Affordable Pinch Pleat Curtains for Your Home
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I’ve been on the hunt for affordable pinch pleat drapes for a long time – about two years now to be exact! If you have followed our house journey very long, you know that I actually made faux pinch pleat curtains out of drop cloths a couple of years back. They have truly served us so well, but it was time for an upgrade!
If you’ve done very much research on custom curtains, you know that the price can be a bit steep. Around $1000 to $1500 a window steep – or more. *insert several melting face emojis* So it’s important for me to say that when I say affordable, I mean in relation to what could easily be spent on custom drapes.
I am so happy to say that these beautiful linen blend curtains are a FRACTION of that cost and of absolutely stunning quality. So there’s hope if you’re on the hunt for quality custom curtains that will not break the bank. As a bonus, use my discount code “FHH15” at check out to get 15% off your own pinch pleat curtains!
This post contains affiliate links where I may receive a commission from any purchases you make. See my full disclosure here.
HOW WE ORDERED OUR LINEN BLEND DRAPES:
When I set about ordering our affordable pinch pleat curtains, I was honestly overwhelmed at how to go about it. I didn’t know how to properly measure for curtains. I’d never invested in quality curtains of any kind and had to do a bit of research to even know where to begin. So to save you the trouble I went through, here is exactly what I’ll be sharing!
– How to measure for custom curtains.
– Hanging pinch pleat curtains
– “Training” pleats (not a necessary step, but helps with a more polished look)
– The exact curtains (with customizations) that I ordered with my honest thoughts of the results.
– An exclusive discount code “FHH15” for 15% off your own!
When you go to order on Nicetown’s website, this is exactly what you can order to get the same look. Just make sure you have measured for your own space before entering sizing! I go into detail on exactly how to do this at the bottom of this post.
Fabric: Latvian Linen
Color: Natural
Header Type: Double Pinch Pleat
Height: 96 inches (for 9 ft. walls)
Width: 72 inches (for 36 inch windows)
WITH LINER (Pongee Liner/White)
WHAT ARE PINCH PLEAT CURTAINS?
Pinch pleat curtains actually come in a few different styles. Single pinch pleat, double pinch pleat, and triple pinch pleat to name a few. Essentially, like the name suggests, these curtains have headers where the fabric has been “pinched” and stacked to create tidy waves in the curtain. The result is a really custom and high-quality looking curtain. They are super versatile and are found in many different decor styles, but they do lean a tad more “formal.”
Pinch pleat curtains are a classic curtain choice. We chose double-pinch pleat curtains (or two finger pleated panels) for our living room. This style leans a touch more modern and elegant, in my opinion.
We have a very cozy, laid-back living room, and I feel like the pinch pleat gives the room a very fun pop of classic tradition.
CHOOSE COLOR AND TEXTURE OF YOUR PINCH PLEAT DRAPES:
I wanted our curtains to have a very natural, airy, high-end feel. After pouring over all of the options, we opted for Nicetown’s Latvian Linen Blend in the color Natural. With our white walls, I wanted to avoid white curtains. Not that there is anything wrong with that whatsoever, but I wanted a bit of subtle interest to this area of our home. I also feel like the warmer color cozies up the space a bit. *I share an exclusive discount code at the bottom of this post, so make sure to snag that before you make a purchase!*
For affordable pinch pleat curtains with CUSTOM details, the color and texture are even better than I had hoped! I would say the “Natural” color leans light taupe/light mushroom in our south facing living room.
I did a little digging on Nicetown’s social media to find the color and texture I liked! However, they also have a sample swatch booklet of each collection you can order for $2 if you’re unsure and want to see it in person before making the commitment. This is a great choice if you’re torn between color or texture.
Again, we chose Latvian linen, but there are so many options based on texture (cotton, velvet, linen), function (room darkening, black out, sheer, thermal, soundproof). And different colors to match your home color scheme/home decor in each category!
CUSTOM CURTAINS SHEER OR WITH A BLACKOUT LINER:
We opted to add a white liner to our affordable pinch pleat drapes, as our living room is a south facing room that has TONS of early and late afternoon light. It’s important to note that if you choose to add a liner, it does add weight. So you’ll want to make sure your curtain rod is anchored into studs or is using wall anchors for extra support. Otherwise, you’ll end up ripping your curtain rod out of your dry wall (as someone who has done this before, take the extra step the first time around and save yourself the mess!)
As you can see below, the fabric of the Latvian linen blend curtain is semi-transparent. If you want these to fully block out light, you will want to add a liner.
The fabric itself is beautiful, and truthfully I would have loved these even without the liner. These are not sheer curtains, but they are not blackout curtains either – they are light filtering. So they do block out a bit of light on their own, without the liner. I was very torn on the airy and light look of no liner, versus the thick/fuller look with. But beyond the practicality of the liner, I really appreciate the thick, quality look and feel it gives our curtains.
To sum this up. The liner is a great option if the room you’ll be hanging your custom drapes gets a lot of sunlight or you just want a thicker, fuller look.
TRAINING PINCH PLEAT CURTAINS:
As these are a linen fabric/cotton fabric blend, and have been shipped to your door, there is naturally a bit of wrinkling. I highly recommend purchasing a handheld fabric steamer for easy wrinkle removal! This is the one we have. It’s cheap and it works great.
These are not memory-shaped curtains, so they come a bit flowier than if they had been “pre-trained” for pleats. But it’s really no big issue at all, as you can actually do this on your own.
For tidy, wrinkle-free, well-trained pinch pleat curtains, I highly recommend steaming up and down (top to bottom and side to side) the fabric of every pleat. You will then fold the pleats evenly and position them exactly how you want them to hang – hold them firmly in place – and then tape them together with painter’s tape. Alternatively, you could use hair clips, ribbon, or string.
I truly cannot get over how beautiful the fabric is.
I added the tape in three places – top, middle, and bottom. Let this sit for a few days and voila! When you remove your binding, you will have well-trained pinch pleat curtains!
Again, this step is not necessary. These actually hung really beautifully straight out of the package. But I wanted it to look really tidy. So, this is personal preference and not *necessary.*
HOW TO MEASURE FOR CUSTOM DRAPES:
CALCULATE LENGTH AND WIDTH OF YOUR CURTAINS
For width, you will want your panel to be 1.5 – 2 times the width of your window for a full look. As homes have windows in all different sizes, make sure you measure your windows and do not try to guess.
In our case, we have two 36 inch wide windows, side by side. We doubled 36 inches to get the correct size panel for each side. So we needed (2) 72 inch width curtain panels. This extra fabric helps to create a full, designer look!
For length, you want your curtains to just barely touch the floor for the tidiest look. You will measure from the rod to the floor and deduct about an inch to account for curtain rings. Pinch pleat curtains will hang by rings, and this makes them hang a bit lower than if they were directly on the rod. Nicetown makes this super easy as they add built-in pleat hooks for your curtain rings.
*FOR EXTRA MEASURING ACCURACY, go ahead and add your curtain rings to your curtain rod so you can simply measure from the bottom of the curtain ring to the floor.
Taking all of this into account, here are the exact dimensions we ordered for our 9 ft. ceilings.
98 inch height and 72 inch width.
MOUNT YOUR CURTAIN ROD
First, you will need to make sure that your curtain rod is mounted so that you can correctly measure length.
Curtains look best mounted high and wide! The general rule for this is to mount it 2 to 3 inches below your ceiling for height and 6 inches past the window (on each side) for width. This allows more of the window to actually show when the drapes are open, so you do not end up blocking out needed sunlight.
NEEDED FOR HANGING YOUR CURTAIN ROD:
Tape measure
Stud Finder
Screwdriver
Pencil
Screws
Wall anchors (if no studs are found)
Curtain rod with brackets
HANGING YOUR CURTAIN ROD:
1. Follow the above instructions for calculating width and length and placement of your rod.
2. Mark the placement of your brackets with a pencil on both ends. Make sure you are mounting your rod so that curtains will just barely touch the floor.
3. Use a stud finder to try to locate a stud near where you would like to mount your bracket. This will ensure that your rod is nice and stable. However, have no fear if you cannot locate a stud! You’ll just need to install wall anchors before the curtain brackets. (As someone who has rushed this step before and had a curtain rod fall out of drywall, trust me and do this the right way the first time!)
4. Install curtain brackets with a screwdriver and screws.
If your curtain rod is already mounted (like ours was), it’s simply a matter of measuring from your curtain rod to your floor for length.
OUR CURTAIN ROD AND CURTAIN RINGS:
You can find our affordable Amazon curtain rod here.
If you order Nicetown double pinch pleat drapes, they will come ready-made with hooks for attaching your rings to. You do have to purchase curtain rings in order to hang pinch pleat curtains. We purchased these rings to hang the curtains easily and neatly on the curtain rod.
If you order the same width as our curtains (72 inch width), you will need 12 rings per curtain.
MY HONEST REVIEW OF OUR AFFORDABLE PINCH PLEAT DRAPES:
This is a high quality look for a fraction of what could be paid. These pinch pleat curtains are so much better quality than I ever expected. And in terms of custom drapery, they are very affordable. The fine-textured linen blend has such a nice texture and looks high-end and beautiful in our home. In my personal opinion, these curtains do not look like budget curtains in any regard.
With the pre-installed pinch pleat hooks, these were a breeze to hang!
The white, blackout liner gives them a very full, quality look. I’m very happy we added it, especially with the sun that pours into our living room in the afternoon. That being said, I would have loved the curtains even without the liner. The linen fabric is beautiful all on it’s own, and without the liner would give an an airier look, softer look. So this is a personal decision, and you wouldn’t be making the wrong decision, either way!
The curtains are washable. Making this an extra win for our home and the little people running around here!
EXCLUSIVE DISCOUNT CODE:
Nicetown was kind enough to send over a discount code for my readers. Use “FHH15” at checkout for 15% off your order!
Again, these are the exact linen blend curtains we ordered and here is how we ordered them.
Color: Natural
Header Type: Double Pinch Pleat
Height: 96 inches (for 9 ft. walls)
Width: 72 inches (for 36 inch windows)
WITH LINER (Pongee Liner/White)
I hope my hunt for affordable pinch pleat drapes helps you in your own home!
Until next time,
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