Curtains for a Harlow modern window, and the heading to choose
Harlow is a town of modern houses, and in a plain room the heading is the whole design. Wave, pinch pleat, eyelet or sheers: the right one depends on your window, your wall and your cloth.
Three things a modern Harlow room decides for you
The heading is the design
A room with no cornice and no pelmet gives the eye nowhere to rest but the curtain itself. The heading, the way the cloth gathers at the top, becomes the one ornament the window has, so it has to be right.
The stack matters as much as the drop
A corner window or a wall of glass needs the curtain to pull clear and sit tidy by day. Where it stacks back to, and how wide it piles, decides how much light and view you keep when the room is open.
A plain cloth shows the making
Harlow likes light, plain cloth and clean lines. A flat weave hides nothing: every uneven fold, every loose pleat, every crooked hem is read at a glance. Plain fabric asks for better making, not less.
Simon Houlding Upholstery makes made to measure curtains for Harlow homes from a workshop and showroom at Stock Chase, Heybridge, near Maldon. We are not based in Harlow, so we come to you to measure and fit, or you choose cloth with us at the showroom. Every curtain is made in our own curtain room by our own team, lined and interlined, then hung and dressed. The workshop holds 162 five-star reviews across Google, Facebook, Yell and Houzz, at a perfect 5.0 on every platform.
The headings, and the Harlow window each one suits
Four curtain headings and the sheers that go with them, matched to the modern windows this town is full of.
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1
Wave
Clean and space-saving
What it isTailored, evenly spaced pleats that form uniform curves and stack neatly to save wall space. They ride on a discreet track rather than a pole, and can be ceiling-fitted for the illusion of height. The ideal heading to show off a statement print.
Where it suitsMade for a wall of glass or a long low window, where the track runs flat across and the curtain needs to pull back tight and sit quiet when the room is open.
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2
Pinch pleat
Classic and full
What it isFolded pleats hand-sewn along the header for a uniform, classic look. A double pleat gives a fuller curtain; a triple pleat, the most luxurious full drape of all. Hung on poles or tracks, with the pleats set where you want them.
Where it suitsRight for an Old Harlow sash, where a pole and a proper drape suit the older proportions, and a double pleat brings warmth to a taller, draughtier room.
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3
Double and triple pleat
More fabric, more drape
What it isBoth are pinch pleat headings. A double pleat gathers the cloth into two folds for a fuller curtain; a triple into three, for the deepest, most generous drape, and the one that uses the most fabric.
Where it suitsSuited to a wall of glass where you want real body, and to a corner window where a fuller curtain softens two hard runs of glass meeting at the angle.
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4
Eyelet
Contemporary and good value
What it isA clean, contemporary look that runs on poles. Metal eyelets in polished or brushed chrome, brass or oxidised, hanging in even folds. It uses less fabric than a pleated heading, so it is also good value.
Where it suitsAt home on a long low window in a 1960s house, where a simple pole and even folds match the plain lines without crowding the glass.
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5
Sheers and voiles
Light held, view kept
What it isFine sheer cloth, hung alone or behind a heavier curtain. It filters light while keeping a room bright, and softens a bare expanse of glass. It can be made on a wave or pinch pleat heading to match the curtain in front.
Where it suitsMade for a corner window or a wall of glass where you want daylight and privacy by day without blocking the light that an open-plan room depends on.
Voiles for a Harlow corner window
Corner windows are common in modern houses here, two runs of glass meeting at the angle with no wall between them. We have made sheer voiles for a contemporary living space, tailored to large corner windows, softly filtering the light while keeping the room bright.
Hung this way, voiles follow the clean lines of the house rather than fighting them. They hold privacy by day and leave the view and the daylight largely intact. See the voiles we made for a corner window.
A curtain is seen from outside too
In an open-plan modern house a window is read from the kitchen and the sitting area alike, and from the garden path as you come home. We made double sided velvet curtains for a barn conversion in Clarke & Clarke Alvar velvet, built to look the same from inside and out, so the house reads as one consistent thing as you approach it. A plain room shows every fold, and a plain window shows its lining to the street, which is why what the outside sees is worth thinking about. See the double sided velvet curtains.
Harlow houses, and what their windows ask for
Gibberd's neighbourhoods
The new town was planned from 1947 by Sir Frederick Gibberd, who lived here. Mark Hall, Netteswell and Great Parndon sit among green wedges, full of houses with long horizontal windows, corner glass and open-plan rooms that read as one.
Old Harlow and Churchgate Street
Far older than the new town, with sash windows and period proportions. These suit a pinch pleat on a pole and a lined, interlined curtain with real drape, rather than the flat track a modern room takes.
Newhall and Church Langley
The newer districts bring wide bi-fold doors, tall glass and fitted rooms where there is little wall to stack a curtain onto. A wave heading on a ceiling track clears the glass and stacks tight.
Blinds, shutters and made furniture
Made to measure blinds
Roman blinds made in our own curtain room, lined and interlined, the fabric checked by two makers before a cut. Roller, venetian, vertical and electric blinds measured and fitted by our own fitter.
Shutters
A quiet, dust-free alternative, measured and fitted to any shape of window. They hold privacy with a partial close and tame glare in a south-facing room, which suits a wall of modern glass.
A piece made to the room
A new sofa or chair built to your dimensions on a solid beech frame, so it fits an open-plan room that shop furniture leaves looking bare, in the colour and cloth the room asks for.
How far the workshop is from Harlow
Measured by car from Unit F, Stock Chase, Heybridge, on 12 October 2026, by the usual A414 route through Chelmsford.
- Hatfield Heath: 27 miles, about 41 minutes
- Old Harlow: 32 miles, about 48 minutes
- Newhall: 32 miles, about 49 minutes
- Church Langley: 33 miles, about 50 minutes
- Harlow town centre: 34 miles, about 51 minutes
- Nazeing: 36 miles, about 56 minutes
- Roydon: 37 miles, about 57 minutes
What curtains cost for a Harlow home
There is no fixed price list, because a single wave curtain on a narrow window and a wall of glass in pinch pleat are quite different jobs. For upholstery, reckon on roughly the price of a new piece of the same quality.
Send a photo and a few words about the room, with rough measurements if you have them, and you get a personal reply quoting the work on an average price fabric. Once you approve it, an appointment can be at the showroom or in your home.
Places near Harlow
Loughton
39 miles, about 53 minutes from the workshop
Arts and Crafts houses on the forest edge, with leaded casements and deep rooms.
Chelmsford
12 miles, about 22 minutes from the workshop
New houses arrive with bare windows, so we dress them room by room.
Brentwood
22 miles, about 34 minutes from the workshop
Large houses and whole rooms, where furniture and curtains are made to the plan.
Show us the window
Send a photo and say which heading you have in mind. We reply in person with a quote.
Questions, answered.
Simon Houlding Upholstery, a workshop and showroom at Stock Chase, Heybridge, near Maldon, established 1997. We are not based in Harlow, so we come to you to measure and fit, or you choose cloth at the showroom. Every curtain is made in our own curtain room, lined and interlined.
The workshop and showroom are at Unit F, Stock Chase, Heybridge, Maldon CM9 4AA, about 34 miles and about 51 minutes from the town centre by car, usually along the A414 through Chelmsford. Old Harlow is about 48 minutes, Church Langley about 50 minutes.
A wave curtain has tailored, evenly spaced pleats that form uniform curves and stack neatly to save wall space. It rides on a discreet track rather than a pole, and can be ceiling-fitted for the illusion of height. It suits a wall of glass and shows off a statement print well.
A long low window takes a heading that runs flat across and keeps the lines clean. A wave on a track stacks tight and clears the glass, and eyelet on a pole gives even folds at good value. Both match the plain lines of a modern room without crowding it.
A corner window, two runs of glass meeting at an angle, suits a fuller heading that softens the join: a double or triple pinch pleat, or a wave heading on a track. Sheer voiles behind hold privacy by day while keeping the daylight an open-plan room depends on.
By day, voiles hold privacy well and let light through. After dark, with the lights on inside, a voile alone gives much less cover, because the room is brighter than the street. For night privacy, pair voiles with a lined curtain, or with a blackout blind behind them.
Eyelet runs on a pole in even folds, uses less fabric and is good value, with a clean, contemporary look. Pinch pleat is folded and hand-sewn for a fuller, more classic drape, on a pole or a track. Eyelet suits a plain modern room; pinch pleat suits an older sash and a taller window.
Yes. All our curtains are lined and interlined as standard. The interlining is a soft layer between the face fabric and the lining, and it gives the curtain body, a better drape and more warmth at the glass. It also helps a plain cloth hang clean, which matters most in a plain room.