Curtains in Pakenham Upper.

Pakenham Upper homes are mostly older and larger than the estate housing down on the flat, sitting on acreage with long sight lines. Living rooms were designed around the outlook, which means runs of glass three, four or five metres wide, often stepped around a corner. Bedrooms are generous. Many of the houses predate modern glazing, so single glazing and timber frames that have moved with the seasons are common.

Exposure is the difference between here and Pakenham proper. Wind hits these sites from the open paddocks and pushes air through every gap around an aged window frame. On top of that the overnight minimum on the hills regularly sits near freezing in winter, so the glass gets genuinely cold and it stays cold for most of the night. Both effects strip heat out of a room after you have paid to put it there.

Stack planning is the whole game on a window wall.

The single biggest mistake we see on hills homes is a curtain that has nowhere to go. If the track runs only to the edge of the glass, then when the curtain is open the stacked fabric sits across the first half metre of your view, on both sides, all day. On a five metre opening with generous fullness that stack is not small. The fix is simple and it has to be decided at the measure: extend the track onto the wall past each end of the opening so the stack lands off the glass. It costs a little more track and fabric and it changes how you live with the room.

Where a run of glass steps around a corner or forms a shallow bay, the same principles as a bay apply, including bent track and section counts. Our bay window guide covers how those are built and where the joins go.

Sealing matters more than fabric weight.

A cold pane sets up a convection loop: room air warms, rises, crosses the ceiling, chills against the glass, drops to the floor as a draught, and pulls more warm air over to be cooled in turn. Interrupting that loop needs a closed top, closed sides and a floor-length hem. A heavy curtain on an exposed rod with open ends leaves the loop running straight past it. That is why we push pelmets and returns on hills jobs even when the budget is tight. Full mechanism in the thermal curtains guide, and the sealing options in pelmets explained.

Typical Pakenham Upper specification.

• Lined blockout pinch pleat to bedrooms, floor length, $350 to $900 per window
• Thermal or coated lining upgrade where the room is heated hard, $60 to $180
• Interlined curtains to the main living room for warmth and quiet, $600 to $1,400
• Timber or MDF pelmet to seal the top, $200 to $600 per window
• Track extended onto the wall so the stack clears the view, priced by total length

A three or four bedroom hills home with bedroom and living blockouts runs $3,800 to $9,500 supplied and installed, and larger homes with long window walls sit at the top of that band. Lead time is three to five weeks from order, since everything is made to your measurements. The cost guide explains why track length rather than window count drives the number.

The free in-home measure.

We come up with samples, measure every opening including the awkward ones, check what the walls will take as a fixing, work out where the stack should land on each window wall, and note any draught points around older frames. You get a written quote itemised by room so the job can be staged across seasons if you prefer. No charge either way.