Choosing Curtains Carefully for Rental Property

Make Sure you Choose Curtains Carefully for a Rental Property

I am currently looking to tidy up a rental property, it has not had any maintenance undertaken for some time, and one of the worst items are the curtains. Probably because they are “in your face”, for want of a better expression. They have a large presence in a room and if they are barely hanging from the curtain track on a few hooks, covered in spiderwebs and looking covered in mold, it doesn’t give you great confidence on how the rest of the spaces will stack up.

Keep the curtain design simple.

I am going to take them all down, throw them out and start again. Oh this sounds very rash, surely I can recycle them, give them a clean, put more hooks in the heading tape and they will be just fine. Unfortunately not. I am very much concerned about the environment and recycling as much as possible, but these curtains are not salvageable. Saying that I have found a local store that does recycle curtains, it is great, I visited today and they have so many curtains that I didn’t know where to start. Who me, speechless? Yes, I was overwhelmed with all the curtains in one room and was so thrilled that there are conscientious people out there that can make a living by recycling curtains. It made me very proud. They can alter them to fit your windows which is great and all I have to do is turn up with my window dimensions, the color scheme I want and start wading through all the curtains (which are grouped by color – another great idea).

Single-coloured curtains are not ideal in a rental situation as they are not very forgiving to small children and will mark and stain easily.

What I have to remember is that this house has timber window frames and single glazing, so it gets a lot of condensation. This is what has killed the current curtains. It is vital in a home to have adequate ventilation and a way to remove excess moisture from the air and ensure that mold does not occur. The mold is bad for the curtains and for the health of the people living in the house. Using a dehumidifier is a good start, but some homes are just too big for this to work properly and efficiently. There are many airflow kits available that can force fresh air in and remove air full of moisture, this is a good start. You don’t want to purchase new curtains and the same thing happens, so think prevention.

When choosing those curtains, using a lining will help make the room warmer and protect the fabric of your curtains. Make sure they go to the floor (where possible) and cover the entire window.

Ensure that the fabric you choose for a rental property is “child” proof. I don’t know about kids that you know, but mine love wrapping themselves up in the curtains for a good place to play hide and seek! The fabric needs to patterned or textured so that any little marks aren’t noticeable. A lovely single color will show up everything, avoid it at all costs.

Curtains make a big difference to the look and feel of a room.

Then, of course, think about UV exposure. In the long term is it easier to purchase blinds to stop the sunlight on your curtains and flooring or not. There are pro’s and con’s here. It depends on the tenants, most will be fine with blinds, but if there are kids, do not install micro blinds, Venetian or and similar style of blind, they are easily bent and never go back to their original form. A very expensive mistake, timber slat blinds and hardier but more expensive.

I hope this gives you something to think about if you ever need to choose curtains for a rental property.

You can find loads of important information about curtains and a free course on curtain design at our curtain website and the free ecourse is available from here. We also have a more detailed and interactive curtain course, if you have a keen interest and want to learn more.