Curtains
Custom curtains in Abu Dhabi
Curtains are the last thing ordered in a room and the first thing people notice when they are wrong. Too short and the room looks unfinished. Too thin against a west facing window and the sofa behind them fades in a season. The fabric usually gets all the attention, but the drop, the lining and the heading are what decide how the room actually looks at seven in the evening.
We measure at the window, make to those measurements, and hang the result ourselves. The fabric comes from our own library of 12,000+ materials, so a scheme is not built from the three books a supplier happens to carry, and there is no minimum order. Arkan Interiors has worked in Abu Dhabi since 2003, and curtains are normally part of a larger job for us: the same room is getting joinery or upholstery at the same time, and the fabrics have to sit together rather than being chosen six weeks apart from different suppliers.
What the fabric actually has to do here
Fibre decides most of what happens to a curtain in this climate, and it decides it before colour ever comes into the conversation.
Linen and cotton hang beautifully and breathe, but both weaken under sustained ultraviolet, and linen will drop a little at the hem as it relaxes with humidity. Silk is worse on light, badly enough that unlined silk at a west facing window is a short-term decision. Polyester and the polyester blends hold colour and dimension far better under sun, which is why so much of what performs well in Abu Dhabi is a blend rather than a pure natural fibre. Wool resists fading and drapes with real weight, though it is a heavy specification for a hot room.
Weight is the other half of it. Fabric is usually quoted in grams per square metre, and the number tells you how it will fall as much as how it will wear. Lighter cloth needs fullness to look like anything; heavier cloth holds a fold on its own but demands more from the track and more stack-back space at the sides of the window.
Then there is the part that gets skipped. The lining does most of the protective work, and it is the cheapest place to spend well. A good lining takes the ultraviolet hit, evens out how the face fabric reads from the street, and adds the thermal layer that matters far more than the curtain itself when the glass is hot. Spending on a beautiful face fabric and then a thin lining is the most common way to buy curtains that disappoint within a year.
A note on samples. A small swatch will not tell you how a fabric reads across a three-metre drop, because pattern scale, sheen, and the way light passes through all change with area. Look at a large piece, and look at it against the window it is destined for rather than under showroom light. Ours is on Al Najda Street and you are welcome to bring the room’s other finishes with you.
Process
How we work
- 01
Measure at the window
Every window, not one window times six. Drops vary across a room more often than people expect, and a curtain cut to the wrong drop cannot be fixed afterwards.
- 02
Choose fabric with the light in mind
We look at which way the window faces and how hard the sun hits it before talking about colour. That decision matters more here than in most places.
- 03
Track, pole, and heading
How a curtain hangs is decided by the heading and the track as much as by the fabric. Weight, stack-back and whether it needs to draw by hand or by motor all get settled before anything is cut.
- 04
Sewn, hung, and dressed
We hang the finished curtains and dress the folds so they fall properly from the first day rather than settling into it over a month.
Fabric calculator
How much fabric will it take?
Measure your track and your drop, and this works out roughly how much fabric a maker would order. It is an estimate to plan with, not a quote.
Fill in the track width and the drop to see a figure.
An estimate, not a quote. Allowances for hems and headings vary with the fabric and the make, so a maker will always measure at the window before cutting.
Questions
Questions we get asked
- Which fabrics survive Gulf sun?
- Direct sun fades most things eventually, and it degrades the fibre as well as the colour. A south or west facing window is a different specification from a shaded one. Lining does a lot of the protective work, so it is worth spending there rather than only on the face fabric. We will tell you what we would put in that particular window.
- Do you do blinds and sheers as well as curtains?
- Yes, and rooms with strong sun often want both. A sheer or a blind handles the daytime glare and the curtain does the evening and the insulation.
- Can you motorise them?
- Yes. It is much easier to plan the power supply before the walls are finished, so raise it early if a fit-out is happening anyway.
- Can you use fabric I have already bought?
- Yes. Bring it to us before you commit to a heading style, because the weight and the width of what you have bought will affect what hangs well.
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Next step
Tell us about your project
Send a floor plan, a photograph, or just an idea. We will tell you what it takes and what it costs.