Curtain pricing

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mailmarshall

250 posts

Master Geek

# 142951 29-Mar-2014 21:37

Hi

anyone got any ideas on how much to budget for a average 3 bdr house worth of custome
made curtains?

We have 10 windows plus 2 ranch sliders. Been quoted $8k based on $70 per m fabric.

Just can't get my head around how expensive these are.

mattwnz

15350 posts

Uber Geek

# 1015233 29-Mar-2014 22:32

If you go to somewhere like spotlight, you can buy ready made curtains, and they are pretty good, especially if you get a neutral type of curtain. We had some curtains made, and they weren't good, the patterns didn't line even up properly despite 3 attempts, and they were expensive. So went for the spotlight option.

timmmay

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# 1015243 29-Mar-2014 22:52

Your quote sounds about average, not for super high end either. They're stupidly expensive.

Dynamic

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# 1015247 29-Mar-2014 23:33

I agree with the others. We recurtained a 3 bedroom rental 8 months ago with curtains we would be happy with in our own home for under $1000 including reasonably decent tracks (not the pain in the bum resizable ones with a join in the middle). This included 2 french door sets with floor 2.05m drops. In our case we went to Harveys or Briscoes... cant remember which. I'm anticipating they will last 5 years - hopefully a bit more. Sure spending $3000+ might gets us curtains that would last 20 years..... but personally I don't want 20 year old curtains floating around and am happy to 'freshen up' every now and then.

If you've got money to burn and like to be the envy of the neighbours, go for the $8k quote. Otherwise kick those guys to the kerb.

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itxtme

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# 1015279 30-Mar-2014 08:12

There are differing levels of curtains, and if you want to reign in the cost then buy ready-mades. In saying that, for a new build I would probably not go with spotlight ones, when I looked at them they were the budget level and they didnt have much in the way of premium ready-mades. Curtain studio do a nice ready made, as do Lewises. You would be looking at 250 - 400 per set depending on size, and if you needed blackout added then they can arrange this. The disadvantage is the colour range, but IMO they have some awesome fabrics in their ranges.

mailmarshall

250 posts

Master Geek

# 1015418 30-Mar-2014 15:47

They can do it cheaper if material is changed to 100% polyester - anyone have any thoughts on whether this stuff is any good?

I thought curtains were usually was made from cotton only - goes to show how much I know.

Niel

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# 1015466 30-Mar-2014 17:16

We got our curtains off eBay UK as we have ring&rod rather than hooks and to find a colour/pattern my wife likes we would have had to get it custom made. Curtains were super cheap. We did not look for thermal curtains due to double glazing on a brand new house and (again) did not find the right colour/pattern in rings in thermals. However it is double lined which does help. Going with UK means 1) sellers know there are countries outside their borders (unlike US) and 2) shipping takes 5 days period. Can;t remember the cost, but was a few hundred dollar vs. a few thousand.

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Mad Scientist
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# 1015578 30-Mar-2014 19:08

That's about right.

Involuntary autocorrect in operation on mobile device. Apologies in advance.

jamesrt

905 posts

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# 1015654 30-Mar-2014 20:25

mailmarshall: ... based on $70 per m fabric....

According to my better half (who is making curtains for our house at the moment!), $70/m for curtaining fabric is a reasonable price from a curtain shop, as that price would normally include them being made for "free".

If you are prepared to shop around, you can get cheaper (for example, Fabric Direct in Wellington) or Spotlight; however, you'd then either be making them yourselves or paying someone to do it.

mailmarshall

250 posts

Master Geek

# 1015667 30-Mar-2014 20:49

Thanks guys.

Just can't get my head around how expensive curtains can be and the store folk can't really explain why there are so many different pricing levels!

As per above nearly everyone offers "FREE" making but offcourse nothing is ever free :)

pctek

809 posts

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# 1017442 2-Apr-2014 18:41

Curtains are a sickening price in NZ>

I spent ages getting quotes, going round, Spotlight sales, Curtian places for ready mades, Warehouse, looked on Trademe.

Did actually get some newish ones for bedrooms off TRademe.

Then I bought the lounge drapes from an Online place in Australia. It is ready made, however their site allows you to choose fabric, adjust length, width, gather, backing and so on then buy. So really, other than picking from their choices of fabrics, it is custom....

It was still 1/2 the price of here - including post.

I did the same thing 12 years ago too.....got a full lounge set back then from Australia too, that was 1/3 price.