Caring for your curtains

Picture it, you’ve just installed your fabulous new curtains. Everything looks great until you come back from that beach walk and your now dirty doggo decides to vigorously shake herself dry next to your newly installed curtains.

Disaster, right?

Well, it doesn’t need to be. Read on for some great tips and tricks to keep your curtains looking shmicko all year round!

Curtain care while hung

Vacuuming to remove loose dirt, dust and pet hair is the key to fantastic curtains. We recommend using a hand-held device with a soft brush attachment. Gently vacuum hanging curtains from top to bottom making sure the vacuum is set to a low power mode. 

Lightly shaking your curtains and giving them a gentle patting down will help remove any regular dust build-up. If you do this every few weeks, your care requirements will be greatly reduced over time.

Spot clean marks using a clean wet sponge to blot the stain, then gently dab with dish soap or white vinegar.

Light steam cleaning helps freshen up your curtains, especially on heavy fabrics like blockout curtains. Work from the top to the bottom and try to make sure the curtains don’t become too wet.

Curtain washing

Call us overly cautious if you will, but we prefer to take a safety first approach with our curtains and typically advise against washing as it can result in unwanted shrinkage. Industry guidance is to expect up to 3% shrinkage per wash and while this may not be noticeable at first, with repeated washes it will become evident.

In most cases, our curtain care while hung advice should be sufficient to keep your curtains looking great but if the fabric is stained or marked, then spot cleaning (also described above) is the first step to remedying the issue. There are various cleaning products that can be used to apply a more thorough spot clean, but these should always be specific to your fabric type and tested on a fabric sample or less prominent area of the curtain before use.

If you do decide to to wash your curtains, please contact us to obtain the fabric supplier’s own washing instructions and remember to remove all hooks and wands. When drip-drying, ensure your curtains are hanging freely and are not folded over a washing line as this can cause significant creasing. Only drip-dry in the shade as direct sunlight will cause the fabric to fade.

Please note that this process is undertaken at your own risk as we cannot guarantee the fabric will not shrink when washed. It is also important to consider that even lighter curtain fabrics will become heavy when washed, and much more so for thicker blockout style curtains.

Last but not least

Whatever you do, please don’t…

• Bleach your curtain fabric, this will cause permanent damage
• Tumble dry your curtains
• Iron your curtains at high temperatures

If you would like detailed care information for your new curtains, contact our support team who will be happy to help.