Curtain Installation Cape Town — Precision, Style & Seamless Fit
The short answer: Cape Curtains installs curtains, rails and tracks across Cape Town and the wider Western Cape — both our own made-to-measure work and curtains, rails or tracks you have bought elsewhere. Typical turnaround is about two weeks from the measuring appointment to curtains hanging. We install motorised tracks ourselves, and the fitting carries a guarantee.
If you are weighing up doing it yourself, the two measurements that matter most are these: the pole or track goes at least 10–15 cm above the window, and extends 15–20 cm beyond the frame on each side. Almost every curtain that looks wrong is wrong because of those two numbers, not because of the fabric.
No one wants to spend a Saturday up a ladder trying to screw a curtain rail into crumbly plaster. And yet most of us think we can wing it — until the brackets sag, the rail tilts, and one side mysteriously kisses the floor while the other barely grazes the skirting.
Curtain installation is one of those jobs that looks like twenty minutes and a drill. What it actually involves is a handful of decisions made before the drill comes out, and those decisions are what separate curtains that hang like drapery from curtains that hang like a shower rail with fabric on it.
The two measurements that decide everything
Height first. Fitting the pole or track at least 10–15 cm above the window frame is the standard guidance — B&Q's fitting guide gives exactly that figure. Higher again, toward the ceiling, makes a room read taller, which is why it is the single most common change we make to an existing installation.
Width second. The pole should extend 15–20 cm beyond the frame on either side. That overhang is the stack-back: the wall space the curtain occupies when it is fully open. Skip it and the open curtain sits permanently across the glass, stealing daylight from the room and hiding the window you paid to dress.
How much stack-back you actually need depends on the heading, because fullness decides how much fabric has to bunch up. Pencil pleat and eyelet are typically made at 2x the track width, wave at 2.2x and pinch pleat at 2.5x, per the trade's published fullness conventions. A 2.5x pinch pleat curtain needs noticeably more wall to stack onto than a 2x eyelet. If you are still choosing, our guide to how much curtain fabric you actually need works through the arithmetic.
"A curtain fitted 5 cm above the frame and stopping at the reveal will always look like a curtain fitted in a hurry — whatever you spent on the fabric."
Cape Town walls, and why the fixing matters more than the bracket
This is where local experience earns its keep. The housing stock here is genuinely mixed: solid brick in the older suburbs, concrete in the apartment blocks, and dry-walled partitions and bulkheads in newer builds and renovations. The same bracket needs a different fixing in each.
Two points are worth knowing before anyone drills:
- In brick, drill into the brick, not the mortar joint. The joint is the easier line to aim for and the wrong one — mortar is far weaker than the brick itself and the joint crumbles under load, as Confast's substrate guide sets out.
- Plasterboard will not hold a curtain on its own. Plasterboard has limited load-bearing capacity and tears under weight; anything substantial has to be anchored into a stud or carried on a proper cavity fixing. A lined pair of full-length curtains on a wide track is not a light load.
Concrete lintels are their own case again, needing the right bit and the right anchor rather than a standard wall plug. None of this is exotic — it is simply the part that gets guessed at, and the guess is what puts a second set of holes in the wall.
Which system suits which window
| System | Best for | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Standard rod | Eyelet and tab-top curtains, lighter treatments | Simple, but unforgiving over long spans — a long rod needs a centre support |
| Track | Wave, pinch pleat and ripple fold | Wall or ceiling mounted; the smoothest draw, and the discreet option |
| Double track | Sheers layered under blockouts | Day and night in one setup; needs more projection off the wall |
| Motorised track | Tall, wide or hard-to-reach windows | We install these ourselves; power supply needs planning before fitting |
Ceiling-mounted track deserves a mention of its own. It is the cleanest look available and it is the one most affected by what is above the ceiling — a bulkhead, a concrete slab or an empty void all change the fixing. It is worth raising at the measuring stage rather than on the day.
What the installation actually involves
The sequence is straightforward, and knowing it makes the two-week wait easier to plan around:
- Measure. Track position is decided first, then measured — not the other way round. Older Cape Town homes are rarely square, so every window is measured at several points.
- Make. Curtains are made to those measurements. This is the bulk of the two weeks.
- Fit. Hardware goes up, curtains are hung, the drop is checked and the draw is tested both ways.
- Dress. The folds are set and tied so the curtain learns to hang in the same pleats every time. Skipping this is why some new curtains never settle.
We fit curtains, rails and tracks you have bought elsewhere as readily as our own. If you have inherited curtains from a previous home and they are close to the right drop, that is usually worth a conversation before you replace them.
Before you book
- Decide whether you want the track above the window or on the ceiling — it changes the hardware and the measurement.
- Know roughly how heavy the curtains will be. Interlined and blockout fabrics need stronger fixings than a sheer.
- Check what is on either side of the window. A wall light, a bookshelf or a door swing all limit stack-back.
- For motorised, think about where the power comes from before fitting day.
- Have the room reasonably clear under the windows. It speeds the fit up considerably.
Ready when you are — book a consultation and we will measure from the track position outward. If you are still choosing what goes on the rail, our made-to-measure curtains, blinds and shutters and our note on sheer curtains are the places to start.
Frequently asked questions
Will you hang curtains I bought somewhere else?
Yes. We fit curtains, rails and tracks bought elsewhere as well as our own made-to-measure work. It is one of the more common calls we get, particularly after a move.
How long does curtain installation take from start to finish?
About two weeks from the measuring appointment to curtains hanging. Most of that is the making; the fitting itself is a single visit.
Do you install outside Cape Town?
Yes — we cover Cape Town and the wider Western Cape.
How high should a curtain rail be fitted?
At least 10–15 cm above the window frame, and higher still if you want the room to read taller. The rail should also extend 15–20 cm past the frame on each side so the open curtain stacks onto the wall rather than across the glass.
Can curtain tracks be fitted to a plasterboard wall?
Yes, but not with a standard wall plug. Plasterboard has limited load-bearing capacity and tears under weight, so the fixing has to reach a stud or use a proper cavity anchor. Lined full-length curtains on a wide track are heavier than people expect.
Do you install motorised curtain tracks?
Yes, we install motorised tracks ourselves. The one thing worth planning early is the power supply, since that is decided before the track goes up rather than after.
Is the installation guaranteed?
Yes — the fitting carries a guarantee. Ask us for the details when you book.
Mounting height and overhang figures from B&Q's curtain hanging guide. Fixing guidance by substrate from Confast. Fullness conventions from Direct Fabrics.