To keep curtains closed at night?

[Margo34]

Settle a disagreement for us!
DH grew up in household where curtains downstairs were closed of an evening until you went to bed, then they were opened. He says this was because keeping them closed advertised you had stuff to hide so it was a security reason.
Meanwhile I grew up in a household where downstairs curtains were closed of an evening and stayed so until you got up next morning, again for a security reason to keep others from peering in and seeing what you owned.
We both think our way is better as a deterrent to potential unsavoury night time folk and uninvited midnight visitors. We both think each others way is weird!
Who is right?

YABU - he is right, open curtains over night.
YANBU - I am right, keep them closed overnight.

my bil does tend to open them before he goes to bed as he goes to bed late and sleeps in late and he presumably doesnt want the neighbours to know!
or perhaps since it is a sign of a death in the family he wants them open and not subject to misinterpretation.

I am not a curtain fan! We never close them during the light evenings, but do as the nights draw in. I cannot bear to sleep in a room with the curtains closed - I love the moonlight too - so never pull them across. DH likes it dark, hot and with background noise - I like it cool, light and quiet!! I guess we are not compatible in that!

We very rarely close the curtains downstairs so I'm finding it hard to choose which button to press.

Haha I see what he means but he's misinterpreted the advice. Keeping curtains would indicate an empty house and a burgling risk during the day time, not night time.
It's the norm to have closed curtains during the night. If anything, having them open gives burglars the opportunity to have a good look at what you've got and plan a break in.

Keeping curtains closed*

Closed so I dont scare the neighbours when I first wake up and come downstairs.
My dm used to open them at night because it made the room look tidier.

Your DH is weird.

Your way all the way.

I close the curtains when it gets dark and then open again before I go to bed so that my houseplants get the benefit of the morning light- I have A LOT of houseplants and since my house is east facing they would miss out on most of the best light if I waited until we make it downstairs to open them in the morning. My husband thinks this is incredibly weird and we had a bit of a row over it before he finally admitted that his reasons against were just ‘because it’s weird’ and didn’t stand up to my practical reasons for.

We open them before bed. So when my husbands employees arrive (office on our property!) in the morning we don’t look lazy if we’re not out of bed to open them 😂

We hardly ever close the blinds at all downstairs.

I’d assume if curtains were left open all night you were away. I think you’d be more likely to be burgled if they thought the house was unoccupied so your husband’s logic is bizarre. Surely leaving them open also allows them to peer in and size up the job?

admittedly we rarely close them since i hang the shirts in the window to dry and there they remain

Closed (if we have curtains, that is).

To piggy back on this thread:

We were driving away for an overnight stay when my DH noticed an upstairs front window open (narrow, but someone could get in with a ladder I guess). We live on a well-lit road with many security cameras etc.

I refused to stop (DH already had us an hour late). Surely it looks less abandoned to have windows open (where they'd be hard to break into anyway) - in the summer, when it's warm?

We virtually never close any curtains, upstairs or down. I'm always incredibly surprised to come home at night to find the babysitter has closed them all. We've never been burgled in anywhere we lived, apart from once in a student house where there was nothing to steal.

Your DH is cracked!!

I've never heard of anyone doing it your DH's way.

I thought everyone had their curtains etc closed at night.

That’s so weird. Curtains are to keep heat in and light out, so surely you’d want them closed? Especially when it gets to winter.

YANBU we've had 2 attempted break ins over the last 6 months, both times the DCs were away and their bedroom curtains were open. I now close all the curtains no matter what.

I'm definitely of the keep closed all night camp. Keeps heat in overnight and curtains open looks like you're on holiday.

Bit it's occurred to me we don't have any curtains (mix of shutters and blinds) and the only ones that actually get closed at night are the bedroom ones. No-one can see in our living room from the street though, which is probably why we don't really close those on an evening.

The normal thing to do is close your curtains at night. Literally everyone I have ever met does this.

I leave ours open except for heat control but we are on the side of a steep hill so burglars would have to be about fifteen foot tall to look in our front windows. The back windows are normal so they have blinds which are kept shut.

Curtains closed till I’m dressed - don’t want to scare the neighbours!

Yes, it's a cultural thing, there is no right or wrong answer.
I have lived in countries where curtains aren't drawn at all and prefer it that way. So much so that I have never drawn curtains for years and years, not even in the room I am sleeping in. Much, much nicer than all this messing about with opening and closing....batshit.....

We've solved this issue by removing curtains in the lounge. Should add we are aren't overlooked by roads or neighbours.

We have curtains in the bedrooms but tbh they serve a more decorative purpose than anything

That being said yanbu, when I did live in a house were curtains were needed. It was part of the morning routine to open them not the evening routine

Curtains drawn all night here, otherwise Michael Myers will look in.