Me and My Amazing Curtains

A few years ago we did up our house. Basically the building was spilt into two flats in the 1960s and, when we got married in 2002, we managed to buy both flats and decided to turn the house back into one. Got that? Good!

There was a huge amount of work to be done ­ the building had two electric systems, two water and heating systems, two front doors and had to be decorated throughout. We needed new stairs, a new bathroom, new kitchen. The list went on and on.

But this blog isn't really about all the building work we had to do (although I may well return to this subject for later blogs), it's about the curtains in our front room.

Having done ALL the work on turning the two flats back - and spending around £50,000 in the process ­ we finally got to the enjoyable (?) part of the process ­ decorating our new house. We saw an ad in the local paper about a curtain design and fitting service and so we, and when I say 'we' I actually mean 'she', decided that, since our windows are very long and a non standard size, that it would be a good idea to get these people in for a quote.

They arrived, all very nice and complimentary - I should have suspected something - and did some measurements on our two long sash windows. They said they'd be back in a week to discuss the quote.

They came back. Again, all very nice and posh. The quote was posh too, contained in a cardboard sleeve with a material and lining sample supplied.
Guess how much - two windows, four curtains? Go on - we don't live in Kensington, we didn't choose golden thread and our house, although very nice, certainly doesn't suggest we're a. rich or, come to think of it, b.
incredibly stupid...

How much? I'll tell you! £12,365.00 inc VAT (I remember the figure exactly).
£12,365!!!???

Anyone who knows me would say I'm a pretty laid back and non violent sort of person but to have someone take the Mickey to such a major extent, to sit there in my own front room and tell me that they expect me to pay over a fifth of the entire rebuild cost of my house on the curtains for one room was just too much. I asked them to leave.

About a week later we/she found that Ikea did 'long drop' velvet curtains ­ I'm looking at them now. Total cost £220. A saving of, let's see, over £12,100.

I suppose every so often these curtain people meet house holders with more money than sense and, at those prices, they can probably afford a very low strike rate. Who knows, just watch out when it comes to curtains!

Get your Home insurance from Performance Direct, go on, do it, do it now.
Home insurance, buildings insurance, you just can't get enough and it'll keep you (and your curtains) covered.