This morning I decided to buy a piece of dowling for my cafe curtain and from our local B and Q store, which deals with such stuff as paint and wallpaper, plumbing supplies and kitchens, as they also sell lengths of wooden poles, called dowling. It may be used for all different applications and it is a traditional item for the hanging of lace curtains.
An older type of curtain support was the thin plastic casing, enclosing a tightly coiled spring which could stretch to fit a chosen width, and had an eye hook at each end, which connected with a nail or something similar at either side of the window frame. You threaded the plastic casing through the material gully casing at the top of the curtain, and then hooked the end eye hole onto your fixed and waiting wall hook. And, hey presto, your new nets were up and in place, ready to keep the world from looking into your home.
A simple, basic net curtain is not a thing of great beauty, but yet it confers privacy and respectability onto any home, and a barrier between your home life and the world beyond your front door.
And it's such a thing in many households where it's often forgotten and allowed to be overlooked, it being such a thing of seemingly small importance, and a dulled and shabby looking net curtain soon takes on an altogether different character. It lowers the tone of any home building or life style and quickly becomes the butt of scorn and derision.
Yet as it's such a simple and easy matter to keep these curtains sparkling white and spring fresh, it's odd how some folk completely forget to launder their nets more frequently. Perhaps for many household, the simple net curtain no longer features in their battery of household additions. We now have blinds, both roller and Venetian, and fine muslin drapes for window dressing. You can fill a small to medium sized window with pretty display shelves on which to stand pots of spring bulbs, small plants or summer herbs in season. White painted wooden shutters may be used to keep the world at bay and if you live in a remote area or at the top of a tall building, you may choose to dispense with window dressing completely. Still, the net curtain is in a league of its own for dressing your window, keeping your home life secure and holding the world at large, at arms length.
And of course, there are many different types of net curtaining available today, and the simple net of yesterday need no longer hang its head in shame, for its unsophisticated beginnings. Its history is long and worthy and its place in the home guaranteed to be visible and useful for many a household, for many years to come.
Twitching at your nets or peeking around your curtain's edge, has long produced laughter at the expense of the householder, vainly trying to see what's going on outside their home, without their presence being noticed by the world at large I've often heard tell that folk only poke fun at people or things they secretly like or value, so therefore it seems to me, we still value and like the old-fashioned net curtain, albeit that it now comes in a variety of designs and styles; and smart enough to dress the most fashionable window space.
Long live the net curtain I say, but please ensure it's spotless and fresh and sparkling white, for any state less than this, simply will not do, for the noble and historic net of yesteryear and even today.
Daisy
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