Buying Curtains Online vs In-Showroom — The Honest Comparison

If you're buying made-to-measure curtains in Australia you have two paths: order online from a manufacturer, or book an in-home consultation with a showroom-led service. Both can deliver excellent curtains. They cost differently, run on different timelines and suit different people. This is the honest comparison — what each path gives you, what drives the price, and how to decide.

Sheers in the living room at Oak & Orange's Dream Home 10. Ordered online, measured from a guide, made to size in Australia.

What you actually get in each model

Where the price difference comes from

Like-for-like — the same fabric, the same S-fold heading, the same track — online is usually cheaper, and the reason is structural rather than clever. A showroom-led business carries showroom rent, in-home consultation time, a sales margin on that time, and a bundled install. An online manufacturer carries none of those, and the saving lands with you.

We don't publish a percentage, because the gap depends on which showroom you're comparing and what they bundle. The straightforward way to see it is to get one showroom quote for a window, then price the same curtain in our curtain configurator. It takes five minutes and the comparison usually settles itself.

What doesn't change between the two models is the curtain. Made-to-measure fabric on a made-to-measure track is the same product whoever measured for it.

When online is the right call

The online path starts here — samples ordered from the kitchen table. Harries and Emily did exactly this for their Bondi place.

When a showroom is the right call

The grey area: hybrid approaches

Plenty of people don't fit cleanly into either box, and there's no rule that says you have to.

Sheers in a HAAUS bedroom. Ceiling track, floor length, S-fold heading — the spec is identical whichever way you buy it.

Why we chose the online path

We went online-first because we wanted to take the showroom cost out of the price without taking anything out of the curtain. Our curtains are made to measure in Australia, with the same fabrics, tracks and headings a showroom would sell you, and the saving goes to you instead of to rent and consultation time.

We're honest about what that asks of you: measure yourself (with our guides, and the optional Perfect Fit Guarantee if you want it), choose fabric from samples rather than a consultant's recommendation, and hang the track yourself or arrange someone to do it. For people who want the bundled experience, we're not the right model. For people comfortable with those steps, it's the same curtain at a better price, with a five-year warranty. Whoever you buy from, these are the questions worth asking first.

Common questions