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

MrsDrink

At the front of our house our bedroom curtains are pretty much permanently shut.
At the back of our house we shut the lounge curtains at night time (now we have a new development that can see in) or when the sun is shining and we're trying to watch TV etc.

dizziblonde

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.

The one that annoys me more than curtains to be honest and was the big taboo in our house as child was watching TV in the dark.

Person_one

Its how you tell whether somebody's a worthless scrounger, according to George Osborne:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog/2012/oct/08/curtains-closed-blinds-down-george-osborne

elsien

dizziblonde wrote: »

The one that annoys me more than curtains to be honest and was the big taboo in our house as child was watching TV in the dark.

That one's stuck, I'm afraid, just can't bring myself to do it. After years of indoctrination. I can feel my eyes going funny just at the thought.

partialycloudy

well I have to admit that our bedroom curtains are pretty much permanelty drawn closed.
When I get up its dark, when I go to bed its dark so need to open them as I am not in during day light hours. Our Bedroom window is also MASSIVE and has no net up so there would be no hiding from anyone!

londonsurrey

It's a generational thing, harking back to a time when women were good little housewives, and what the neighbours thought was terribly, terribly important.

People who freak out about it tend not to think too much about why, except that they were taught it was a Bad Thing, which equals teetering on the brink of social ostracition, which equalled lack of protection, starvation and death in the nebulous nether regions of the minds of people brought up to understand that they were herd creatures and needed the protection of the herd.
We still do to this day, but the social state steps in more for the isolated individuals nowadays.

Present day understanding is that daylight is important for regulation of circadian rhythms and a host of health benefits, so drawing your curtains to admit sunlight is generally a good idea.

Kayalana99

partialycloudy wrote: »

well I have to admit that our bedroom curtains are pretty much permanelty drawn closed.
When I get up its dark, when I go to bed its dark so need to open them as I am not in during day light hours. Our Bedroom window is also MASSIVE and has no net up so there would be no hiding from anyone!

I had never even considered my bedroom curtains They are always shut

poet123

Person_one wrote: »

Its how you tell whether somebody's a worthless scrounger, according to George Osborne:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog/2012/oct/08/curtains-closed-blinds-down-george-osborne

The man is a buffoon, happy to jump on any bandwagon no matter how distasteful to further his own ends. I heard his comments on the Philpotts yesterday and was disgusted at how he turned such a tragedy to his own ends. I am sure it did him no favours though as he was as transparent as a window without curtains.

Thread back on track!!

lostinrates

londonsurrey wrote: »

.

Present day understanding is that daylight is important for regulation of circadian rhythms and a host of health benefits, so drawing your curtains to admit sunlight is generally a good idea.

While I don't deny the social connotations, I think this is important. As is the reduction of heat loss when you close curtains and the solar gain when you open them (depending on orientation of your home).

Personally, I would also be wary of knocking the door at a house with closed day time curtains, as I would wonder of the person were sleeping and might not want to be disturbed.

view

ha! a taxi driver commented on my curtains! (that sounded ruder than intended).

I said, why what's the problem and he looked shocked that I thought it was ok! We had just moved in and stuff (eg: expensive tv equip etc..) was everywhere so didn't want anyone to look in and see it out on display as such... but seriously, why it is your business mr taxi man!