Custom Made Curtains Singapore: Everything You Need to Know Before You Buy
TL;DR
softhome offers custom-made curtains tailored to your exact window dimensions and interior needs — not off-the-shelf guesswork.
Three core curtain types: night curtains (blackout or dim-out), day curtains (sheer/light-filtering), and Somfy motorised curtains — each serving a distinct function.
Blackout curtains can block up to 99–100% of light through the fabric — best used with day curtains for flexible, layered light control throughout the day.
Dim-out curtains offer 70–95% light dimming — ideal for those who still want natural light without sacrificing privacy.
Day curtains are lightweight and semi-translucent, best used paired with night curtains to give you full flexibility from morning to midnight.
Somfy motorised tracks are designed for silence, soft start and stop, and can handle curtains weighing up to 60kg — ideal for loft units, high ceilings, or smart home setups.
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Singapore homes — HDB flats, condominiums, landed properties — all have their own window proportions, ceiling heights, and light challenges. Floor-to-ceiling windows in a modern condo don't need the same treatment as a narrow bedroom window in a 4-room HDB. A west-facing living room needs different fabric performance than a shaded study. And the aesthetic of a Japandi-inspired bedroom calls for something entirely different from a classic, layered living room look.
Custom made curtains solve all of this. They are measured and made for your specific windows, in the fabric type that matches your light and privacy needs, in the style that suits your interior — not whatever the factory decided was a standard size this season.
softhome's approach to curtains is exactly this: custom-made, expertly consulted, and built around the specific realities of your space. This guide walks through the full curtain range — what each type does, who it's for, how to layer them, and how to know which combination is right for your home.
Two Types of Custom Made Curtains at softhome — and What Each One Does
softhome organises its curtain offering into three clear categories, each designed for a specific function and lifestyle need.
Night Curtains — Privacy, Darkness, and Temperature Control
Night curtains — also known as drapes — are the workhorses of the curtain world. They are heavier, more opaque fabrics designed primarily to block light, create privacy, and contribute to keeping a room cool. At softhome, they come in two fabric types: blackout and dim-out.
Blackout curtains
These are the choice when maximum darkness and maximum privacy are the priority. The fabric itself blocks up to 99–100% of light — no light passes through the material. It's worth noting that some light may still enter via the sides or top of the curtain where the fabric doesn't fully seal against the wall or ceiling — this is a characteristic of how curtains hang rather than the fabric itself. For rooms where this matters — a home theatre, a bedroom for someone who works night shifts, or a child's room where nap-time blackout is essential — the gap can be addressed through installation details at consultation.
Blackout curtains at softhome come in two distinct fabric constructions:
The first type features a smooth backing that repels water and reflects a significant portion of incoming light. These are not washable at home and require dry cleaning, but they come in a wide range of aesthetically pleasing colours and textures — making them more versatile from a design perspective.
The second type is a newer category: washable blackout curtains. These are relatively stiffer and thicker than the first type, and are designed for households that need to launder their curtains more frequently — families with young children, pet owners, or anyone who simply prefers the practicality of machine washing their curtains at home.
Both blackout types are ideal for bedrooms, home theatres, entertainment rooms, and meeting or conference rooms.
Dim-out curtains
These offer a middle path. They dim light meaningfully — anywhere from 70% to 95% depending on the specific fabric and colour chosen — without blocking it completely. Darker dim-out fabrics sit toward the higher end of that dimming range; lighter fabrics allow more light through. Dim-out curtains block the harshest, most uncomfortable portion of the sun's glare while still allowing a softer quality of daylight to enter the room. They offer good privacy without the full cave effect of blackout fabric.
Material-wise, dim-out fabrics are typically polyester, or a blend incorporating cotton, linen, viscose, or other fibres — this gives a broader range of textures and drape characteristics compared to blackout fabrics. Most dim-out fabrics are dry-clean or domestic machine washable.
Dim-out curtains suit people who want some natural light in their space without compromising privacy — living rooms during the day, home offices where ambient light is welcome, or bedrooms for those who prefer to wake up with gentle morning light rather than total darkness.
Day Curtains — Soft Light, Warmth, and Everyday Elegance
Also known as sheer curtains, day curtains are the lighter, more translucent layer of a layered curtain setup. They are lightweight, semi-translucent, and bring out their best effect during daylight hours — filtering and softening natural light rather than blocking it.
The effect a good day curtain creates in a room is genuinely difficult to replicate with other window treatments. The soft, diffused quality of light that passes through a sheer fabric adds warmth and a sense of comfort to any space — softening hard concrete walls, glass surfaces, and the angular geometry typical of Singapore apartment interiors.
Day curtains are best used together with night curtains — a layered approach where the sheer layer handles daytime light and ambience, while the night curtain layer is drawn for privacy or darkness in the evening. This combination gives you the maximum flexibility across all times of day: sheer curtains during bright daylight hours, night curtains alone in the evening for privacy, and both layers together for full blackout when needed.
Day curtains are also compatible with roman blinds, giving you design flexibility in how you layer and combine window treatments across different rooms.
Special Add-on: Somfy Motorised Curtains — Smart, Silent, and Effortless
For homeowners who want the convenience of automated curtain control, softhome offers Somfy motorised curtain tracks — a system that changes the relationship between you and your curtains entirely.
The Somfy Glydea ULTRA track system is built around three defining properties:
Ultra Quiet — Technological innovation in the motor design generates minimal noise and absorbs vibration throughout the system, achieving an acoustic level of -38dB. This is genuinely quiet — suitable for bedrooms where silence matters, and for shared spaces where curtain operation mid-conversation or mid-film shouldn't be noticeable.
Ultra Powerful — The Glydea ULTRA offers light, fluid movement with a traversing capacity of up to 60kg. This means even heavy, full-length blackout or layered curtains on a wide track can be motorised without strain or slowdown — the system handles the weight that would make manual operation cumbersome.
Ultra Adaptable — Somfy motorised curtain tracks integrate with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa via the Somfy TaHoma hub, and can be controlled via dedicated app on iOS and Android. Manual override is also possible in case of power failure, so you're never locked out of your curtains.
Beyond smart home integration, motorised curtains are particularly practical for spaces where manual operation is genuinely inconvenient: loft units with high-ceiling windows, wide living room windows spanning several metres, rooms where the curtain track is mounted high above comfortable reach, or simply households where the ease of a button press or voice command is a quality-of-life improvement worth having.
Explore more about custom made curtains by softhome.
Why Layering Day and Night Curtains Is the Best Setup for Singapore Homes
The single most impactful curtain decision you can make for a Singapore home is choosing to layer day and night curtains rather than using either type alone.
Here's why it matters in our specific context. Singapore's light environment is intense and variable. During the day, you often want to be in a naturally lit room without being blasted by direct sun or glare. In the evening, you want privacy from neighbours and street-level visibility. At night, you want darkness for sleep. No single curtain fabric type handles all three of these requirements optimally on its own.
Day curtains alone give you beautiful soft light during the day but no meaningful privacy or darkness when you need it.
Night curtains alone give you excellent privacy and darkness but turn your space into a dim, sealed room even on a bright morning when you'd prefer natural light.
Together, they give you everything. Day curtains drawn during morning and afternoon hours create a soft, comfortable, naturally lit environment. As evening arrives, drawing the night curtains behind them adds privacy without losing the sense of a dressed, considered window. When you need darkness — for sleep, for a movie, for a nap — both layers give you maximum light blocking.
This layered approach is what softhome recommends, and it's the setup that most satisfied Singapore homeowners end up with when they've thought through their actual day-to-day needs rather than just their initial budget.
Check out our complete guide here.
The Case for Custom Made Curtains — Why Measurements Matter More Than You Think
It's easy to underestimate how much fit matters in curtains. A curtain that's 10cm too short looks accidental rather than designed. Fabric that barely covers the window width pulls tight and doesn't drape properly. A track mounted at the wrong height makes ceilings look lower rather than taller.
Custom made curtains address all of these through proper measurement before manufacture. At softhome, this happens through a consultation that includes:
Accurate measurement of your windows — not just the glass opening, but the full space available including ceiling height, wall clearance, and any architectural features (air conditioning units, built-in shelving, skirting boards) that affect how the curtain hangs and operates.
Fabric selection matched to room function — not just what looks good on a sample card, but what performs correctly for the direction your windows face, the light intensity you experience, and the privacy level you need at different times of day.
Style and heading decisions — how the curtain gathers and hangs at the top affects the entire look of the window dressing. Custom production means these decisions are built into the fabric and track from the start, not an afterthought.
Track and motorisation planning — for motorised setups in particular, the track configuration, motor placement, and integration with existing smart home systems all need to be worked out before installation rather than retrofitted later.
The measure and quote process that softhome provides is exactly this consultation — the starting point for getting curtains that work properly rather than curtains that almost work.
Ready to explore your options?Book a measure and quote appointment with softhome and get an expert consultation for your specific windows and rooms.
Special Performance Fabrics: Acoustic Curtains
Beyond the core day, night, and motorised categories, softhome also carries a performance fabric category focused on acoustics — available through their Snowsound range.
For homeowners dealing with noise — traffic, neighbours, the ambient sound of dense urban Singapore living — acoustic curtains represent a meaningful upgrade over standard decorative fabrics. This is a specialist category worth asking about at consultation if sound management is a priority in your renovation.
How to Choose the Right Curtains for Your Room
The right curtain for any given room depends on several variables working together. Here's a practical way to think through the decision:
Start with what the room needs most. A bedroom prioritises darkness and privacy for sleep — blackout night curtains are the foundation. A living room usually prioritises ambience and flexible light — the day-night layering approach suits it best. A home office needs enough light to work comfortably without glare — dim-out or day curtains typically work well. A home theatre needs maximum darkness — blackout is essential.
Consider your window direction. East-facing windows get intense morning sun; west-facing windows get brutal afternoon sun. For these orientations, fabric with strong light-blocking properties matters more than for north or south-facing windows, which receive more stable, lower-intensity light.
Think about cleaning practicality honestly. If you have young children or pets, washable blackout fabric — or dim-out fabrics with machine-washable properties — will serve you better in the long run than dry-clean-only options, even if the aesthetic range is slightly narrower.
Decide whether motorisation makes sense for your lifestyle. For most Singapore apartments with a standard window layout, manual curtains are perfectly practical. For high-ceiling units, wide living room windows spanning 3 metres or more, or genuinely smart-home households, motorised Somfy tracks are worth the investment for the daily quality-of-life improvement they bring.
Plan for layering from the start. If you intend to use day and night curtains together, the track system needs to accommodate both layers from the beginning. Retrofitting a double track onto a wall that was set up for single-layer curtains is more disruptive than planning for it upfront.
Not sure where to start? softhome's expert team can guide you through every decision — from fabric choice to track type to motorisation —book your consultation here.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are custom made curtains and why are they better than ready-made?
Custom made curtains are measured and manufactured to your specific window dimensions, fabric preferences, and functional requirements. Unlike ready-made curtains — which come in standard sizes that rarely match Singapore windows precisely — custom curtains fit properly, hang correctly, and perform as intended. At softhome, every curtain order is custom-made.
What is the difference between day curtains and night curtains?
Day curtains (also called sheer curtains) are lightweight and semi-translucent — they soften natural light and add warmth to a space without blocking it. Night curtains (also called drapes) are heavier and more opaque — available in blackout (99–100% light blocking through the fabric) or dim-out (70–95% dimming) variants. The two types are designed to be used together for maximum light control flexibility.
How much light do blackout curtains actually block?
Blackout curtain fabric at softhome blocks up to 99–100% of light passing through the fabric itself. Some ambient light may still enter from the sides or top where the fabric doesn't seal completely against the wall — this is a function of how curtains are hung rather than the fabric's performance. For complete room darkness, discuss installation detail options at consultation.
What is a dim-out curtain and who is it for?
A dim-out curtain provides 70–95% light dimming — meaningfully reducing glare and harsh sunlight without blocking all natural light. It's suited to people who want privacy without total darkness, and who still want some quality of daylight in their space. The exact dimming level depends on the specific fabric and colour chosen; darker fabrics dim more effectively.
Are blackout curtains washable?
softhome carries two types of blackout curtains. The first — with smooth backing for water repellency and wide aesthetic range — requires dry cleaning. The second is a newer washable blackout fabric, which is thicker and stiffer, designed for households that prefer or require domestic machine washing. The right choice depends on your cleaning priorities and aesthetic preferences.
What are Somfy motorised curtain tracks and are they worth it?
Somfy motorised curtain tracks replace manual curtain operation with a button, app, or voice command. The Somfy Glydea ULTRA system operates at -38dB (virtually silent), can handle curtains up to 60kg, and integrates with Google Assistant and Alexa. They are particularly valuable for high-ceiling spaces, wide windows, loft units, and smart home setups — and include manual override for power failure situations.
Should I use day and night curtains together?
Yes — this is softhome's recommended approach for most Singapore homes, particularly living rooms and bedrooms. Day curtains handle daytime light and ambience; night curtains provide evening privacy and bedroom darkness. Used together, they give you the full range of light conditions a Singapore home needs across a typical day without any compromise.
How do I maintain curtains in Singapore's humid climate?
Regular cleaning is recommended given Singapore's humid environment. The appropriate cleaning method depends on the fabric: washable blackout and most dim-out fabrics can be machine washed at home; smooth-backed blackout fabrics and more delicate sheers typically require dry cleaning or professional cleaning services. softhome's team can advise on the right care approach for your specific fabric choice at consultation.
