Georgian sash windows with the original shutters still working.

Georgian sash windows with the original shutters still working. My favourite windows to dress, and the easiest ones to get wrong.

The shutters fold back into the boxes either side of the glass. If the curtains stack over those boxes, the shutters can never close again. Nobody notices in October. Everybody notices on the first cold night in January.

So the pole goes wider than the shutter boxes, not just the window. The curtains need room to stack clear of the folding leaves.

And line them properly. Those old windows breathe, and thin unlined curtains just flap in the draught.

The house was built to have both. Let it.