The window set changes with the van.

The HiAce is the most common van we cut curtains for, and its windows are all rectangles with a rounded corner - easy shapes, awkward positions. The cab doors take a pair, the sliding door takes one panel, and the rear is either barn doors with a window each or a tailgate glass.

• Cab door glass sits low, so the track wants to be tucked under the door card rather than above it.
• The sliding door window is the one people forget, and it is the one the neighbours see into.
• A rear barn door pair is usually better in blackout than in a draw curtain: there is nowhere for a track to run.

A Transit gives you more glass than most vans and more places to put a track. High-roof models push the windows up out of easy reach, which is where a pull-cord honeycomb blind does the job a curtain cannot.

• High-roof side windows are too tall to reach across; a blind with a bottom rail is easier than a curtain.
• The cab doors and the panel behind them are two separate windows with a pillar between them.
• Crew cabs add a second row of glass that is often left uncovered.

Sprinter-based conversions usually keep the cab windows as glass and cover the box windows. That means two different jobs in one van: magnetic or peel-off coverings for the cab, curtains or blinds in the living space.

• The cab glass in a Sprinter is deep, so cab curtains need a long drop and a track that follows the screen.
• High-roof box windows sit high; measure the drop from where you can actually reach, not from the ceiling.
• The rear doors often carry no windows at all, which is a bonus: one wall you never have to cover.

This is the chassis under most New Zealand motorhomes, so the jobs we see are habitation windows with a fabric pelmet, a front cab that needs closing off, and rear or side windows that face the neighbour's awning.

• Habitation windows usually have a surround or pelmet already - the curtain track is screwed to that, not to the wall.
• The front cab is the biggest single sheet of glass in the van and the hardest to close off.
• Windows that open outward need the covering to sit behind the frame, not over it.

Transporter windows are shorter in the drop than a full-size van's and sit closer to the seat, so curtains here are more about width than height. Caravelle and Multivan glass is shaped, which changes the making.

• Measure the drop from the top of the glass to the seat base, then decide whether the curtain ends there.
• Shaped glass at the rear quarter needs the fabric cut to the shape, not a rectangle.
• There is usually room for a slim track between the window rubber and the trim.

The LDV vans are common as camper conversions and as motorhome bases. The glass is square and generous, which makes them one of the easier vans to do well with a standard curtain set.

• Deliver 9 cab windows are large; a lined curtain with a blackout face works better than a blind here.
• The rear and side panels in a V80 motorhome are usually the habitation windows and carry a pelmet.
• Check whether the window has a factory blind already - it decides whether a curtain runs inside or outside it.

Compact vans and people movers have less wall to fix to, so the fixings matter more than the fabric. The NV200 and the Caravan are both narrow enough that a full curtain can eat the living space.

• Narrow vans want slim tracks and light fabrics, or the curtain is always in the way.
• Twin sliding doors on the Caravan mean two panels that must clear each other.
• Rear quarter glass is often the cheapest window to cover and the one that matters most at night.

The Bongo has more glass than its size suggests, and an electric blind or two from the factory. Those vans usually need replacement covers rather than a new system.

• Factory blinds and their frames decide what will fit over them.
• If the original blinds are stripped out, measure the bare window, not the old frame.
• The rear side windows are large and low; blackout matters more than thermal lining here.

A Delica's cab windows are raked and set into a shaped pillar, so a rectangular curtain leaves a bright wedge. This is where we cut to the shape of the glass.

• Send a photo square on to each window; the angle is hard to describe in numbers.
• A shaped curtain wants a track that follows the pillar rather than one that runs straight.
• Rear and side glass on the L300 is flat and simple, so it takes a normal set.

People movers have big side glass, sliding doors both sides and curved rear quarters. They are comfortable vans to sleep in, and they show every gap, so the coverage has to be right.

• Curved rear quarter glass is the shape that decides whether the set looks finished.
• Sliding door glass moves; the covering has to be fitted so it travels with the door.
• Front cab privacy in an Estima is easier with a magnetic or peel-off covering than a curtain.

Caravans and motorhomes have the windows people see from the outside: the front window under the awning, the long side windows and the shaped rear. Sun, afternoon glare and faded original curtains are the three reasons this work comes in.

• Replace worn originals window by window, keeping the pelmet and the track that are already there.
• A caravan front window under an awning is a sun problem as much as a privacy one.
• Curved front and rear windows need a track that bends with the panel.

If it has glass and someone sleeps in it, we have probably cut a curtain for something like it. The method does not change: measure each window, photograph each window, and make to those numbers.

• Send the count of windows, not a total - each one is made separately.
• Say which windows you want blackout and which can be lighter.
• If a window is not a rectangle, trace its shape on paper and photograph the trace.