Whats the big deal about having your curtains open/shut?

claire16c

The sun shines on our living room & we live in a cul de sac that has a path past our window, we have wooden Venetian blinds as its either that or net curtains or closing the curtains and then we'd need to put a light on if it wasn't sunny.

I always open the bedroom curtains. And keep the Venetian blinds in the living room half open in the day & shut at night. They're very handy for altering the light in the room & I can see out but people can't see in!

I tend to leave them half open and the bedroom curtains upstairs slightly open when we go on holiday, so it's a sort of neither shut nor open look.

At night the curtains are obviously shut with blackout linings as we have a street lamp very close to the window. I feel like I haven't got up properly in the mornings if I haven't opened them.

claire16c

dizziblonde wrote: »

I quite often have to close the front ones during the summer afternoons when the sun comes over to the front of the house and shines right in - it can make the house uncomfortably hot when it does so... or I'll end up having to close the back ones at the patio doors when the badly behaved terrors from the house to the rear of us decide to spend the summer afternoon climbing the tree in their garden to stare into our windows for hours on end in order to push for a reaction.

Long term I'll get blinds in the front window so I can angle them to partially reduce the sun (and give us a bit of privacy) -but haven't found any the right size at a sensible price yet considering it's a bay window.

I used these:

Www.web-blinds.com

If you go on the Hilary's blinds website there is a link to them as a cheaper alternative.

jellyhead

Goldiegirl wrote: »

I think a house that has it's curtains closed all day everyday looks sad and unloved, as if the person in the house can't be bothered to let the air and light in

I open the windows, but leave the blinds closed.

I bought a south facing house, stupidly. I'd never lived in one before, so i didn't know I'd get headaches. I thought blinds would work, but leaving them even slightly open gives me a migraine. So I have them closed, at least 11-3 when the sun is at its worst.

If the house faced a different way I'd open them in the daytime. The curtains at the back of the house are all opened, with windows opened.

I open the bedroom curtains after we're dressed. My husband doesn't understand why, and neither do I really.

Old_Joe

In a heatwave the windows facing the sun are kept closed to minimise the heat coming into that room.

Saturnalia

I'm in a houseshare and my bedroom is the downstairs front room, so to passersby it would look like the house's living room. I often leave the curtains closed when I'm out at work as I tend to get up, washed, dressed and out of the house, so don't bother about opening them before I go out.

On days that I am home, I tend to open them halfway to let some light in as I'll knock about in pyjamas until midday (but I am up from about 7 and doing online jobsearching from about 8!) and once I am dressed they are fully opened.

If I saw someone else's curtains shut in the day I'd assume they were a night worker/ill & sleeping/leave the house early & don't bother (like me). But it's likelier I wouldn't notice, i walk around with my head in the clouds!

The number of times it's gone dark and I have put the lights on then realised a few hours later that I didn't close the curtains, and everyone has been able to see my unmade bed or messy desk or my knickers on the clotheshorse!!! Oh the shame!

pigpen

I never open my front curtain.. and I don't give a hoot what anyone thinks.. I have a huge bay window and it is freezing with them open, I don't have net so half the planet and his dog bog in my windows. I don't use that room it is essentially a play room for the children so is a tip and full of toys. I use the backroom with no windows just French doors so it is nice and gloomy and easier to keep warm.

koalamummy

Our curtains are never closed as we don't actually have any. . We have shutters instead which I love as you can make all sorts of different arrangements with them to change the amount of light in any of the rooms. Also much less hassle to clean as they just get washed or vacuumed and don't need to deal with the headache of hanging them out on the washing line or ironing them.

time2deal

I suppose like the grand designs people we have a big living area with lots of glass and no curtains. But it's fine as part of the area is slightly more concealed, and no-one can really see in the glassed areas. I do like a cozy feel, and we have a good balance I think.

On the flip side, our bedroom is at the front of the block, and fronts directly onto the street - without even a front garden - so those curtains are always shut. DH works nights so sleeps til lunchtime anyway. I'm not that keen on it as I don't think we get enough fresh air, but I make up for it by regularly airing the room on the weekends.

BritAbroad

ilnf wrote: »

I was told (wrongly or rightly) that houses with closed curtains are a target for burglars. Apparently, American families near mine (US RAF Base nearby) were in the habit of closing curtains during the day to keep their houses cool from the hot daytime sun. If they were at home they would keep curtains open to benefit from the natural light.

Closed curtain during summer day equals no one at home. After it was realised how homes were being targeted, advice was given to leave curtains open during the day.

How true this is I've no idea but sounds plausible?

I'd say that's entirely plausible - where I live in the US the advice is to close curtains during the summer afternoons to reduce the heat (and, therefore, your aircon use).

Right now, my living room curtains are open, and I have one solar blind up and the other down (windows are on different walls) as the sun was streaming in that window. My bedroom curtains are closed most of the time, but the rest of the curtains in the house are generally left open. In saying that, I'm contemplating making blinds for the basement windows as I like to leave the curtains open but it can get a bit chilly down there.

wouldbeqaulitymoneysaver

I have blinds and curtains. Blinds in Kitchen and Living Room, Curtains in the bedroom.
I have to have light during the day so if I am up I draw the curtains to let the light in as I hate dark and gloomy rooms. But if it is cold I have to shut up shop during daylight hours in order to conserve heat, ideally jobs done or at least doing retiring to electric blankie bed for all internet related tasks from banking to shopping foruming etc.