Open the curtains or leave them closed?

[FrazzledKoala]

Curious to know what you do/would do - if you leave for work before it gets light in the mornings, and get home when it’s dark again, do you open your curtains/blinds in the morning to close them again when you arrive home or leave them closed all day?

I’ve been told that my choice is strange so wondered what other people do!

I open the bedroom window and curtain to air the room we've been sleeping in. Wouldn't tend to do the living room. I'm not a morning person and it's just one of the things at the bottom of my priority list in getting out the door on time. I'm sure it looks antisocial but I don't overly care!

We actually open the living room curtains before going to bed. In the lighter months I like to come down to some a bright room and the habit is ingrained now. To be fair we don’t leave whilst it is dark in winter so it doesn’t matter too much.

I open them, as do most people here. I do have a friend who leaves them closed, which I would hate. I only leave them closed in summer when the forecast is for a sunny hot day (which never works - on the forecast hot days it is overcast, and when the forecast is for cloud it's hot and sunny!). Now I have air con I probably won't close them at all.

How do you air the house if you never open the curtains?

I open them, better for the plants to get some sunshine during the day.

Curtains open, a lamp on a smart plug/timer.

Leave them closed.

We open all the curtains apart from the front living room window as it opens straight onto the street and I don't want nosy bugger staring straight into my house.

There's plenty of light in the house as we have windows overlooking the back garden where the curtains are always open.

I'm glad it winds up a lot of people on here too though 🤣

We’ve just bought a house where – according to the neighbours – the previous occupants never, ever opened the curtains or the windows. It’s the talk of the neighbourhood now we’re here that the house is finally getting an airing. And the house is responding to air! We’re discovering black mould behind all the many layers of textured wallpaper, and things glued to the wallpaper (like mirrors!) are falling down – it’s like the house was in stasis.

First thing I do each morning is run around flinging open all the curtains, cracking the windows an inch or two even in the rain: can’t bear all the getting ready and breakfasting in the gloom.

Open before I left

DDs room only gets sun first thing in the morning and in the winter it definitely stays warmer if I leave the curtains shut. So they are shut through the week when she is at school/her dads, but opened at the weekend when she is using her room through the day. Rest of the house curtains opened in the morning, shut at dusk or as soon as I’m home from work.

I’m at home mostly so obviously open curtains and windows at some point. Otherwise I’m with @tigger1001 - depends on how much time I have. My priorities are closing the front door, switching off everything and taking mobile phone with me.
I will open curtains and windows after coming back to air the house even if it’s dark.

First thing I do in the morning is open the curtains and open the window to air the room while I'm getting ready. Once I've finished getting dressed/ready for the day I then close the window, make the bed and go about my day but the room always feels fresher for it.

Even in the middle of winter I think it's worth the chill to let the fresh air in to circulate and to do that you need to open the curtains. When DD is at her dad's I have to remember to keep her door open and pop in to open the window for half an hour otherwise her room starts smelling stale.

The only time the curtains are closed during the day is if I'm ill or doing a later shift and have a shower before work. Eg today I plan to take the dog to the local beach and then tidy up some of the leaves in the garden so will need a shower before I head to work for 5pm. At this time of year by about 3.30/4pm it's starting to get a bit gloomy so I need to put the bedroom light on to get ready, but I live on a main road and don't want people looking in while I'm getting dressed so I shut the curtains and then they stay shut ready for when I come home.

Open them, except one room which has a light on a timer, so it comes on before dark.

It’s a bit of an advert that nobody’s home if you leave them closed all day but there’s no light behind them.

I live near a couple of houses who never, ever seem to open their curtains no matter what time of year it is. There is no way I could do this.

I get up around 7.30am and have to open all my blinds in each room. I would find it deeply depressing if the house had no light in it at all during the day. Blinds usually all shut once it starts to get dark. I also don't like artificial light during the day either, has to be daylight.

Always open in the morning because our 2nd floor flat gets a lot of day / sun light which keeps the inside temperature up! And have house plants

Depends who's last in the room. If it's me, I open them. If it's DH, he'll leave them closed forever.

He WFH and sent me a photo yesterday lunchtime. Sitting in his office with the curtains shut and the light on. It's daylight FFS!

If it's a bright sunny day then it actually helps keep our house a little warmer if you open the curtains, even if it's dark when you get home.

Lovely curtains, but the aberrant apostrophe puts me off.