Short curtains or long curtains?

[VelvetSwimmingCrab]

When you have a normal sized window (in the middle of the wall with the windowsill about a third of the way up the wall) are you supposed to have the curtains come to just below the windowsill or to floor length? I have no idea which is the done thing or which looks better. Thank you!

I’m a interior designer. For me short curtain are big NO! Its look cheap. I always go with full lenght. If there is a radiator and you dont want to close it with curtain always go with roman blinds. Not roller blinds but roman blinds. Looks classy

Roman blinds shut out too much light, you can lose 1/4 of your window, and make the room look gloomy, so I would not go for that either.

If no radiator, long always looks best.

Full length preferably. I'm not keen on short curtains at all. If there's a radiator, then roman blinds plus full length 'dress' curtains that don't have to close, but are there for aesthetic purposes.

Always full length. The only room we have sill length curtains is in the lounge where there's a window seat.

Short curtains look awful. Our heating only really goes on December/Jan/Feb, so for those months I just tuck the long curtains behind the rad when it's evening.

We have a bay window with a radiator under it. I'm about to make some thick, lined curtains to help with keeping the room warm. They will be sill length. I'd be an idiot to cover the radiator and they look neat and modern. Fussy window treatments and fake "dress" long curtains look dated to me. Maybe for tall Victorian windows but not for wide 20th century ones.

Completely agree, I’ve got three bays, all with wooden double glazed sash windows with mtm triple pleat interlined curtains finishing below sill length.

I really dislike the fussiness of full length curtains unless they’re needed at a door or French doors.

I have moved radiators in order to have floor length curtains. So much classier. The only exception is in the dc bedrooms; one has a window seat in the bay so had to be sill length, and the other has a radiator that couldn’t be moved anywhere else. Both look dated and a bit rubbish.

I have full length in my bedroom that are thick and cosy and pool at the bottom, even with a radiator under the window! Hate short. I also have a blackout roller blind that winds up to right above the glass so doesn't block any light when up but means I don't have to close the curtains when the radiators are on if I don't want to. Though even if I do the room remains very warm!

Sill length curtains are so 1980’s really not contemporary at all.

Thank god were all free to do what we like in our own homes!

Of course you can do what you want in your own home but as this has been posted in Home Decoration you will get opinions regarding the aesthetics.

Quite, and options differ. Delighted with the aesthetics in my home here.

@Dodie66 that's my situation with the window & height/wall size too, except I have a radiator under the window.(I wish I'd gone for a vertical on the side wall now!)

Any chance you could post a photo?!

Ok will do tomorrow when the light is better

@NigellaAwesome thank you for taking the time to reply. I know you can get them lined, but they just don't look as cosy as curtains do. Also too much lining & they stand too far forward of the window/wall when pulled up.

the wall above the window is fairly small (38vm) & I don't want them touching the ceiling, so they would hang down the window somewhat, even a couple of inches makes it feel much more closed in & darker.
& this is why the windows are still bare 🤣🤣

Floor length curtains look better. I’ve never seen sill length curtains that don’t look a bit rubbish.

@Dodie66

thank you🌷

@DancingInHisShirt me either, but I'm hoping someone can change my mind. I don't really want to cover up the radiator but one if the reasons I put the radiator there was that the windows are so high off the floor I thought ling curtains would look weird anyway. But I wish I'd put a vertical rad on the side wall & a piece of furniture under the window now. But I'm not redoing it as the pipes are all chased into the wall & plastered over. (And it took months to find someone willing to do it!!)

I'm going to throw a cat amongst the pigeons and say somewhere in between. All of my curtains in my house are 72" length so they're about a foot off the floor. I've had floor length ones in previous homes and they just sweep the floor and look tatty. If you have a high ceiling and they hang properly, they can look good. But in most homes built since the 1960s, the ceilings are too low and 90" curtains are going to be trailing all over the floor.

Decided to take some pics tonight. Here you go. They are lovely thick tapestry curtains and keep the room really warm

I don't like full length unless the window is close to the floor too. So I'd pick short ones. Often radiator is underneath too so just doesn't lol right.

In a living room though I think you need full length I don't think I've ever seen a living room with ones just down to the window length.

We ripped this very set up out of the lounge when we moved in. Personally I don't like "dressed" rooms full of unnecessary shit. To me that is very dated, Victoriania, and just makes rooms look gloomy and full. I like clean and un-fussy! Just me though 😁

Oh gosh I'm so against the grain here. I hate unnecessarily long curtains. I always think they're just cheap ready made ones someone couldn't be bothered to hem rather than ones made to fit the window. I like mine to finish so they just rest on the windowsill.