Hosting Family This Year-End? Get the Spare Room’s Curtains Right

The year-end school holidays for MOE kindergartens, primary and secondary schools run from Saturday 21 November to Thursday 31 December 2026, according to MOE’s school terms and holidays for 2026. The Ministry of Manpower’s public-holidays page lists Christmas Day on Friday, 25 December 2026. Put those together and many Singapore flats get the same six weeks: grandparents staying over, relatives flying in, cousins on a sleepover that turns into a week.

For most HDB and BTO homes, the guest room is really the study or the box room for the other eleven months. It often still has whatever came with the flat, a temporary curtain from the first move, or nothing at all. This post is about getting that room’s windows ready before the guests arrive, without turning it into a hotel room you never use again. Every window is measured on site, and the measure is free. Message us to book one.

What a guest needs from the window

A study and a guest room ask different things of the same window. Before choosing fabric, walk through what your visitors will actually do in that room:

• Sleep on a different clock. Relatives arriving on a long-haul or overnight flight often sleep through the morning. Grandparents may nap after lunch. Daylight through a thin curtain wakes them early.
• Change in privacy. A study window facing the corridor or the next block is fine with a light sheer while you work. Someone sleeping or dressing in that room wants a denser layer.
• Use it without instructions. A guest should be able to close the curtain on the first night without asking which cord does what.
• Keep the air-con working. A closed, lined curtain over a sun-facing casement helps the room hold its cool through an afternoon nap.

Day-night is usually the right answer for a room with two jobs

If the room goes back to being a study in January, a single blackout panel solves December and makes the rest of the year dim. Day-night curtains run two layers on a dual track: a sheer for daylight and privacy while you work, and a blackout or dim-out layer that closes over it at night. Guests get a dark room. You get your bright study back after the holidays.

Pure blackout still makes sense where the room is a guest room all year, faces strong afternoon sun, or will be used by a shift worker afterwards. Ask to see the lining options side by side; a full blackout lining and a dim-out lining look similar on the rail and feel very different at 7am.

Corridor-facing windows need privacy in the day, too

Many HDB layouts put a bedroom window onto the common corridor. Neighbours walk past at eye level, and a guest resting in the afternoon notices that much more than you do at your desk. A few ways to handle it:

• A denser day sheer. Some sheers keep the room bright while blurring the view in from outside. Hold the sample up against the actual corridor window during the day before you choose.
• Day-night on the same track. Sheer for the day, the solid layer when someone wants to sleep.
• A blind inside the frame. A roller or vertical blind can work on a corridor window, as long as it clears the casement handles and any grille. This is one reason we measure on site rather than from a photo.

Small rooms: keep it simple and keep the light

Spare rooms in HDB flats are usually the smallest bedroom, often with a wardrobe close to the window. Two details make a big difference:

• Stack space. When the curtain is open, the fabric has to sit somewhere. If a wardrobe runs right up to the frame, plan the track so the stack clears the glass. An S-fold heading stacks neatly in a tight space.
• Lighter colours. A pale blackout fabric with a darker lining keeps the room feeling bigger when the curtains are open, and still blocks light when they are closed.

If young grandchildren or nephews will be staying, keep loose cords out of reach and ask about cordless or wand-operated options. Motorised tracks with a remote are another way to make the room easy for older guests, but they need a power point near the track, so decide early.

A simple countdown to 21 November

Lead time depends on the fabric and how many rooms you do together, so ask for the current timing when you book. A rough plan:

• Mid to late October — decide which room becomes the guest room, and whether it stays one after the holidays. Book the measure.
• Early November — confirm fabric, lining, and track. Deepavali falls on Sunday 8 November, and MOM lists Monday 9 November as a public holiday if your rest day falls on 8 November, so plan around that weekend.
• Before 21 November — install, then do a test night: close everything, switch off the lights, and check for gaps at the sides and top.
• Before Christmas — if relatives arrive later in December, you have a little more room, but still leave a buffer week.

Quick picks

• Study that doubles as a guest room — day-night on a dual track.
• Dedicated guest room facing west or the opposite block — blackout with a pale face fabric.
• Corridor-facing window — denser day sheer, or a blind that clears the casement handles.
• Living room with a sofa bed for extra sleepers — a night layer that closes fully, so the living room can become a bedroom after dinner.

Indoor curtains and blinds carry a three-year warranty. Browse the range on curtains and blinds. If you collected BTO keys this year and this is your first time hosting, the BTO curtains page covers the rest of the flat.

Before you message us

1. Note which room your guests will use and when they arrive.
2. Check which way the window faces: corridor, next block, or open view.
3. Decide whether the room stays a guest room or goes back to being a study in January.
4. Message us with your block and flat type. We measure on site and do not price from a floor plan.

Prime Decor Furnishing measures, makes, and installs curtains and blinds for HDB, BTO, and condo homes across Singapore.

FAQ

When are the 2026 year-end school holidays in Singapore? For MOE kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, MOE lists the end-of-year holidays as Saturday 21 November to Thursday 31 December 2026. For JC Year 1 and MI Years 1 and 2, they run from Saturday 28 November to Thursday 31 December.

Is Christmas Day a public holiday in 2026? Yes. MOM lists Christmas Day on Friday, 25 December 2026.

Should a spare room get blackout or day-night curtains? If the room is a study for most of the year, day-night usually works better: a sheer for daytime work and a blackout or dim-out layer for guests at night. If it is a guest room all year or faces strong sun, full blackout is a good choice.

Can blinds be fitted to a corridor-facing casement window? Often, yes, as long as the blind clears the casement handles and any grille. We check this during the on-site measure.

Do you charge for measuring? No. The measure is free, and we measure every window on site rather than quoting from photos.

What warranty do your curtains and blinds carry? Three years on indoor curtains and blinds, and five years on ZipBlind outdoor zip blinds.