Restored Farmhouse

Curtains are the last thing to go in and the first thing to be forgotten in the programme. Measuring before floors are laid, before skirtings are fitted, or before final plaster gives dimensions that will be wrong.

We measure after the floor finish is down and before furniture arrives. That single sequencing decision prevents most of the problems in renovation work, because floor level is what a floor-length curtain is cut to and a twelve-millimetre tile plus adhesive changes it.

It is also worth thinking about tracks during first fix. A recessed ceiling track needs a pocket forming before the ceiling is closed, and retrofitting one afterwards means opening it back up.

We survey a restored farmhouse as two buildings and then as one. In the original structure we check the walls by hand for hollow plaster and friable laterite, note which openings kept their timber frames and shutters, and look for damp at the base of walls and under sills. In the extension we check what the walls and ceilings are made of, where beams and services run, and how the glazing is framed.

Then we walk the junctions. The places where old and new meet — a new doorway cut through a laterite wall, a glazed link, a room where one wall is original and the opposite is new blockwork — are where the specification has to reconcile two sets of rules. They are also where movement cracks and damp tend to appear first, which affects where anything can be fixed.

Finally we list every opening on one schedule, old and new together, with its size, construction, orientation and use. That single list is what lets us choose a palette that works across the whole house instead of solving each room in isolation. The schedule also shows at a glance where the old openings cluster and where the new glazing dominates, which usually decides where the heavier fabric weight should sit and where the lightest can go.

The same pole or track finish can run throughout the house, but the fixings behind it cannot. In the original walls, laterite and lime plaster need longer fixings into sound material, more brackets than the span requires and, where the wall is weak, fixing into the timber frame instead. In the extension, concrete and dense block take conventional fixings well, but false ceilings and lightweight partitions may need battens.

It is worth telling the contractor early where heavy curtains will hang. A timber pad set into a new wall, or a batten built into a ceiling before it is closed, turns a difficult fixing into a simple one. In the original structure, the same conversation may mean agreeing where a lintel or frame can take a load before the plaster goes on.

Keep a record of what went where. Future repairs are far easier when the owner knows which walls are original laterite and which are new block, and which brackets are fixed into timber. A simple marked-up plan kept with the house documents is enough. When a curtain needs re-hanging years later, or a new owner wants to change the scheme, that plan saves a fitter from guessing and drilling into the one wall that cannot take it. It is also useful to any builder working on the house in future.

Old and new parts of a farmhouse rarely feel the same. Thick laterite walls with small openings stay cool through the day, while a glazed extension facing south or west can heat up quickly in the afternoons of April and May. The same curtain cannot do the right job in both, even if it looks the same. Treating them differently is not inconsistency; it is honesty about the building.

The answer is one colour family in two or three weights. In the original rooms, an unlined or lightly lined linen or cotton lets the house breathe and dries quickly after the monsoon. In the extension, a heavier lined curtain or a solar-control roller behind a dress curtain handles heat and glare. From a doorway, the rooms read as one scheme; up close, each does its own work.

Damp is the other difference. Original walls often carry moisture through the monsoon, particularly where lime plaster has been used, while the extension's walls may be drier. Anything hung on an original external wall should sit further off it and avoid coated linings that trap moisture. Deeper brackets, hems clear of the floor and curtains drawn fully back through the day let those walls dry between wettings, which protects both the fabric and the newly restored plaster behind it.

Most restoration work in Goa is timed for the dry months, but it often runs over into the rains. That matters for window treatments, because new lime plaster and repaired laterite hold a great deal of water and dry slowly. Curtains hung against walls that are still drying will mark, and fixings set into wet masonry can loosen as it dries.

Where possible, we measure after the floors are laid and install once the walls have been through a dry spell. If the house must be occupied during the monsoon, a temporary solution for privacy and light, with the final curtains following in October or November, avoids damage to both the fabric and the new plaster. The small delay is almost always worth it.

Many restored farmhouses are also let to guests for part of the year. If that is the plan, decide it before specifying: rooms that will be let need blackout, simple operation and possibly flame-retardant fabric, and a property let to tourists must be registered with the Department of Tourism before it operates. Building those needs into the first specification is far easier than retrofitting.