Curtains and upholstery for Greater London developments and whole houses
A new apartment building with shared spaces to dress, or a house done from top to bottom, made by one workshop in Essex. Curtains, blinds, shutters and upholstery, measured and fitted by our own team.
What we come into Greater London for
A building's shared spaces
The foyer, the reception, the residents' lounge and reading rooms of an apartment building. Large curtains for high windows, and the same window dressed alike across many flats, made so the whole building reads as one.
A whole house
A house refurbished from top to bottom, where every room is made to agree. Sofas and chairs built or rebuilt, windows dressed, cloth and colour drawn together through one set of hands.
A large made piece
A single piece at real scale, or a run of them: a curtain many metres high, a long sofa, seating built to a plan. Work that most local workshops have to turn away.
Simon Houlding Upholstery makes curtains for apartment buildings and developments across Greater London, from a workshop in Heybridge, Essex. Curtains and roman blinds are made in our own curtain room, and everything is measured and fitted by our own team. We travel into London for the right project, so a building's shared spaces, a whole house, or a run of made pieces is what we come for. Every contract project is quoted, with a clear lead time on the quote.
Canada Gardens, Wembley Park
As part of the Wembley Park regeneration we were commissioned to create curtains for the Canada Gardens apartment building. The main foyer took a 7 metre high statement curtain, made by a single curtain maker on a custom-built workbench designed for the scale of the curtain. We also made burnt orange velvet curtains as backdrops for the building's individual reading rooms.
A curtain of that height is not a bigger version of an ordinary one. The cloth has to be cut true over seven metres, on a bench built for the length, and finished so the weight hangs clean from top to floor. See the Canada Gardens project for the making of it.
A reception at Wembley Park
For the reception of a new residential block we made a sheer black floor-to-ceiling curtain as the backdrop to the reception desk, concealing a feature light behind it so the glow filters through the cloth. The curtain is framed by an architectural arch, and runs the full height of the space. A reception curtain has to read well from across the room and up close at the desk, which is where the hang and the finish earn their place. See the reception project.
What a development asks of the trade in Greater London
Each space in a building, and each room in a whole house, sets a different problem for the maker.
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1
A foyer or double-height space
A curtain many metres high
What the job asksA foyer or atrium carries glass that runs far higher than a room curtain ever does, and the eye reads the whole drop at once. The cloth has to hang true from the top rail to the floor with no waver across the length.
What we makeThe 7 metre foyer curtain at Canada Gardens was made by one curtain maker on a workbench built for that curtain.
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2
A reception
A backdrop behind the desk
What the job asksA reception desk wants a backdrop that makes the first impression and sits behind the people working there. It is read from across the room and from close up, and it may have to soften a feature light or frame an arch.
What we makeWe made a sheer floor-to-ceiling curtain for a Wembley Park reception, concealing a feature light behind it, framed by an architectural arch, made and fitted by our own team.
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3
A residents' lounge or reading room
Warmth and quiet
What the job asksA shared lounge or reading room needs warmth and a sense of quiet, somewhere residents settle rather than pass through. Curtains soften the room, hold the heat and take the hard edge off the acoustics.
What we makeOur curtains are lined and interlined as standard for drape and warmth. For Canada Gardens we made burnt orange velvet curtains as backdrops for the reading rooms.
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4
The same window across many flats
All made to hang alike
What the job asksAn apartment building repeats one window across floor after floor, and the flats have to hang alike. Any drift in heading, drop or fullness shows the moment you look up the face of the building from outside.
What we makeEverything is made across five units in Heybridge by our own curtain makers, so a run is made to one standard, with a clear lead time on the quote.
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5
A house done top to bottom
Every room made to agree
What the job asksA house refurbished from top to bottom asks for every room to agree: the seating, the windows and the cloth drawn together so the whole house reads as one rather than a set of separate jobs.
What we makeWe make and rebuild upholstery, and make curtains, blinds and shutters, all in one workshop. Design guidance comes with any commission, with full interior design through our partner company.
The outer boroughs on the Essex side of Greater London
The boroughs nearest Essex each carry their own kind of house. Havering holds Romford, Hornchurch and Upminster, with Gidea Park and its garden suburb houses of 1911. Redbridge takes in Ilford, Wanstead and Woodford, full of Edwardian and inter-war homes. Waltham Forest reaches up to Chingford by Epping Forest, and Newham holds Stratford with its new apartment towers. Over at Brent, Wembley Park has been rebuilt as a district of rental apartment buildings with foyers, lounges and shared rooms, which is where Canada Gardens stands.
A whole house, drawn together
A sofa made to the room
A new piece built to your dimensions on a solid beech frame with sprung seating, so it blends with the colour scheme and fits a room that shop furniture leaves looking bare.
Curtains for every window
Made, measured and hung by our own team, lined and interlined as standard for drape and warmth, from the first drawing to the final fitting across the house.
A cinema or media room
Seating tailor-made from your own concept, with fluted backs and cup holders inset into the arms, built and finished by hand in the workshop.
Design for the whole scheme
Guidance on fabric, finish and colour runs through every commission, with full room design and project management available through our partner company.
The drive from the workshop
Measured by car from Unit F, Stock Chase, Heybridge on 12 October 2026, with traffic that varies through the day.
- Upminster: 29 miles, about 40 minutes
- Romford: 29 miles, about 42 minutes
- Hornchurch: 29 miles, about 43 minutes
- Ilford: 34 miles, about 51 minutes
- Woodford Green: 41 miles, about 54 minutes
- Chingford: 41 miles, about 57 minutes
- Stratford: 40 miles, about 63 minutes
- Wembley Park: 59 miles, about 79 minutes
We also work in
London
46 miles, about 84 minutes from the workshop
Contract and commercial work, in shops, boardrooms and hotels across town.
Loughton
39 miles, about 53 minutes from the workshop
Arts and Crafts houses on the forest edge, with leaded casements and deep rooms.
Brentwood
22 miles, about 34 minutes from the workshop
Large houses and whole rooms, where furniture and curtains are made to the plan.
Tell us about the development or the house
Send the scope, the volume and the timeline, or a drawing, and we will come back to you properly, with a clear lead time.
Questions, answered.
Simon Houlding Upholstery, a workshop in Heybridge, Essex, trading since 1997. Curtains and roman blinds are made in our own curtain room and fitted by our own team. We travel into Greater London for the right project, so a development's shared spaces are the sort of work we come for.
Tall enough for a foyer. For Canada Gardens at Wembley Park a single curtain maker produced a 7 metre high statement curtain for the main foyer, made on a custom-built workbench designed for the scale of the curtain. A double-height space is the kind of job the workshop is built for.
Yes. Everything is made across five units in Heybridge by our own curtain makers, nothing subcontracted, so a repeated window can be made to one standard flat after flat. Every project is quoted with a clear lead time, which matters when a run has to be delivered in order.
Yes. A house refurbished from top to bottom is one of the projects we travel into Greater London for. We make and rebuild upholstery, make curtains, blinds and shutters, and draw the cloth and colour together so every room agrees, with design guidance on any commission.
Yes. A developer, a designer or a managing agent can bring us the scope, the volume and the timeline, or a drawing, and we come back properly. We work from a designer's or client's own material as readily as from the fabric houses we hold, and every project is quoted.
Yes to fire-retardancy: compliance for a public or shared building is handled as part of the work. There is no fixed figure for lead times, because a foyer curtain and a run of flats are different jobs. Each project is quoted on its own, with the lead time stated.
In Greater London we travel for the right project rather than for single pieces, so a building's shared spaces, a whole house or a run of made work is what we come for. Send a photo and a few words either way, though: a photo always gets a reply and a straight answer.