How often do you wash your curtains ...

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and other soft furnishings if you have dogs? We have three dogs and no carpet or soft furnishings e.g. rugs or cushions. Also, no fabric settees. But we have curtains in most rooms. We air the whole house every day for an hour or two (yes, it does get freezing this time of year!) because we try to avoid having dog smell.

Anyone who visits says they can't smell our dogs (even very 'honest' friends) which I can believe because we are constantly cleaning and airing. But we only wash our curtains every 8 - 10 weeks. The dogs are not allowed in the bedrooms.

If you have dogs, how often do you wash your curtains?

This is news to me too 😂

My curtains wouldn’t fit in my machine as they are huge lined, not brocade but heavy duty material like that. I have never ever washed curtains. Our cat doesn’t come in the bedroom, she sits in the doorway of it but just doesn’t come in and we have blinds everywhere else.

We only have curtains in the lounge (blinds elsewhere). Haven’t ever washed them although have steamed them a few times (last was before Christmas).

I’ve never washed my curtains. I only have two pairs of curtains in the house and the dog doesn’t spend any time near them. I have throws on the sofa, which the dog goes on. I wash these once a week.

Sorry lots of typos in my post!

I'm not sure if she has alot of money, but certainly does have time. She pays the same sort of attention to her appearance. Everything beautifully matches. Sometimes a bit too matchy for my personal taste, but the attention to detail is extraordinary. Whenever we meet i often just look at her for a few moments to see how she has put things together. It's a real talent / skill/ attention that i admire.

They are fairly high. But I do have what is probably an unhealthy thing about ensuring the whole house is fully aired daily. My DP despairs because he's a '10-minute is sufficient' kind of person.

I opened the windows this morning just before 9:00 and I just closed them. Indoor temperature now is around 12C. But I just can't live knowing I didn't air the house. And the thought that dog hair and smell may linger is a concern. However I would never be without our dogs - in fact, I'd have more if space and time allowed it!

I have never washed my curtains and have no intention of doing so.

That’s a crazy amount of time to have the doors and windows open this time of year.

Airing the house for 10 minutes is perfectly sufficient. I think you are somewhat obsessive about this.

Never washed them, but often give them a quick vacuum. We change them when we decorate, which is probably every 7 years.

House airing is very much a thing in Germany and often imposed by condition in tenancy agreements.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2026/jan/21/house-burping-german-habit-luften-trend-explained-airing-home

Ummm. In my last place the living room curtains were up for over 25 years. I looked into having them cleaned but i was quoted a fortune so I just lived with them though I hated them in the last 5 years or so. It seems impossible to find nice washable curtains though.

How do you cope if you ever go away for a few days? Do you have to pay someone to come on and open the windows or do you open them for hours and hours when you get back?

What if you have guests and they object to being in 12 degrees or lower? There's always threads on here about people being miserable in cold houses and what terrible hosting it is.

I tend to open the windows when we get back. If it's late it'll be half an hour only.

If we have guests it's a half an hour thing again and then the heating comes on.

Is that a thing? 🤔🤣

Thank you soooo much for mentioning this. I had no idea such a product existed and all our curtains have a great patch of cat hair at windowsill level where the cats jump up to sit and watch the world go by.

So to answer the OPs question 'not often enough but now I'm quite excited about buying some pet hair dissolver and washing the curtains' which I realise is very sad but doing laundry is something I can cope with as it's easier to keep up with than cleaning.

We have the kitchen, bathroom and all bedroom windows open all year round, they're locked on the crack. The trickle vents dont cut it.

Oh and the landing window

In fact I think the windows are wedged in that position now forever.

I cannot abide a stuffy house

Never heard of this.

Loving the name.

I wash the living room curtains and net curtains (yes, I've still got those up. Sue me lol) every 4-5 months. I've got a cat. But I used to do it when I had two cats and one dog. Whenever I wash them, I hang them up while they're still damp and put the heating on. The fresh smell and the fact they're visually much cleaner makes a world of difference.

I only wash the upstairs ones once or twice a year though. My living room curtains are light coloured though. The fabric is thin and delicate, so they get a 30 degree 30 minute machine blast. Just to make sure I don't end up living in disgraceful conditions (I can be a slob) I do this at the same time I move out the sofas and units to hoover and disinfect underneath them. It's surprising what manages to work its way under there!

To those who asked - our dogs don't go anywhere near the curtains, but smell can permeate a home. Like cigarette smoke can.

Can you imagine a home where people smoke indoors and don't wash their curtains and other soft furnishings regularly?

I’ve never washed the long curtains which say they are dry clean only and anyway as with duvets, I doubt if they would fit in the machine. I have vacuumed the top of curtains with the dustbuster but not at all in the last few years and you must have a clean brush or it’s pointless. I’m thinking if they ever really need washing I’ll have to buy new. Didn’t there use to be launderettes with huge washing machines and driers for large items?
I have washed kitchen curtains but they were short, cottony fabric and just hung them straight back up afterwards to dry.

Leaving your windows on latch is pretty common, as is having them closed majority of the time then opening them fully to air everywhere out for 10-15 mins but that doesn’t sound like what OPs doing. It sounds like everything’s open for several hours a day. Which in winter must be freezing. I’m not opposed to letting the fresh air in but it sounds a bit excessive to do it as OP is.

Unless your dogs are producing gas clouds that travel up to the curtains like a cartoon then the comparison to smoking isn't logical

You sound very paranoid and obsessed about dog smell.

I have ours dry cleaned at the change of the seasons, first as part of spring cleaning, and then in autumn. That said, I've never noticed them smelling, and we have a dog.