Curtains for a Rented Apartment in Dubai

Renting changes two things about curtains: what you are allowed to fix to the building, and whether what you buy is still useful in the next apartment. Neither is a reason to live with the landlord's curtains, and neither has to cost you a deposit.

Start with what is already there

Most handover apartments in Dubai and Sharjah come with a track already fitted, usually a plain white ceiling channel, often in reasonable condition and frequently the right length. If it is sound and runs far enough past the glass, new curtains can simply hang on it. That removes the drilling question entirely and takes a real chunk out of the quotation, because you are buying fabric and tailoring rather than fabric, tailoring and hardware.

What to check before assuming it will do: does it run past the window on both sides so the curtain stacks off the glass; does it still glide; is it a single channel when what you want is a sheer and a blackout. That last one is the usual reason a perfectly good track gets replaced — track or pole covers the difference.

If you do need to fix something

Ask the landlord or the building management first, in writing, and keep the reply. In practice a ceiling-fixed track is a small number of fixings and most landlords have no objection — it is an improvement that stays with the property. Where permission is not forthcoming, the workable options are the ones that use the existing fixings or the reveal itself rather than new holes in the ceiling.

What comes with you when you move

This is the part worth thinking about on day one:

• The curtains themselves usually can. Fabric is fabric. What stops it is the drop: a panel cut for a 3.2m ceiling will not hang in a 2.7m room without being remade, and it cannot grow. If you expect to move within the lease, the drop is the thing to think about.
• Tracks generally do not. They are cut to that window and fixed to that ceiling.
• Roller and roman blinds are cut to one opening and very rarely fit the next one. Sized to a reveal, they are the least portable option — see blinds for where they are the right answer anyway.

The renter's practical choice

A chiffon sheer plus a blackout on a double track is the combination that does most for a rented apartment: privacy from the neighbouring tower during the day, a dark bedroom at night, and the sheer taking the sun so the expensive layer lasts — which is what stops curtains fading. If the existing track is single, adding a second channel is a smaller job than replacing the lot.

Getting it measured

Rented or owned, the visit is the same and it is free: we come with the four Pak Home books, measure every window you want covered, check what the ceiling and the existing track will take, and leave one written figure that covers fabric, track, tailoring and fitting. If you would rather see a number first, the price estimator works from your own measurements, or book a free home visit and we will do the measuring.