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Original poster

Hmm, Net curtains, do you have them? Why do people have them?

25 replies

WideWebWitch · 01/07/2007 11:32

While driving through a provincial town yesterday I noticed that almost EVERY house had net curtains.

I don't have them and I don't think I know anyone who has and it's never really occurred to me to get them or think about them. Is this a peculiarly English thing?

Do you have nets?
Why?
Do your neighbours?
I find them a bit bizarre.

OP posts:
McDreamy · 01/07/2007 11:33

No I dislike nets - with a passion, they look very dated - IMhumbleO!

Weegle · 01/07/2007 11:44

We don't exactly have nets, they are a more modern sort of hessian looking material but are to do the same job - stop us feeling like we are in a goldfish bowl! There is no road between us and the opposite row of houses (we are 90 degrees to road and there is a path leading down to all the other houses, then a small green, then another path, then opposite houses. If we didn't have "nets" on our lounge window then literally every neighbour walking to the other 10 houses in the two rows could peer directly in to our living room. Not very private! Same with our front bedrooms - and I don't want to have to shut the curtains and switch on the light every time I want to undress.

McDreamy · 01/07/2007 11:46

The hessian material you describe sounds much nicer than the lacey nets I am imagining from the op! I'll let you off

sniff · 01/07/2007 11:52

we have vertical blinds instead

im not a fan of the classic net curtain

peachygirl · 01/07/2007 11:55

I have them they were in the house already. I will probably change them to some voiles at some point. In their defence our house is very close to the pavement and people could see right into our house when walking past

wheresthehamster · 01/07/2007 11:56

Just a privacy thing. Never any nets at the side or back. Am gradually replacing them with blinds although probably by the time I get them up in every room nets will be back in fashion!

Imawurzel · 01/07/2007 12:00

We have nets in the front of the house and only one in the back bedroom that can be seen from the road, our house is 2 steps from the pavement and road and people stare in, sometimes i wave
You can still see through to the back of the house because we have double door things (french windows?) at the back on to conservatory.(was already here when we moved in)
Like Peachy girl i dont want to have to shut the curtains every time i get changed.

portonovo · 01/07/2007 14:44

Purely for privacy, I don't want people looking in as they walk past. And people do!

I don't particularly like nets, and do have blinds up at some windows, but my dislike of nets is outweighed by my dislike of having people peering in at us.

In our street there is a mixture. A couple have blinds of some kind, probably half have nets and the rest just curtains - but when we walk past those houses try as we might not to look you just can't help seeing right into their living rooms!

littlelapin · 01/07/2007 14:54

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MrsBadger · 01/07/2007 14:56

I hate them, really hate them, possibly because my mother has them and makes a real suburban song and dance about them being whiter-than-white and properly hung etc.

We have bushy garden in front of bottom half of windows and muslin Roman blinds from Ikea on the top half, but if our windows were right on the street I'd use this kind of stuff before nets.
Have also seen vintage lace panels, which look quite good in period houses, or cut-paper panels - one house near us has the kids make them like those folded snowflakes and changes them every couple of months.

TBH there are so many good-looking alternatives I can't think why some people still have gathered polyester nets.

Dottydot · 01/07/2007 14:58

We have nets (a) because we're an end terraced with pavement completely surrounding us and it feels like people are walking through our house at times and (b) we can't afford to replace the nets with nicer, posher stuff! Will be ditching them as soon as we move...

Original poster
WideWebWitch · 01/07/2007 14:58

There were hundreds and hundreds of houses with trad polyester nets, some with gaps in the middle so you could still look in if you really wanted to.

OP posts:
MrsBadger · 01/07/2007 15:12

you hit it on the head when you said 'provinical town', WWW - it was probably my parents' road (or one very like it) where all the nets are white and spotless, all the gardens are weeded to within an inch of their lives and all the cars get washed on a Sunday.
Were they 1930s semi-detached houses ?

I think it's probably a Provincial Thing. Or a Suburban Thing. Or just a plain Class Thing.

Original poster
WideWebWitch · 01/07/2007 15:15

Lots of 30s semis, yes. It was Bedford (no offence meant to anyone etc etc)

OP posts:
FrannyandZooey · 01/07/2007 15:21

We are one of the few people on our estate who don't have nets (70s houses with big picture windows)

the thing is, without them anyone walking past gets a fab view into your entire house, all the way back in our case, so you do feel a bit on show. But we love the light and spacey feeling of the big windows, so prefer to do without privacy to enjoy that.

littlelapin · 01/07/2007 15:24

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

berolina · 01/07/2007 15:27

Not an English thing. The Germans have them. Almost all of them have them. Even if they live in a fourth-floor flat with not much chance of passers-by looking in. My ILs have said they can't understand why we don't have them as it's Not Done.

bilblio · 01/07/2007 15:54

I hate nets, but sometimes you need something. We used to have voiles up in our old house because the house was 2 foot from the pavement and the road was a favourite short cut up to the university and the local grammar school.

Our house here is about 8ft above the pavement so we don't need anything, although I do have some very pretty embroidered voiles in my bedroom. They're usually pulled back during the day so I can see the nice view instead, but sometimes I do pull them across so I can sit on the bed in the day without the people opposite seeing in.

earlgrey · 01/07/2007 15:56

Because their mums had them. It's like sleeping in knickers in bed. Thankfully Ma did neither!

LadyVictoriaOfCake · 01/07/2007 15:57

i have voiles. the front of the bungalow is where the 2 main bedrooms are, and the bathroom.i have a silver blind on the hallway window which is up or opened during the day, down and shut at night.

if my living room and kitchen were to the front, then i would have blinds.

noddyholder · 01/07/2007 16:02

I have the same as badger sheer roman blinds or lace panels or just wave to the nosey parkers.Although nets are hideous vertical blinds are the work of the devil!

TinyGang · 01/07/2007 16:04

Aren't voiles just thick versions of nets though?

LadyVictoriaOfCake · 01/07/2007 16:05

yes lol. the girls ones are from ikea, and have butterflies on them. mine are plain.

bathroom has blinds, same as hallway.

sparklygothkat · 01/07/2007 17:39

I have wooden blinds with voiles over the top to stop all the kids standing outside staring in at us, most disturbing when you are sitting on your sofa, and look up and see 5 little pairs of eyes staring in at you.... I didn't intend to have voiles when we moved, just the blinds, but needs must...

StripeyKnickersSpottySocks · 01/07/2007 19:03

I have voiles, close to pavement and also the car is parked 12" from living room window. If I didn't have something I would have a nice view of the car.

Neighbours have wooden horizontal slatted blinds - but would they make the room darker???

Don't know what else to have. Don't like the frosted paper stuff.

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