Custom Curtains in Orlim, Goa: Local Experts

The long verandas and many windows of an Orlim family house mean a lot of curtain, and the choice is better made for the whole house than room by room. Tall wooden windows take full-length curtains on rods fixed over the frame, so the shutters keep working. Varca stands between the village and the sea, so salt hardly reaches here and cotton prints and linen hang well. What does reach it is damp from the flooded paddy fields in the monsoon: heavy interlined curtains can smell by the end of the rains, so keep linings separate and removable. The newer bungalows, with wider glass, suit sheers with a blackout behind on a ceiling track.

• Old houses around the church: cotton or linen curtains on wooden or brass-finish rods, cut long enough for the high windows.
• Rooms that look onto the paddy fields: light fabrics with a detachable lining, taken down and aired after the wettest months.
• New bungalows of returning families: wave-heading sheers and blackouts on a double ceiling track across the sliding doors.