Custom Curtains in Chapora

Chapora's houses are old village houses with small wooden windows, and a small window is easily smothered. Skip the heavy lined drapes: the river on one side and the sea round the headland keep rooms humid, and a thick curtain in such a room smells stale before the monsoon is over. A single layer of light polyester or polyester-cotton that dries on the line in an afternoon is right, hung from a short rod above the frame so the wooden shutters open freely, and standing off the wall a little to let air behind it. Where rooms are let to long-stay visitors, add a detachable blackout lining that can be unhooked and washed separately.

• Rooms let to long-stay visitors: washable mid-tone curtains with a blackout lining that unhooks, on a simple rod.
• Small wooden windows in the lanes: short unlined curtains hung above the frame, light enough to dry within a day.
• Houses near the jetty: aluminium or stainless rods and rings, because the salt in the air rusts plain steel ones.