Curtain designs and types, side by side
Short answer. If you're furnishing a Dubai flat or villa, curtain designs differ most in the heading, the way the top is sewn. That decides whether the curtain hangs from a pole or a track, and whether you can add a motor later. Fabric and colour come next. We measure each window at a free home visit, before you choose.
Your phone may be full of curtain ideas while the room itself is still bare. Most of those photos show fabric and colour in soft light. Few show the hardware above the folds, the morning light slipping over the top, or the wall the curtain gathers against when open.
Those details decide whether a design will work in your room.
What types of curtains are there, heading by heading?
Most types of curtains are named after the heading, the top edge that holds the curtain on its pole or track. The five you'll come across most often are eyelet, wave, pinch pleat, pencil pleat, and tab top or rod pocket.
| Heading | Hangs from | How it gathers | Runs on a motor track? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eyelet | A pole, through rings in the fabric | Deep, even folds | Not a standard one |
| Wave | A track, on evenly spaced carriers | Matching curves; a clean, modern line | Yes |
| Pinch pleat | A track, or rings on a pole | Tailored pleats in twos or threes | Yes, on a track |
| Pencil pleat | A track or pole, on hooks | Close gathers from a corded tape | Usually, on a track |
| Tab top or rod pocket | A pole, through loops or a sleeve | Soft; slides poorly | No |
Deciding between a wave heading and pinch pleats? Pinch pleats give a more formal, upright top, while a wave curtain usually folds back into a narrower stack.
With curtains you already own, rings in the fabric mean a pole, and hooks usually mean a track. The questions at the end cover changing a heading.
The Curtains Dubai makes curtains to measure in its own workshop, and supplies and installs curtains drawn by a motor on a track. Of the five headings, we make eyelet, wave and triple pinch pleat.
Eyelet
Pinch pleat
Wave
How each heading hangs
Which curtain design suits each room?
A curtain design suits a room when it copes with that room's worst hour of the day, which a saved photo rarely shows. A bedroom that faces the sunrise and living rooms with wide glass each have a page of their own.
| Your room | A design that usually suits | Why |
|---|---|---|
| East-facing bedroom | Pinch pleat or wave, blackout-lined, on a ceiling track | Darker mornings |
| Living room with floor-to-ceiling glass | Wave on a ceiling track, with a sheer on the window side | Even folds across a wide span |
| Villa with double-height glass | Wave or pinch pleat on a motorized ceiling track | Drawn open and shut without a ladder |
| Sliding door to a balcony | Wave, drawn to one side | One stack, so the door opens fully |
| Home office facing west | A light-filtering fabric rather than a sheer | Cuts screen glare but keeps daylight; a sheer glows in low sun |
| Kitchen window | A short panel on a pole, or a blind | The panel slides off the pole to wash; keep it clear of the hob |
| Rented flat with a track already fitted | A pinch or pencil pleat hooked onto that track | No new holes in the landlord's ceiling |
A wave curtain beside a balcony door
What does each curtain design need from your window?
Hardware, height and wall space all have to suit the heading for a design to hang well at your window. A pole sits on brackets in front of the wall, so daylight comes in over the top of an eyelet curtain.
In June the sun rises around 5:30 am, according to WeatherSpark's sunrise tables, so in an east bedroom that gap lets in the first light. A ceiling track lets a wave or pleated heading start just below the ceiling. If the ceiling has a recess above the window, a track inside it stays out of sight.
When open, a curtain also needs wall space beside the glass for its stack. Every heading gathers more fabric than its track or pole is wide, and makers call the extra fullness. We make eyelet and wave curtains at 2.5 times the width, and pinch pleats at 2.
More fullness means deeper folds and a higher price, so check two quotes use the same fullness before comparing them. Our sizing guide works it through.
If you rent, ask before anyone drills. Article 19 of Dubai Law No. 26 of 2007 requires the landlord's consent before changes to the property. Article 21 requires the tenant to hand it back in its original state, as Khaleej Times reports.
Some contracts still allow drilling if the holes are filled at move-out. This is information, not legal advice.
Many towers also require a contractor permit for fitting day. We arrange what the building asks of us as the contractor. An NOC that must come from you, as owner or tenant, is yours to request and pass to us.
Can one window have a sheer and a lined curtain?
Two layers on a double track let one window carry two designs, each drawn on its own. A sheer hides a room only while the outside is brighter than the inside. At dusk the room becomes the brighter side, and the next tower can see in until a lined curtain closes.
The sheer usually hangs on the track by the window, and the curtain with a blackout lining on the one facing the room. Matching headings on both tracks keep one line along the top. Where a shallow recess takes only one track, a roller blind inside the window frame can stand in for the sheer.
Sheer by day
Lined at night
One double track, day and night
How do curtain colours and fabrics cope with Dubai sun?
On glass that gets direct sun, strong and dark curtain colours fade first, sometimes in streaks where the folds face the light. On 10 August 2022, Khaleej Times reported a UV index of 12, in the extreme category, across most of the UAE.
On a lined curtain, the lining faces the glass and the coloured fabric faces the room. That is why red and other strong colours are worth lining. For an unlined curtain in afternoon sun, an off-white or pale shade hides fading best.
For curtains that stay smooth and crisp, a linen-look weave is the easier fabric. Real linen creases as it hangs and can shrink on its first wash; in a relaxed room, those creases are part of the look. Heavier, interlined curtains hang in fuller folds and need a firmly fixed track.
Worth knowing: copying a design from a photo won't stop light showing down the sides of your window. That depends on how far the track or pole reaches past the frame, and whether the wall there leaves room for it. Before you approve a quote, ask where the track ends on each side.
Book the free home visit and have your saved photos ready: the measurements will show which of those designs each window can take. We bring fabric samples too, so you see each colour in your own room's light.
Sun fading along the folds
Questions people ask
Can curtains be only decorative, with a blind doing the shading?
Dress curtains are decorative curtains that stay open, one panel at each side of the window. They add colour and soften the frame, while a blind inside the window does the daily shading. Panels that never close need far less fabric than a pair that draws.
What colour curtains suit white walls?
Curtains for white walls rarely match the paint exactly, and a white that nearly matches can look grey or yellow beside it. An off-white, cream or warm grey sits more comfortably, while a deeper colour frames the window on purpose. Check a sample at the window at midday and again under evening lamps.
Can I change the heading on curtains I already own?
We change headings on curtains you own when there is enough fabric for the new one. Most changes go from eyelets to pleats, so the curtains can hang from a track. Cutting off the eyelet band shortens each curtain: check it still reaches the floor. The work takes 3 to 5 working days and is priced by the job.
