Dressing a Chelmsford house, from the first bare window
A new Chelmsford house arrives with bare windows and blank rooms. We make curtains, blinds, shutters and upholstery to fill them, built at our Heybridge workshop near Maldon, about 12 miles from the city centre.
Simon Houlding Upholstery makes curtains, blinds, shutters and upholstery for homes across Chelmsford, all built at our workshop in Heybridge, near Maldon. By car the city centre is about 12 miles and about 22 minutes, usually along the A414 through Danbury. Trading since 1997, the business holds 162 five-star reviews across Google, Facebook, Yell and Houzz, rated 5.0 on each one. Read the reviews before you decide. We are not based in Chelmsford and keep no premises there.
About 12 miles, about 22 minutes
1997
162 five-star, 5.0 everywhere
More than 55,000 from over 40 houses
A new Chelmsford house, with nothing to start from
A new build can feel like a blank canvas. Plain walls, hard floors, not a track or a pole on any window, and a room that gives the eye nothing to settle on. The light pours straight in and the sound bounces off the floor. It is a clean slate, which is freeing and daunting at once.
On our decorating a new build project we filled that blank room: a bespoke sofa in Linwood Omega velvet, a footstool in Art of the Loom Belagio Tremezzo, and wave curtains framing the windows. Soft layers warm a room that started hard and echoing, and the colour sets everything else going.
A Chelmsford new build, room by room
Each room in a new house sets its own problem at the window.
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1
The sitting room
Hard floors, plain walls, echo
What it needsA new sitting room echoes until something soft goes in. Full-height windows throw strong light across the day and leave the glass bare at night. Curtains lined and interlined add weight and warmth, soften the sound, and give the room a line to settle on. Hung high, they make the ceiling feel taller than it is.
What we makeWe make curtains in wave, pinch pleat or eyelet, all lined and interlined as standard. A bespoke sofa or a pair of club chairs, built on solid beech with sprung seating, can be sized to the room exactly.
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2
The kitchen and its garden doors
Wide bi-folds with no shade
What it needsThe kitchen opens onto the garden through wide bi-fold or sliding doors, and there is no obvious way to shade them without losing the view. Sun builds behind the glass by afternoon, and come evening the room is lit like a stage to anyone outside. The doors need shade that moves out of the way when they do.
What we makeA perfect fit blind is fitted inside each door frame with no bulk. A Blindscreen unit on a low-threshold track pulls one way for blackout and the other for a fly screen, and suits a run of bi-folds.
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3
The main bedroom
Fitted wardrobes, no stacking room
What it needsThe main bedroom often has fitted wardrobes set close to the window, which leaves little wall for a curtain to stack back onto. A heavy pair would crowd the glass and foul the wardrobe doors. The window still needs blackout and warmth, so the dressing has to sit neatly and clear the joinery.
What we makeA wave heading on a ceiling-fitted track stacks tight and tidy, or a roman blind made to the reveal takes up no wall at all. Both can carry a blackout interlining for dark mornings.
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4
A child's room
Small window, early light
What it needsA child's room in a new house is usually small, with a single window and a sill the furniture wants to reach. Early summer light wakes a child before anyone is ready, so the first job is proper darkness, and the second is a dressing that does not eat into a tight floor area.
What we makeA roman blind made on site to the exact width, lined and interlined with a blackout interlining, shows a pattern and leaves the sill clear. We make these in our own curtain room.
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5
The home office
Glare on the screen, overlooked
What it needsA home office in a new build often faces another house or the street, and the window throws glare straight onto a screen for part of the day. You want daytime privacy without shutting out the light, and enough control to cut the glare when the sun comes round, all without a fussy look.
What we makeShutters fitted to the window give a partial close for privacy with light still coming in, and gather no dust. A UV protection or sheer blind is a lighter alternative that keeps the room bright.
Design help for a Chelmsford room
Every commission comes with design guidance at no extra charge. We go through fabric, colour and finish with you until the room agrees, and samples can be seen at the showroom or sent to your home. In a blank new room, that steer is often what gets things moving, since there is nothing already there to work against.
For a whole room, our partner company Mannequin Interiors Ltd offers full interior design and project management. In Chelmsford they took a bedroom from plain to properly dressed. In Baddow they cleared a beamed sitting room and re-thought it around the fireplace. The paint, the floor and the furnishings are drawn together into one scheme.
Older Chelmsford homes, not only new ones
Old Moulsham terraces
The Victorian terraces of Old Moulsham have tall sashes and front rooms close to the pavement. Curtains lined and interlined hang well against period joinery, and where a room needs privacy a roman blind or shutters hold it without shutting out the light.
The older villages
Writtle round its green, Great Baddow and Galleywood hold period cottages with low beams, short drops and reveals rarely square. We measure each window on its own, and a roman blind often sits better than a full curtain where the ceiling is low.
Furniture worth keeping
Older houses carry older frames, which are usually the best to keep. We strip a tired chair or sofa back to the wood and rebuild it by hand with hand-tied springs, fibre and horsehair, true to its age and good for another twenty years.
How a Chelmsford job runs
Four stages, from a photo of the room to the fitting.
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1
Send a photo
A photo of the room, the window or the piece, with a few words about what you want. We reply personally, and for reupholstery we quote on an average price fabric so the figure is real.
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2
Choose the cloth
We go through fabrics with you from a library of more than 55,000 cloths, at no extra charge. Browse the fabric finder first to narrow it, then see the weight and colour in person before anything is cut.
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3
Measure
For curtains, blinds and shutters our own fitter carries out an in-depth measure before any work begins, taking each reveal on its own where a window is out of square.
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4
Made and fitted
Curtains and roman blinds are made in our Heybridge curtain room. The fitter sets the tracks and poles, and Simon personally delivers, hangs and dresses the curtains.
How far the workshop is from Chelmsford
Measured by car from Unit F, Stock Chase, Heybridge on 12 October 2026, nearest first, usually by the A414 through Danbury.
- Beaulieu: 10 miles, about 17 minutes
- Great Baddow: 10 miles, about 19 minutes
- South Woodham Ferrers: 11 miles, about 20 minutes
- Chelmer Village: 12 miles, about 20 minutes
- Chelmsford city centre: 12 miles, about 22 minutes
- Broomfield: 15 miles, about 23 minutes
- Writtle: 14 miles, about 26 minutes
- Galleywood: 14 miles, about 26 minutes
What it costs for a Chelmsford home
For curtains, blinds and upholstery there is no fixed list, because a wing chair and a run of six dining chairs are entirely different jobs. Reupholstery works out at about the cost of buying new of a similar quality. Send a photo and a short description, and the reply is a personal quote worked out on an average price fabric so the figure means something.
After you approve a quote, we arrange an appointment at the showroom in Heybridge or in your own home. The only piece with a set figure is the leather club chair, at around £5,000 including VAT whether built new or given a full restoration, depending on the work involved.
Places near Chelmsford
Maldon
1 mile, about 4 minutes from the workshop
The home town, with a showroom you can walk in to and choose cloth in person.
Witham
6 miles, about 12 minutes from the workshop
Silver End and its Crittall steel windows ask for dressing hung clear of the glass.
Brentwood
22 miles, about 34 minutes from the workshop
Large houses and whole rooms, where furniture and curtains are made to the plan.
Start with one room
Send a photo of it and a few words on what it lacks. The reply is a personal quote.
Questions, answered.
Simon Houlding Upholstery, in Heybridge near Maldon, about 22 minutes from the city centre. Curtains and roman blinds are made in our own curtain room by our own team, lined and interlined as standard. Our fitter measures and fits, and Simon delivers, hangs and dresses each pair himself. Trading since 1997.
The workshop and showroom are at Stock Chase, Heybridge, Maldon CM9 4AA, about 12 miles and about 22 minutes from the city centre by car, usually along the A414 through Danbury. Beaulieu is about 17 minutes and Great Baddow about 19. We are not based in Chelmsford itself.
Start with a photo of each window and a few words about the room. There is nothing to work against in a blank room, so design guidance comes with any commission to help you choose. Our fitter then measures each window and fits the tracks or poles before the curtains are hung.
A perfect fit blind is fitted inside the frame of each door with no bulk or movement. A Blindscreen unit runs on a low-threshold walk-on track and pulls one way for blackout and the other for a fly screen, which suits the wide bi-folds in a new kitchen. We will advise once we see the doors.
A wave heading on a ceiling-fitted track stacks tightly and clears the wardrobe doors, so very little wall is needed. Where there is almost none, a roman blind made to the reveal takes no wall at all. Either can carry a blackout interlining for a dark bedroom. We measure the gap on site first.
Yes. Design guidance on fabric, colour and finish comes with any commission at no extra charge. For a whole room, our partner company Mannequin Interiors Ltd offers full interior design and project management. In Chelmsford they took a bedroom from plain to properly dressed, drawing paint, floor and furnishings into one scheme.
Both hold privacy. Shutters fitted to the window give a partial close, letting light in while screening the room from a house opposite, and they gather no dust. A roman blind made to the exact width shows a pattern and, with a blackout interlining, darkens the room for sleep. We advise once we have seen the window.
Yes. A sofa you already own can be stripped to the frame and rebuilt by hand, recovered in a cloth chosen to match the new scheme. Older frames are usually worth keeping, built better than most new furniture. Send a photo and a few words and we will quote on an average price fabric.