Planning a treatment for your oh-so-plain windows? Opt for curtains that are fast, simple, economical and look really stylish and elegant no matter what your interior design style is. What's more, you can make them yourself too, with an amazing array of different fabrics widely available either on the high street or online at fabric discount sites.



Curtains with a tab top are very versatile and with a little bit of money on a good curtain pole one can get a window that looks amazing. If you prefer the rustic yet modern look, you can use textured curtain rods or old rods which would add a tinge of sophisticated vintage look. Alternatively, wooden dowels are also available in many designs and shades of brown or you could paint them to suit the colour scheme of your room.

If you do not like the look of the curtain rod and feel it has an incomplete look then you can always fit pelmets to cover them. Always make sure pelmets complement your curtains otherwise they start making the whole ensemble look disharmonious.

You can choose to hang your curtains by using hooks on traditional heading tape or for poles use the more traditional rings or the latest eyelet tops. An advantage of using heading tape in conjunction with curtain rings is that you can add as many drops as you want to give as many folds as you like in the fabric, this will work wonders for tall windows, especially if you have sufficient length to enable the fabric to pool naturally onto the floor.

You can also get rods that you can shorten or extend according to the dimensions of your windows, these are known as expansion rods. These are adaptable as they can take on a variety of sizes and hence ideal for people who stay in rented accommodation as they can take to new homes without having any further expense of buying new rods to fit different sized windows.

Using a tab top has many advantages including the available choices of curtains and the following reasons:

They are low maintenance low cost options for window treatment which look chic in all styles of homes.

You can always use them again when you move into a different house using expansion rods or by adjusting the length.

Fitting is not a complex process, as it only requires drilling and screws fix the fitting to the wall.

Nowadays there are insulated curtains available which cut out the heat to help keep your room cooler as well as preventing light entering the room at night. These have acrylic foam sheet at the back that block the heat and air from outdoors. These are available in multiple finishes and colours, and are low on maintenance. Hence they make perfect window treatments for your home.

If you opt for tab top style curtains hung from poles or rods you use two different tab top curtains, a sheer one at the back and opaque fabric in the front. Depending on your lighting needs you can use the sheer curtain to let in light by tying up the opaque curtains or use them both in order to block out the light during the evenings.