AIBU to ask why so many people don’t draw their curtains? Like, ever

[RollyPollyBatFace]

Are you one of these people? And if so, why?

my job entails visiting people’s homes. Not in any caring capacity or anything like that. And what I notice so so much is houses with all the curtains drawn. At morning, afternoon, you name it.

Literally people sat indoors with lights pn and curtains drawn.

im the type to draw curtains as soon as up and open windows for an hour or so. So it really puzzles me that some people never do this

so - if you’re one of those people I’d really like to know why!

and I’m not talking about a night shift worker, or someone who goes to work at 4am or someone with a migraine etc etc. I’m talking about families who don’t appear to know that curtains open

At this time of year I don’t bother opening the curtains because it’s dark when I go out at 7.30 am and dark when I get home in the evening, what’s the point of opening them when the first thing I’ll do when I get home is open them again!

I’m baffled at no one being able to see in. I’ve lived in lots of houses, I don’t think I’ve ever had any bedrooms that would offer that level of privacy! With the curtains always open you’ll be loosing a lot of heat through your windows I should think?

Personal choice of course but I love having my curtains closed in winter. It makes the room feel so much cosier. On very hot summer nights I often sleep with the curtains open (to get as much of the cooler air in as possible) but I find the moon/streetlights keep me awake as well as the heat.

@RollyPollyBatFace
No not even in the bedrooms
DS has vertical blinds as his room is downstairs
We are quite rural and not overlooked
I like the sun to wake me up

Our main living room is on the back of the house and the windows are onto a very private garden I virtually never shut them. Our bedroom too.

My DP won't close curtains. He says something lofty about natural light but I strongly suspect he is too lazy to close then open curtains. Yes, he's that idle.

I rarely open our bedroom blind. I wake up and get dressed then immediately go downstairs so I spend no time in there until going to bed again. Especially in winter it just seems pointless.

Downstairs, everything gets opened up and closed daily but upstairs I only open if I'm spending time in the rooms outside of waking up and bedtime.

I do wake up. I like waking up with the light, it’s good for you.

Doesn't 'drawing" the curtains mean closing them ?

I have no idea. I hate people who sit in their lounge under the main light and never have table lamps or standard lamps. I find that even more bizarre.

I can only relax with curtains closed . I do open them once my kids are back from school but when am on my own chill netflexing, I definitely close them.Also I hate people knocking on my door when an not expecting a parcel and I don't like taking neighbour's parcels so yes with curtains closed people assume that the house is empty

Ours are only closed at night semi closed in our bedroom in the morning when we're getting dressed as we are opposite another house!

I like daylight and being able to look out of our windows.

No curtains or any window coverings downstairs in ours, we live rurally at the end of a dead-end lane so no passing people or traffic.

The horrible curtains we inherited got taken down when we moved in and never bothered replacing them.

No woman who is obliged to keep her curtains shut to render herself invisible due to the demands of a patriarchal religion is living her best life.

My next door neighbours go to both extremes. One lot have those ghastly vertical office-looking blinds in their downstairs front rooms which have remained firmly shut for the thirty years I've lived here. They open and close upstairs curtains but those downstairs blinds never move.
The other side neighbours live in a bungalow and moved in a couple of years ago. They had a lot of structural changes of the layout and since the day they moved in they have not put a blind or curtains in their front rooms. You can see right into their home office, kitchen and through the living room into their back garden. At this time of year the lights are on early and you can see them sitting there on their computers( which are right by the window), cooking, walking around etc, they obviously don't care at all.

I think it can be people who leave the house in darkness and return in darkness at this time of year, so it just doesn’t occur to them, people who watch a lot of daytime tv, cultures where women cover, the same people who never make their beds because they’ll only have to rumple them again at bedtime, people who don’t like sunlight, people reacting against an upbringing where there were strict rules about having to have all curtains open by 8 am or you’re some kind of slattern etc etc.

Oh, and vampires, obviously.

It means both closing and opening them. It means to pull them across (draw them) from one position to the other. So it’s completely ambiguous to just say eg “why don’t people draw their curtains” - there’s no way of knowing from that if it means open or close them!

I assumed OP was talking about people not closing their curtains till I got halfway through the first post - I’d just been watching one of those films where people never close any curtains or blinds!

Ours are sometimes not opened till later on if we’re lazing around in pjs of a morning - but we get there eventually! They’ll always be shut as soon as it’s dark outside though.

I find it claustrophobic with them closed and I don't like the dark, plus they are a nuisance either blocking a radiator or air from an open window.

We don't have any curtains on the back or side of the house.

The ones on the front are only drawn if the sun affects the TV.

Mine are closed pretty much all the time, warmth, privacy, I prefer the coziness but also in winter I especially just cba, it’s dark when I wake up, it’s dark at 4pm, can’t be bothered opening and shutting them so early.

I have blackout in bedroom because waking up at 4:30am in a summer is absolutely not my dream life. I have sunrise clock😂
Blinds everywhere, open during daylight, closed when dark.
If anything i would have to open them wice a day for airing anyway

I keep my blinds mostly closed I leave them up a tiny bit, just enough to be clear of any plants/candles on the windowsill.

It’s mainly for privacy as I live in an apartment with other buildings in close enough proximity to see through my windows. When I wake up in the morning or shower or get dressed, I don’t want to awkwardly have to dash to the windows in a state of undress to roll the blinds down. At least this way, I can casually meander around & grab something from the kitchen or whatever before being fully dressed.

Plus, I have a new build where it remains light enough during the day. My blinds are not blackout and my wall colours are light, so light does bleeds through.

I also have smart lighting and loads of my lights are motion based, so it’s never really dark even if the blinds are drawn. There’s a lot of ambient lighting like under cabinets etc

Also to a certain extent I like to control the lighting. Video calls when I work from home for example, look much better if I put a nearby lamp on instead of relying on daylight. Especially if it’s not a particularly sunny day.

I always close my blinds as soon as it starts to get dark. I can’t bear the thought that people can see me but I can’t see them. I live in a little cul-de-sac of just seven houses so hardly any footfall but it makes me feel better. I live very happily on my own so not of a nervous disposition but this is my only foible.

I keep my back door (patio door) curtains closed a lot of the time, purely because my kitchen is mostly always messy and neighbours can see in through the back door

Oh and one of the bedrooms my partners desk is in front of the window so I can’t reach to open them, it does bother me though I hate how it looks from outside