Blockout and thermal curtains that actually hold the heat in.
Made-to-measure blockout and thermal curtains, proper pelmets and returns, bay window tracks and curtain-plus-blind combinations. Built for cold Cardinia winters, hot northerly summer afternoons, and bedrooms that need to be genuinely dark. Free in-home measure across Pakenham and the Cardinia Shire.
Five things we do, all aimed at warmth and darkness.
We are not a decorator service. We fit curtains that do a job: hold the heat in overnight, keep the summer sun off the glass, and make a bedroom dark enough for a shift worker or a toddler at 5.30am in December.
Blockout curtains
True darkness for bedrooms, nurseries and media rooms. Separately lined pinch pleat or integral triple-weave. Fitted with a return so light does not spill down the sides. About $300 to $900 per window.
See blockout curtains →Thermal curtains
Coated and interlined options that slow the heat loss through cold glass. The winter answer for living rooms running reverse cycle every night. Lining upgrades from about $60 per window.
See thermal curtains →Pelmets
The part most people skip and the part that makes the curtain work. Seals the top of the window so warm air cannot pour down behind the fabric. Fabric-covered or painted timber, about $180 to $600.
See pelmets →Curtains and blinds together
A blockout roller behind, curtains framing the opening. Daytime control without closing the room down, plus full darkness at night. About $400 to $1,100 per window.
See combinations →Bay window curtains
Bent track in 3 to 5 sections so the curtain follows the bay instead of cutting across it. The biggest single source of winter heat loss in an older Pakenham home. From about $900.
See bay windows →How a curtain actually keeps heat in.
1. The convection loop is what drains the room.
Glass is the coldest surface in a Pakenham house on a July night. Warm air from your heater drifts across the ceiling, touches that cold pane, loses its heat, gets denser and drops to the floor as a cold draught along the skirting. That cold air then pushes more warm air up and across the ceiling toward the window again. It is a loop, and it runs all night without stopping. If you have ever felt a cold river of air across your feet in a room with the heater on, that is the loop, not a draught coming through the window seal.
A curtain does not insulate by being thick in the way a jumper does. It works by trapping a layer of still air between the fabric and the glass and stopping that layer from circulating into the room. Which means the fabric weight matters far less than whether the air can get in and out at the edges. A thin curtain that seals beats a heavy curtain that does not.
2. Pelmets and returns are what seal it.
A curtain hanging on a decorative rod, 100mm off the wall, with a 200mm gap above it, is an open chimney. Warm room air rolls straight over the top of the curtain, down the glass, and back out at the bottom. The fabric is barely in the circuit. This is the single most common reason people tell us their expensive curtains "did nothing" for the heating bill.
Sealing the top is the job of a pelmet, or a track fixed hard to the ceiling so there is no gap to fall through. Sealing the sides is the job of a return, which is where the track bends back to the wall so the curtain finishes against plaster rather than hanging in mid air. Sealing the bottom means the curtain reaches the floor, not the sill. Get those three edges closed and the trapped air stays put, and the curtain can noticeably reduce the heat you are losing through that window. Miss one of them and you have bought decoration.
3. Lining choice, and the condensation trade-off.
More lining is not automatically better. Standard cotton-blend lining adds body and protects the face fabric. A coated thermal lining reflects some radiant heat back into the room and adds a vapour-resistant layer. An interlining, the soft bump layer sewn between face and lining, is the warmest and gives the heaviest, most expensive drape. On a big living room window in Pakenham Upper or Emerald where the overnight minimum sits near zero, interlined is worth the money.
The complication is condensation, which is a genuine problem in the newer, tightly sealed brick homes across the estates. Seal the air pocket beautifully and that pocket stays cold, so moisture in the room condenses on the glass and pools on the sill, then mould appears on the reveal by August. The answer is not to abandon the lining. It is to match the lining to the room, keep the curtain able to vent at the bottom or open it through the day, and keep some background ventilation running in bedrooms. We flag this at the measure on any window that already shows morning water, and it changes which lining we recommend. Read more in our winter thermal curtain guide, or compare the options on the 2026 pricing page.
Where we measure and install.
Pakenham VIC 3810 and across the Cardinia Shire, from the new estates on the flat to the colder homes up in the hills. Free in-home measure across the lot.
From free measure to fitted curtains, 4 stages.
Free in-home measure
We bring fabric and lining samples, measure every drop, check which way each room faces, and look for the things that decide the job: sill height, cornice depth, cold spots and any existing condensation.
Fixed written quote
Itemised per window, usually within 2 business days. Lining options priced separately so you can see exactly what the thermal upgrade or the pelmet costs before you commit.
Made to order
Cut, sewn, weighted and hemmed to your exact drop. Allow 3 to 5 weeks. Tracks and pelmets are prepared to the same measurements so nothing gets trimmed on site.
Installed and sealed
Track fixed level, returns closed to the wall, pelmet fitted, hems checked against the floor, and the fabric dressed so it hangs in even folds from day one.
Book a free in-home measure.
Samples in your own light, honest advice on lining and pelmets, and a fixed written quote. No obligation.
Guides for Pakenham homeowners
Practical reading from jobs around Cardinia: what things cost, why the pelmet matters more than the fabric, and how to get a bedroom genuinely dark. Start with the pricing guide if you just want numbers, or the blockout curtain page if you are chasing darkness.