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

concerned43

I have to keep my open as last I was in bed with a cold, there was a ring at the door and I had all my neighbours in my front garden wondering if I had died during the night!
The average age of neighbours is 71 - I am 45! didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Even if I want a lie in - I go downstairs to open blinds and then go back to bed

sammyjammy

My curtains are often shut all day long. I get up and go to work without going in that room so they stay shut from the night before until I get home from work. I suppose I could open them when I go to bed but then potential burglars might look in with a torch and see what I have to steal (or not).

They are also shut if I am exercising with the Wii or the sun is shining in my eyes.

I don't really care what people think but I do worry that if someone was loitering with intent they might notice that if curtains shut during the day it means there is nobody home!

If you look at my house on Google earth you'd notice closed curtains too.

looby75

the curtains at the back of my house are pretty much permanently drawn, our back garden backs onto a hotel car park so I don't want all and sundry peering into my sitting room/bedrooms.

I haven't got a blind up in my kitchen and haven't done since the council put double glazing in about 18 months ago. We have a lamppost just by our house, my daughter has staring competitions with people as the walk past who are having a good nosey into our kitchen, a couple of times she's nearly managed to make people walk into the lamppost lol

Torry_Quine

If I see curtains shut during the day I would think that someone was still in bed, either due to shift work or ill-health. Seems strange to me not to open your curtains to get daylight but it's a personal choice.

moneysaymoneydo

I think black out windows just like cars should be introduced so you can freely walk about in whatever way you like, of eat 8 sandwiches a day and noone could see in, save a fortune in curtains, blinds etc.

mumonashoestring

moneysaymoneydo wrote: »

I think black out windows just like cars should be introduced so you can freely walk about in whatever way you like, of eat 8 sandwiches a day and noone could see in, save a fortune in curtains, blinds etc.

:rotfl: Yes! With bonus! ricketts for all the little kiddies

System

mumonashoestring wrote: »

:rotfl: Yes! With bonus! ricketts for all the little kiddies

I like your thinking :D:D

jellyhead

Person_one wrote: »

True, I can't think of a single time I've ever given a second's thought to the status of somebody else's curtains!

Me neither, until this thread! Today I took the bus home from town, and noticed the curtains as we trundled along. The first area (privately owned housing) was half and half, and most of the open curtains had nets. The second area is owned by the military, and almost every house had drawn curtains. The third area, a council estate, had open curtains at every window except for mine

As some of you have said you've not heard of curtains being drawn when somebody has died, I wonder if it's a council estate 'thing'? We always draw the curtains when a neighbour dies - I think until the funeral? I can't remember, but would check with my mum if my neighbour died. I wonder if it stems from bodies being kept in the front parlour?

wik

I have had to learn to shut the curtains at night since moving back to England 5 years ago!! When I was living up in Scotland, I hardly ever closed them in the Summer months, But not long after moving here, I walked into my bedroom from the shower with just a towel on hair... only to realise there was a man up a ladder over the road!!:eek:
I now have a blind that stays down when I am up in my room!

Ohh and up in Scotland, especially on the Islands, If there is a funeral happening you close the curtains, I remember my ex hubby's aunt once say to me that you never looked at a coffin going past through a window, She then proceeded to open the lounge window, and looked through some binoculars to see who was at the church gate!! She liked to keep am eye on folks

wik x

madmittens

I don't tend to notice whether neighbours' curtains (or those in random houses I pass) are open or closed.

I haven't opened the curtains in my dining room since last November; I work at home (in this room) and am trying to minimise my heating bill (room doesn't get any sun until late afternoon - if there is any sun). Radiator is below the window, curtains tucked behind radiator. Will open curtains during the day when I stop needing/using the heating (soon, hopefully!)... In the summer I sometimes have to close one curtain so I can see my laptop screen to work.

I don't open the curtains in my lounge for most of the year; large window, sun most of the day - faded and ruined sofas within a year or so. Don't use this room much though.

Bedroom curtains - in the winter I get up when it's dark/go to bed when it's dark, so what's the point?

I find 'onlyroz's assumption quite offensive.

I believe my neighbours would realise something was wrong due to changes in my routine, rather than whether my curtains are open or not...