Corded curtain rails - a question

[Addiscomber]

I am disabled and spend most of my day sitting in an armchair fairly close to our south facing bay window. When the sun is lower in the sky during autumn/winter and spring, we have to play silly games pulling each curtain separately to avoid glare on the TV and my computer screen during the morning, followed by the other curtain later in the day to avoid the sun shining right into my eyes. There is no way of re-arranging the room.

This hasn't been a problem until the last week or so when we bought a huge cat tree (hint: measure the space before buying. We have high ceilings and were so focused on getting one the right height that we didn't give any consideration to the width etc). Cookie loves the tree but it is now quite difficult for DH to get to a point where he can reach the curtains.

If we bought a corded curtain rail is there any way to adjust/replace the cording so that I could control the curtains individually from my chair? Or is there a way of doing something with the existing rail and hooks? The rail was already up when we bought the house in 1992 so we don't know what make it is.

[Helen M]

Sadly I don't think there is. I have on on my landing window as it's a bit dangerous to hang over to grab one of the curtains without fear of landing at the bottom of the stairs! We have an electric one in our living room and main bedroom, mainly for security reasons. You can't just have one curtain closing though, although you can get a remote control to operate them.

[sewingj]

I only realised this week that the safety regulations for blind cords also apply to corded rails - which means that the ends of cords are now higher than they used to be - which could possibly be a problem for you?
Could you put a couple of roller blinds up as well as the curtains? They could be operated electronically if that was easier

[BrendaP]

The safety regulations apply to any window treatment which has a loop of cord which could potentially be a choking/hanging hazzard to small children.

I don't think it applies when there are two free ends hanging down, which is what we have on the big lounge curtains.  Pull one string and the curtains open, pull the other and they close.  The system is 40+ years old, originally designed so that it looks like rings going over a pole, but they are not full rings and the actual curtains hang from sliders in a slot at the bottom of the pole.  The brass plating became very discoloured after a few years but the mechanism is still good so it's all covered with pelmets.

You can get motorised curtain rails which operate from either a wall switch or a remote control - but they are not cheap.

[Helen M]

You can get motorised curtain rails which operate from either a wall switch or a remote control - but they are not cheap.

Tell me about it! We had to replace one of our 2 this year, they have shot up in price but as you can set the timer. I feel it's a good security aspect, if we are away (we used to be away a lot).

[Addiscomber]

I've been trawling around and found this one which, if I'm reading it correctly, has a separate track for each curtain on the over 3m length tracks?  I wouldn't be able to control both curtains from my chair, but DH wouldn't have to do a limbo dance to do the opposite one.

I just know that when we measure we will need a shorter one    No chance of measuring at the moment as the family are watching Crystal Palace FC on TV.  I shall be looking at other tracks 

https://www.terrysfabrics.co.uk/products/swish-superluxe-corded-track-white

[MistyRose]

Would a pair of vertical blinds be suitable for your type of window.

[Addiscomber]

They certainly wouldn't be suitable from a cat point of view. She isn't quite so bad now, but our current curtains have a great many pin pricks in them where she has stretched up and put her claws in them. I think moving vertical blinds would be too tempting by half.

We have agreed that when it is covid safe to do so, we will get someone in to put up one of the rails that I found earlier, as DH doesn't feel competent to do it himself. I can understand that as there is very little at the top of a semi-circular bay window to fix things to - no wall above as the window butts up to the ceiling coving.