Choosing Curtains for Crittall Doors

Crittall doors. Whether it’s the original steel framed variety — or the more modern powder-coated aluminium alternatives — their sleek frames and expansive glass panels have become a sought-after architectural feature in modern homes recently.

Their industrial styling is a stylish alternative to standard bi-folds.

But as much as Crittall doors bring a real sense of style to a property, they also offer a unique challenge when it comes to finding suitable window dressings!

How To Dress Crittall Doors

Track or pole? How to measure; pick the right colour? Should you go with a pattern? There are so many different options when choosing curtains. Trying to make the right decision on how to dress Crittall doors can feel a little overwhelming.

Particularly if the curtains will be a prominent feature of the room.

The biggest headache I found was, as our doors are floor to ceiling — and take up almost an entire wall — the online sizing guides aren’t really any help at all. 

I thought I’d share a few tips that I’ve learnt along the way, when choosing curtains for Crittall doors.   

Things to Remember When Choosing Curtains for Crittall Doors

1. Curtain Poles V Curtain Tracks?

There’s a line of thought that suggests a ceiling track is better for Crittall-style doors. As it means that the frames are left unobstructed.

It’s also suggested that curtains should push back either side of the frames for the same reason.

But, as we have shelving on one side of the window, I decided I wanted our curtains to fit within the window aperture. Rather than either side.

And I didn’t fancy the idea of a track on my ceiling when the curtains were open. 

So I chose a curtain pole — in graphite — to match the window frames.

As I didn’t want the curtain pole to extend past the frame, I sourced some recessed brackets. Meaning the curtain pole sits within them. 

*Generally speaking, a curtain pole or track should extend around 15-30cm past either side of the window and approx. 12-15cm above the top of the window.

This is to help minimise light when the curtains are closed, but also allows for the curtains to be gathered on either side of the window when open.

2. How To Measure Curtains for Crittall Doors

For the curtain width: measure the full length of your curtain pole or track.

When measuring a pole, don’t include the finials (the decorative ends); just measure from one end of the pole to the other.

If your window is large, you’ll need a centre bracket to support the pole; we bought a ceiling-mounted bracket.

The longest single length of pole I found was 2.4m.

As our window aperture is more than 3.6m,  I bought two separate lengths of pole (2m each), that came complete with a joiner piece for the centre.

For the curtain length (or drop):  first, decide where you want the curtains to finish.

Do you want them to fall to the sill, below the sill or to the floor?

When using:

Pole — measure from the top of the pole to where you want the curtains to end.

Track — measure from the top of the track to where you’d like your curtains to sit.

Eyelet curtains — it is recommended that you add on 3cm (to account for the material above the eyelet). 

Pole and curtain rings — you’ll need a curtain hook and ring every 10cm.

Our window aperture is 366cm — so we need 36 rings. 18 on each curtain.

Picking The Right Style of Curtains For Your Room

I’ve read various opinions about selecting the right style of curtains for your room, but, whether you go for voiles, linen curtains or something heavier like velvet — ultimately — I think it’s a personal choice.

I’ve come across a brilliant online company called Couture Living who have an amazing range of fabrics and can make curtains (or blinds) to fit any size of window.

They’ve 1000s of fabrics — which sounds overwhelming — but they simplify things by enabling customers to browse by brand or colour. Or by theme — florals, stripes, plain etc. The choice is MASSIVE.

And, best of all, they also have an online 3D visualiser, which helps things along even further. Pop in your measurements, and it will create a visual. 

Creating Digital Moodboards To Select Your Curtains 

I went a little further with this and created a digital mood board of our sitting room in Photoshop.

The curtains would take up quite a lot of wall space, so I wanted to see if they’d sit with the other aspects of the room.

I used images from the internet to create my ‘room’; using items that closely resembled our furniture and accessories.

This is such an easy thing to do; and if you don’t have Photoshop, you can use design applications such as Canva or Pic Monkey.

To create your mood board, open a clean document then simply find a picture on the internet that you’d like to add to your ‘room’ and — if using a Mac — hover the cursor over the image you’d like to use, then press control and click the mouse.

If you’re using a PC, right-click over the image.

You’ll see a fly-out-menu with a few options — one of which should be ‘copy image’

Select that option, then head back over to your blank page.

Next just press command V (on a Mac) — or Ctrl V if you’re using a PC — to paste the image you’ve just copied in place. 

You can continue this process until you’ve built up a whole room full of items.

This is my favourite way to plan how things sit together in a room at home.

It’s perfect for choosing a new rug or cushions and I’ve even used this method for planning a gallery wall too.

One of the above mood-boards has given me the confidence to order the curtains for our new sitting room.

Can you guess which one I’ve gone with? :)