Korean Job Discussion Forums

[taobenli]

I could have just called this thread "buying curtains" but figured that wouldn't get many hits (heck, I wouldn't click on it).

But it fits into a broader theme of trying to make one's Korean apartment look nice and feel homey. We have all the major furniture now (got here a few weeks ago), but have no decorations on the walls or curtains. We have these great floor to ceiling windows (sliding doors) out to the verandas that let in tons of light, but would like to make the place cozier by getting curtains on at least three of the windows.

I stopped by E-mart today and ONE curtain is about 150,000 won! Is that how much they cost in other countries? (I admit, my mom made them for me before). They weren't even particularly nice curtains, there were none I really liked. I just can't really justify 400,000 or so for curtains for three rooms. Is there a cheaper place to look for curtains?

How did others do this in Korea?

[mmstyle]

See if a co-teacher or wrangler will help yo. My head teacher helped us by bamboo blinds that roll up and down. We bought 1 big one (not as large as the sliding door) and one small one for a smaller window. I think the small one was 8 or 12 thousand won, and the bigger one was a bit more. For the slider, you may have to go the route of buying two, as I cannot remember if they were that big.

Frankly, I prefer the look of the bamboo blinds to the curtains you can buy here anyway. He looked on enuri.com (or go.kr) for the style I proposed and found the best price for what I wanted. They do have the latch thingy that works with the rope so that they stay up.

Good luck. It can be tought o make you place nice. Count yourself lucky that you got furniture....my husband and I had to buy our own bed as well as most of the other furniture. Not so much as a chopstick when we arrived.

[Ya-ta Boy]

In addition to bamboo, you can go to Costco and pick up blinds. I don't remember how much they cost but not anywhere near the price of curtains.

[taobenli]

Oh, we bought our own furniture, as we found our own housing. I'm not here to teach English, but to do research (my husband is along for the ride, teaching English...but he took the housing allowance rather than school-provided housing).

Really, though, how much do curtains usually cost in the US, for example? 150,000 won just seems so exorbitant.

[dalem]

Go to dongdaemun and get fabric you love, and then make your own curtains! It's really not hard, and with you picking the fabric you're guaranteed to get exactly what you want. Nothing like oodles of choice!

[lsrupert]

150,000 won is outrageous. Do you sew at all? You could buy fabric and make your own. Dongdaemun (in Seoul) has a building where you can buy your choice of fabric. Curtains aren't that difficult to make.

I am unsure if you can get them cheaper. You would think so! Unfortunately, what I did won't really help you. I brought mine from America. I picked up curtains for $10/panel. (Thanks, Walmart!) These aren't flimsy ones either. They are lined to cut down on noise and to help keep the bills lower.

See if you can get anyone to send some over. It might be worth the shipping cost. I did pick up the curtain rods at Emart for 8,000 won each. That wasn't bad.

Good luck!

[AsiaESLbound]

Luckily my one large curtain was provided for the sliding glass door to my front veranda. The other thing to making it home is any pictures and small things you brought from home. The walls are too rock hard so push pins won't work to put up my pictures. Maybe there's some putty you can get to stick things up? It seems using nails would unacceptable here, especially so with paying my school a 900,000 deposit. How would you hang a framed picture?

[ChilgokBlackHole]

That's an absurd price for window dressing. You can have curtains custom made with embroidery for less than half that. Try the fabric section at the market.

[Dazed and Confused]

You don't possibly want to know what I paid for 2 sets of curtians. More than I'll ever admit but they absolutely works of art. THANKS INSADONG!
My suggestion is to ask around at work and see if someone has some in the back of their closet. I've gotten most of my curtains from my in-laws when they move into a new place and replace the curtains already there. Or check G-market. I've also bought some to match the bedsheets rather cheaply.

[BobbyOrr]

House plants can make it feel more like home. I'm starting to see vendors selling home plants for 2000won off the back on their Bongo trucks around Seoul.

[Mr. Pink]

I've bought curtains in both Korea and Canada so lets say 150,000 won isn't that much depending on the SIZE and QUALITY of what you are purchasing. For a large sliding glass window type deal where you might have it about 7-8 feet tall and about 10-15 feet across that is the regular price. What you should do is look at places that have them on sale. I bought our curtains for the large sliding glass wall/door that bordered our living room for about 70,000. They were on sale at like 50% off. The material was quite thick and they blocked out 90% of the light. My wife didn't like that, so we put those curtains in our bedroom which had a similar wall but not all glass. That was heaven: always dark bedroom. I paid about 50,000 won (on sale) for thinner sheer type curtains that are the dimensions above. The price of getting them made might be cheaper, but might not. That is a heck of a lot of fabric IMO.

I bought them at 2001 OUTLET. I would suggest checking something like that. Kim's Club is another cheaper type place. Remember: SALES are the time to buy those things. Find out when they are having them.

About buying in Canada: VERY expensive. For something as big as I said above, a couple hundred $$$ at least. In Canada I went with the cheapest option: Wal-Mart and vertical blinds that I installed myself. They were about $50 or so. For smaller curtains, I bought some pretty nice ones at a discount type outlet (factory outlet) for about $50 each one...so yes, curtains are REALLY expensive.

[dirving]

How's 500k for the same dimensions, a slap-shod job (the T-Hooks fell out of the Aluminium tube EVERY TIME I gently pulled the curtains to the desired position) and Polyester in a township of 25,000 people?

[pkang0202]

I just moved into my bachelor pad. The upstairs neighbors like to walk all night. I don't think they sleep. Outside there is random high pitched whine that occurs 4 or 5 times a day. Sometimes in the middle of the night. I'm guessing someone near me has a broken Boiler and its causing the noise.

And today, the landlady came down and yelled at me because of drilling noise 2 days in a row. Yesterday was my wall mounted TV being installed, today was my veranda ceiling mounted clothes rack.

Despite that, I'm happy with my bachelor pad. The lease is under my name, and I own everything except the AC unit. I made sure all the furniture matched (walnut color). Double bed is a must. Got the Xbox 360, WD HD Live media streaming, router, wireless, computer, everything hooked up.

To make it home, maybe I'll buy a big mirror and put it on the wall next to the bed.

[dalem]

I agree that the best way to make your house a home is to put up art, and to get plants.

As for curtains, i still say go to dongdaemun and get some fabric. Attach some grommets at the top, hem the whole thing, and you're done! Simple as that, you get the fabric you really want, and i'm certain it would be significantly less than 150,000 won.

As for the art, pick things that have meaning for you. When you travel, get something special for yourself. I'm not talking cheezy knicknacks (unless that's what you're into) but something that really signifies the feeling of the trip for you and appeals to your sense of style you have going for the house.

Plant wise, i'd go to the Yangjae flower market. The place is huge! There's so much to choose from. I could make an afternoon of that place, and plan to once it warms up just a tiny bit more.

[tatu]

Gmarket has tons of options. You can get vertical blinds for 50,000. They will fit a 40 pyung apartment front balcony window. We bought curtains for our last place on Gmarket for 26,000 plus 20,000 for the rods. Curtains were nice...