Ordering Curtains, nets, voiles, tabs, pleats, heights, widths

Do you need new curtains? Nets or not? Drapes and drops.

First thing you need is the inside measurement, width and depth of every window for the nets. You also need to know how the height above the window of the rail for the drapes. Do you want the drapes above the sill or hanging over? Is the radiator in the way? Will floor length curtains or curtains right across wall to wall make the room look bigger. (Or with dark colours or oppressive fussy patterns make the room smaller.

I would go for pull cords to save hand marks from people pulling on curtains. But my business partner (another member of my family) says that pull cords are a nuisance because either a tenant or their visitors often pull the curtains from the middle of the curtains where they meet, dragging the curtain off the rail and upsetting the pull cord mechanism.

Curtains which look old can be given new life. Some simple nets can wash on 30 degrees in a washing machine. I would use a protective net bag. it could take less time and trouble to order new curtains. I was amazed when a tenant's mother washed the nets. They looked like new.

Advantage of pinch pleat. Looks elegant.

Advantage of the big holes with tab tops. Quick to hang up. You don't need to spend half an hour with 16 spirals, counting the number of spaces between each, holding one end up whilst somebody else fixes each hook on the supporting holes.

Ordering nets
Some nets are cut off a roll and the side edges have to be seamed. You may have to wait 4 or 5 weeks.

Blackouts and thermals
In one property, the elderly residents have demanded that the outside lights are bright and left on all night to help those tottering about, and to deter burglars. As a result the tenants need blackout curtains in bedrooms. If you have a tenant who is using the second or third bedroom only for occasional visitors, they might not be so fussy. But with adult children living there permanently they may expect blackout curtains or thermal curtains.

If you don't have double glazing, you might prefer thermal curtains. You might think, that's the tenant's problem, but if you are a landlord, when the property is empty you might want to cut down on heating bills or keep the property feeling warm when showing around prospective tenants, for your benefit and a welcoming feel.

Useful Websites

https://www.wikihow.com/Measure-Fabric-for-Curtains

Crockery For Vegetarian, Hindus, Halal and Kosher Tenants

What's The Problem/Solution?
You might think that fussy people can sterilise a kitchen or saucepan. I'd heard from a Catholic friend who'd married a Hindu man, that when the vegetarian mother-in-law cleaning visited from overseas, she cleaned every saucepan with salt and sand. That might work on an iron wok, not on the non-stick surfaces of my saucepans. Another story I heard was that groups of Jewish students on a weekend away had used some kind of blowtorch to clean work surfaces - sounds dangerous - as well as using double linings of foil in cooking utensils - under strict supervision of a rabbi for religious laws and safety.

Why Do They Need Crockery?
I thought that if you used a dishwasher that sorted out cleaning the crockery to everybody's satisfaction. Apparently not.  

If you are letting property furnished, and your tenants are arriving as expats employed by the military or diplomatic service, or students, or have their own goods in storage or in transit, so they arrive with just a suitcase of clothes, you may want to provide crockery. You'd think that would be easy.

Short Lets - Small Sets
For short lets, as in house swaps, and holiday rentals, it's easier to put away your treasured heirlooms, buy a cheap complete seat of four of everything. That way they have to wash up after every meal and can't rush off for their flight leaving you with more than one set of crockery that is congealing in the kitchen sink or simply not quite clean.

(You must inspect an empty property - all of it. Not just the crockery. Every cupboard. I once found after a flat was empty a few weeks - after my father died in hospital - potatoes in a top kitchen cupboard had grown to fill the entire cupboard like Jack and the Beanstalk!)

A family of four might easily need eight of everything for a two course meal, or if they eat three meals and leave dishes to soak and wash up at the end of the day.

One set of six month tenants expected a complete set of everything, times twelve, so they could entertain. Going to stores, you can spend hours counting whether you've got 11 plates or 12 or 13, then you find that they have only 11 saucers in stock because one is broken or in a window display.

So, I thought, you can pick up a boxed set of four of everything cheaply in a supermarket and stick it straight in the boot of your car. Annoyingly, most boxed sets nowadays don't have a cup and saucer, just a mug.

The easiest way to match everything is to go for white. You may find that your property looks too bland in photos, so you can brighten with accents such as a red tablecloth and a couple of red cushions.

You might think that white or black is most neutral. Black makes the place loo small and funereal. White is a bit bland. Colours clash.

I found a lovely design of white and red poppy plates in Poundland. Unfortunately I had trouble getting bowls. Many of the items in the shop were chipped. I managed to come home with only one which was already chipped. And one which had scraping on the dinner plate surface, probably from the underside of the plate above. They are sold interleaved with a circle of corrugated paper for good reason. The plates have rough rings underneath. I once bought a set of espresso cups made in China which were rough underneath. They were damaging the kitchen work surface as well as the dining table top and side table polish. Fine if you knew and remembered to use a cheap scratch-proof fabric table mat, but you cannot expect tenants to do that. I tried to smooth off the underside of one cup with
an emery board, then heavy duty sandpaper (from the DIY section of any large store). To my surprise that was effective. Good for retrieving crockery bought by mistake. But a tedious waste of time if you have a choice and can buy crockery which is smooth underneath.

The poppy design has now changed.

Back to white crockery. I then had a set of white crockery. After the tenants left, looks ok. Before next tenants arrive I re-check. Only one piece broken. (I should have bought 13 of everything. Cheaper than buying another set of 12. But at least if you have white, you can add one nearly matching piece and the chances are that nobody will ever notice.)

I thought I was well equipped with crockery until the vegetarian tenants moved in. They kept asking, 'Is this new?' Apparently you can decontaminate metal, but crockery is porous so they want new crockery.

At this point as a landlord or landlady you might lose the desire to upgrade a flat with smart crockery, or crockery you would like in your own home if you ever decide to move in. You can't supply brand new sets of 12 of everything every 12 months, or 6 months, two if they give notice, which even on a 12 month let they are entitled to do. (The nicest and most honest tenants could opt to buy, lose their job, fall ill, get divorced.)

Unless you have a flat with a succession of tenants who are vegans, or all kosher, or all halal, you will run the risk of having to keep buying new sets (cluttering up your storage area). You need to allocate a locked cupboard for landlord's property. Then you could keep one set of kosher, one halal, one vegan.

To my surprise Poundland was not the only supplier of inexpensive crockery. IKEA has two ranges of
inexpensive white crockery. If you have tenants who like IKEA, you can either order from IKEA, keep receipts, mark the inventory with the additional crockery, or tell the tenants to keep the receipt and deduct the cost from their first month's rent.

Sorry, I have to go now, and count the cups.

Poundland's poppy plates. You can see the protective paper between the plates.

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