to tarnish the impression that any visitors will take with them. We always advise people in that situation to wait until they have the funds to give the windows the proper treatment the project deserves.


Curtains come with a variety headings. The basic types such as pencil pleat, where a tape is pulled up to achieve a kind of “soldiers in a row” effect, are the entry level. Eyelet headings, where a pole goes through the top of the curtains, can look very smart in a contemporary room – but only if it is a chunky 50mm diameter pole with 70mm eyelets. Anything less doesn’t really work for me. Wave heading is the relatively new kid on the block, and gives a similar effect to eyelet headings, except that instead of having a pole go through the curtains there is a very discreet track fitted above them. This again is a heading that only works in a contemporary setting. My out and out favourite though is hand pinch pleat, sometimes called French pleat. Here the fabric is hand sewn into groups of 3 pleats, which when professionally fitted and dressed gives the most elegant of effects. The curtains can be hung from a track or a pole, or surmounted by a pelmet, and will look equally at home in a contemporary or traditional setting.


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John Biddell - John Charles Interiors


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