Curtains, blinds and window treatments in a Dubai renovation: what they cost

Why window treatments stop being a decorating line in a Dubai villa

Behind glass in this city, things happen that do not happen in Europe. From May to September a west-facing window turns the room behind it into a heat source, and the split or fan coil serving that room runs longer to compensate. Tower glazing in Marina, JLT and Business Bay sits close enough to the next block that a bedroom without a treatment is a bedroom with an audience. Direct UAE sun bleaches upholstery, rugs and timber within a single season on the wrong elevation, and that is the one owners discover late.

So the fabric at the window is doing structural work in the comfort of the room. It is also the last line anyone budgets and the first one squeezed when the joinery quote comes in high.

We quote curtains and blinds as part of a fit-out rather than as a shop purchase, and that changes what we care about. A curtain shop cares about the fabric. We care about whether the ceiling has a pocket for the track, whether there is power at the head of that pocket, and whether anybody measured the opening before or after the plasterer finished. Get those three wrong and the fabric choice stops mattering.

Glass specification itself is a separate subject we treat on its own. Everything below assumes the windows you have are the windows you are keeping.

The families of window treatment and what each one is honestly good for

The formats below cover almost all residential work here, and they behave differently under Dubai conditions.

• Roller blinds. The workhorse. A sunscreen fabric with a 3 to 5 percent openness factor cuts glare and keeps the view; a blackout fabric on the same mechanism kills the room. Wipes clean, which matters in a city with this much airborne dust. Weak point: light leaks down both sides of the fabric unless you specify side channels.
• Roman blinds. Softer look, folds into a stack, works well on kitchen and study windows where a full curtain would be in the way. Holds dust in the folds and needs taking down to clean.
• Venetian blinds. Aluminium slats handle humidity and clean easily. Timber slats look better and warp in a bathroom or anywhere with an open balcony door in August. Slats collect dust faster than any other format on this list, which is a real maintenance cost in a villa with 25 windows.
• Vertical blinds. Cheap per square metre and the honest answer for very wide sliding doors and offices. Nobody puts them in a Palm villa bedroom.
• Sheer plus blackout on a double track. The default in Dubai residential and the one we specify most. Sheer for the day, blackout for the night and the summer afternoon. It needs twice the pelmet depth, which is exactly where the coordination problem starts.

Motorisation sits on top of all five rather than beside them. Any of these can take a motor, provided somebody thought about it before the plaster went on.

What curtains and blinds cost per window in Dubai

Treat the numbers below as current market bands rather than our rate card. Fabric prices move, and a villa with 4 metre drops prices differently from a flat with standard openings.

Made-to-measure curtains on a standard apartment window, meaning roughly 1.5 by 2.2 metres, run around AED 300 to 700 in the economy tier with a local polyester, AED 700 to 1,500 in the mid tier with a decent lining, and AED 2,000 to 4,000 once you specify imported fabric. Blackout curtains in Dubai typically start near AED 600 to 700 per window with the lining included. Fabric alone sits at AED 65 to 150 per metre at the bottom, AED 150 to 400 in the middle, and past AED 1,000 per metre for European mills, with the making charge and the lining charged separately unless the quote says otherwise.

Blinds price by area rather than by window. Roller blinds in Dubai run about AED 95 per square metre for a basic sunscreen, AED 140 to 200 for blackout fabric, and AED 220 to 280 for a motorised roller with a branded motor. Venetian blinds start near AED 95 per square metre in PVC, AED 120 to 180 in aluminium and AED 200 to 260 in timber. On a 3.3 square metre window that is roughly AED 350 to 900 installed.

Motors and tracks are their own line. Budget AED 800 to 2,000 per opening for a motorised track supplied, installed and paired, and up to AED 3,000 on a long villa run with a premium motor. Standalone installation, when a supplier prices it separately, sits at AED 150 to 350 per window. Most shops fold it into the price and call it free, which it is not.

Rolled up, an owner should expect the following on a whole property:

• 2BR apartment, 6 to 8 openings, made-to-measure sheer and blackout, no motors: AED 15,000 to 35,000.
• The same flat with motors on every opening: AED 40,000 to 70,000.
• Villa with 20 to 30 openings, made-to-measure, manual: AED 45,000 to 120,000.
• Villa with 8 to 20 motors on top of that: add roughly AED 15,000 to 60,000 for the motorised track layer alone, before fabric.

As a share of the finishing budget, window treatments land around 2 to 5 percent on a normal fit-out and 5 to 8 percent once motorisation and imported fabric are in the brief. In our own turnkey band of AED 8,500 to 16,000 per square metre, curtains sit inside the number along with furniture and decor. On a capital renovation priced from AED 3,000 per square metre, they usually do not, and that is where owners get caught.

Blackout, solar fabric and what the Dubai sun does to the wrong choice

Blackout and solar control get confused constantly, and they are different jobs. Blackout is about darkness. Solar control is about heat and glare, and a 3 to 5 percent openness screen does more for an afternoon in July than a blackout curtain that you keep open because you still want to see out.

The honest position on savings: a good solar screen or a thermally lined blackout curtain reduces the heat entering a room through the glass, and you will feel it within an hour of installation on a west elevation. Manufacturers translate that into percentage savings on the cooling bill. We do not, because the number depends on your glass, your orientation, your set point and whether the AC runs while you are at work. What we can say from handovers is that the curtain layer never pays for itself on the DEWA bill alone. It pays on comfort, on privacy, and on the sofa that still looks new in year three.

For fabric, the failure mode is predictable. Cheap printed polyester on a south or west window loses its colour in one summer and the seams go brittle in two. Solution-dyed and UV-stable fabrics hold. Triple-weave blackout with a bonded coating is the common blackout construction here; separate interlining gives a better hang and better acoustics but costs more to make and adds weight the track has to carry.

One local detail that catches people. Several Emaar and Nakheel communities and most towers specify what the facade sees, so the lining facing the glass has to be white or a neutral. Confirm it with the community management before the fabric order rather than after, because a rejected lining means remaking every curtain on that elevation.

Motorisation and when the motor earns its money

Motors earn their place on a window you physically cannot reach, on a run of glass longer than about 4 metres where hand-drawing a heavy curtain ruins the fabric, or in a house already running an automation system, where the blinds belong in the same scenes as the lighting. A motor on a 1.2 metre bedroom window in a 2BR flat is a nice toy and nothing more.

Somfy is the reference in this market and the one most Dubai integrators carry, with Lutron above it and Dooya, Nice and Novo underneath at roughly half the price. The gap shows up in noise, in how the motor handles a 5 metre run, and in whether spare parts exist in the country in year six. We specify Somfy on villa work for that last reason.

Can you motorise an existing track? Sometimes. A quality aluminium track from a known system often takes a retrofit motor head; a generic track usually does not, and replacing the track is cheaper than fighting it. The bigger constraint is power. If there is no spur at the pelmet, your options are a battery motor recharged every six to twelve months, a visible cable, or chasing a finished wall. The last one means the chase, the patch and repainting the wall, because paint never matches. That is the conversation we have with owners who decided on blinds in October after moving in during August.

Where window treatments sit in the renovation programme

This is the part no curtain shop will explain, because it happens months before they are involved.

1. 1. Design stage. The curtain pocket goes on the reflected ceiling plan with the gypsum, not on a sketch later. A single track needs a pocket about 12 to 15 cm deep; a double track for sheer plus blackout needs 20 to 25 cm; a motorised double track wants the top of that range plus clearance for the motor head. The pelmet drop is typically 12 to 15 cm to close the light gap above the fabric. It also has to be coordinated with the first row of downlights, because a track and a downlight competing for the same 20 cm is one of the most common clashes we find on other people's drawings. The way we lock scope and sequence before anyone cuts anything is set out in our approach to interior design.
2. 2. First fix electrics. A fused spur or driver position at each curtain head, concealed in the pelmet or bulkhead, with an isolator you can actually reach, plus a neutral at the switch position and bus or Cat6 cable if the blinds join a KNX or Control4 system. Cable while the wall is open is a rounding error. Cable afterwards is a project.
3. 3. Gypsum and plaster. The pocket gets built. Nothing about the fabric happens yet.
4. 4. Paint and flooring. Both finished.
5. 5. Measurement. Only now. A plastered and painted reveal differs from blockwork by 20 to 40 mm, ceiling level varies across a 5 metre run, and the floor finish sets the drop. Measuring earlier produces curtains that are short, and short is not adjustable.
6. 6. Fabrication. Two to four weeks with a local workshop, most of which sit in Al Quoz. Six to ten weeks if the fabric is coming from Europe, and that clock starts when the fabric lands, not when you order it.
7. 7. Installation. The last week before handover, after the site is clean, so nobody hangs AED 3,000 of fabric in a room that still has sanding dust in it.

How long the work takes and where it drags a handover

Measuring a villa takes half a day. Installation runs about half a day to a full day for a 2BR apartment, and two to four days for a villa with 20 to 30 openings. Add a day for motorised commissioning, pairing remotes and setting limits, and add another if the system integrates with an automation controller.

The schedule risk sits in the lead time in front of the install, not in the install itself. A four week fabrication window that starts two weeks late because the painter was still working when the measurer arrived pushes handover by two weeks in a house that is otherwise finished. A villa can sit finished with bare windows for two to three weeks for exactly that reason, and it is worse when the bedrooms still waiting are the ones facing east.

The fix is boring and it works. Select and approve fabric during the build, not after it. Pay the deposit so the workshop holds the roll. Book the measurement the day the last coat of paint dries. Completed apartments and villas where we ran that sequence are in our Dubai projects.

The mistakes that send owners back for a second order

• Measuring on a bare block wall or a screeded floor, then discovering the finished opening is 30 mm tighter and the drop 20 mm longer.
• No curtain pocket in the ceiling design, so a surface track and a visible bracket end up on an otherwise flush gypsum ceiling.
• No power at the pelmet, discovered after the painter left.
• Choosing fabric from a swatch under showroom lighting instead of against the actual wall colour in the actual room, at 3pm.
• Buying cheap polyester for a west elevation and replacing it in year two, which costs more than buying the right fabric once.
• Leaving curtains to the final week of the programme, which is the single most reliable way to delay your own handover.
• Ordering blackout for every room, including the ones where a solar screen would have been better and cheaper.

Scope, price and programme all sit in the contract before anyone starts, including which of these lines is ours and which is yours. If you want that written down for a specific property, talk to us with the floor plan and the orientation.

FAQ

When should curtains be measured, before or after the finishes?

After. The measurer comes once plaster, paint and flooring are complete, because the finished reveal can differ from the rough opening by 20 to 40 mm and the floor finish determines the drop. Measuring against a block wall or a bare screed produces curtains that are short, and a short curtain cannot be corrected.

How much does it cost to motorise a villa in Dubai and is it worth it?

Reported market bands put a full villa motorisation at roughly AED 15,000 to 60,000 for 8 to 20 motors with tracks, fabric excluded, and higher with premium motors on long runs. It earns its cost on unreachable windows, on glass runs over about 4 metres, and in a house already running automation. On small bedroom windows it rarely does.

Which window treatment handles Dubai heat and dust best?

For heat and glare, a solar screen roller with a 3 to 5 percent openness factor on the sun-facing elevations, with a blackout layer where you need darkness. For dust, roller blinds win because you wipe them down in place. Venetian slats and pleated sheers collect the most and need the most attention.

Can I add a motor to an existing curtain track?

Sometimes. Branded aluminium tracks often accept a retrofit motor head, while generic tracks usually do not and are cheaper to replace than to adapt. The real obstacle is power at the pelmet. Without it you are choosing between a battery motor recharged every six to twelve months, a visible cable, or chasing a finished wall.

What percentage of a renovation budget should go to window treatments?

Allow 2 to 5 percent of the finishing budget for made-to-measure curtains and blinds, rising to 5 to 8 percent with motorisation and imported fabric. In a turnkey package at AED 8,500 to 16,000 per square metre they are already inside the price. On a capital renovation from AED 3,000 per square metre they usually sit outside it, so check the exclusions list.

Do I need a curtain pocket, and what does it add to the cost?

You need one if you want the track hidden, which is the standard on any premium ceiling. Depth is 12 to 15 cm for a single track and 20 to 25 cm for a double or motorised track. Built as part of the gypsum package during the works it is a minor addition per linear metre. Added afterwards it means new ceiling work, new paint and a room out of use.

How long does made-to-measure curtain fabrication take?

Two to four weeks with a local Dubai workshop for standard fabrics and standard drops. Six to ten weeks when the fabric is imported, counted from the day the roll arrives rather than the day you order. Book the measurement the week the painting finishes so that clock runs inside your programme instead of after it.