In my previous post, I spoke at length about how I designed the wardrobes for our home using Custom Furnish’s Design from Scratch tool. After months of frustration of not making a good headway with the design, I was finally HAPPY with how it turned out; my little moments of happiness. The design of every room was one small step at a time.
So, it came as a surprise when I heard from Chandra of Custom Furnish. to experience their new product/service range: buying curtains online after customizing it to your required dimensions. I was excited because out of the blue came an association and a name to relate to with this tool/website that I had been using for weeks. Over the next few weeks, we collaborated on making the design and buying experience of curtains better on Custom Furnish.
In this post, I will take you through my experience of how to select, buy and install curtains for a french window in the guest bed room.
Why Custom Furnish?
- You can buy ready made curtains and blinds from a number of sites, but they are of standard sizes. The convenience of Custom Furnish is that the curtains are customized for your window sizes.
- You can sample 15 pieces of fabric before purchasing the curtains for a refundable amount of Rs. 500.
- The convenience of selecting the fabric, getting it delivered to your doorstep without multiple trips to multiple stores, and a fixed price. Believe me sometimes the biggest advantage is when you do not have a choice to negotiate.
Just when you think you have it all figured out, you are surprised by how confused you actually are by the color choices. And this is so true when it comes to building a home. We always thought we knew the colors we wanted for the wall in every room. I’ll be honest in admitting that I struggled with choosing the fabric for over two days. I was exhausted. So I just forgot about it for two days and then came the Eureka moment to adopt a methodical approach. This approach helped immensely and I made the choice within 10 minutes.
Here are my tips for choosing the right fabric:
- Wall color: What is the color of your walls? If your accent wall has a dark color, then go with any neutral shade for curtains. Even otherwise, a neutral shade like beige/golden/silver/ivory gives you the flexibility and freedom to dress your walls differently anytime. For this bed room, we intend to give the room an extraordinary look by painting the accent wall in Indigo (yea, the Saif Ali Khan one on ‘Say no to nice’ from the Asian Paints ad). Given this bold color, I felt a silver or golden colored curtain would render the room a regal look. If you want a playful, cheerful look to the room, liven it up with a floral pattern such as Sharon. On the other hand, if there is too much drama happening in the room and you want to play it down a bit, go for a solid color.
- Material: the choice is diverse from cotton, linen, polyester, silk and viscose to a blend of these basic materials. The price is as diverse as the material with polyester being the cheapest and silk being the most expensive of the lot. Cotton helps the curtain hold its form and pleats relative to pure polyester, while silk gives a rich look and can be exorbitant. You may choose the fabric depending on the room. I wanted a blend of polyester + linen + cotton and the one I chose fit the bill perfectly. It is stronger but cheaper than linen. Order a sample of every type of fabric to feel the material in the colors chosen in the previous step. this will help you make a decision.
- Lining or no lining: Unless it is a sheer curtain, lining is recommended for a curtain as it helps the curtains long last and retain its shape. There is enough information for each step along the way on the site to help you make a decision.
- Type of lining: If you are someone who hates to wake up at the crack of dawn because of morning rays streaming in through the curtains, then go for the blackout lining by all means. Just like a hotel room :) But, at times, your fabric itself is thick enough that having a blackout lining may be an overkill. You cannot judge the thickness of the curtain online, so ordering the sample will help you decide the lining. In some cases, you may need two curtains for privacy: a sheer during the day and a main curtain for the night. The guest bedroom is on the ground floor and overlooks the neighboring villa so I went with a blackout lining.
- Style: If you have narrow windows, it’s best to choose blinds but they do not have blinds as an option currently. Similarly, there are no double rods to choose from either.
The Process:
I ordered 10 samples one for every type of material, and finally chose one among those. Ready to see my choice?
My choice of curtain and style with pricing:
- Style: Eyelet. I chose this style because it conceals the rods the most.
- Fabric: Begonia 6- Shade 1. SKUID : 911510354.
- Lining: Blackout lining
- Dimensions of the window: Height-105″ X Width-104″ . I found the guidelines intuitive to guide me through the measurement process. Since there are no curtain rods in our home currently, the illustrations were very helpful.
- Curtain rods: Round Finial With Pearl Blocks Steel Finish Curtain Rod Set.
How it arrived:
Gone are the days when you had to go to the nearest neighborhood shop to pick the curtain rods and brackets. I was totally impressed with the compact packaging of the curtains and rods, communication regarding when the package was dispatched and ready to arrive as promised within 10 days.
The Final Look:
And now for the magic moment as the windows get ready to be draped by the curtains.
Ta da! This is how it looks. What a transformation.
The look is a bit subdued now as the wall has not yet been painted. I’ll post the final look with the painted wall in a few weeks. Stay tuned!
What is currently not available at Custom Furnish:
- Curtains do not look good on tall, narrow double ceiling windows. Blinds are the best choice, which is currently not available.
- Similarly, where you want to use two-layer with sheer behind and the main curtain in the front is not an option.
- In certain places, there is no option for placing a rod and the curtains can be accessed only through a channel mechanism. This again is not available now.
Any Issues Faced with Custom Furnish
- Hardware: the rods are not standard. The diameter of one rod is 1″ and the other that slides into it about 3/4th of an inch. If there is a shortage, then there is an issue. I required 104″ but what I received was 100″. Since I couldn’t find a piece in any hardware shop, I bought a foot of 1 inch rod and attached to one end with a piece of wood and slid the other end into the the smaller piece. The colors do not match again, but it is concealed by the curtain.
To be honest, the quality of fabric and the finish trumped the other issues I had with installation. The three panels of curtains are so heavy that i couldn’t carry them by myself.
Here’s my scorecard for Custom Furnish’s curtains on a scale of 1-10.
Quality of fabric: 10
Choice of fabric: 8 (there were no florals when I ordered).
Ease of ordering: 8
Delivery of samples: 10
Packaging: 10
Time between order and delivery: 9
Of all the brands I’ve associated with in the recent post, this has by far been the most enriching experiencing right from taking my inputs to make their user experience better and actually implementing it within days to having a broader selection of fabrics. Thank you Custom Furnish.
