Short curtains above a radiator? The work of the devil?

[AWombWithoutAFoof]

Need to sort out curtains before we freeze to death. Short curtains are awful, aren't they? But what else to do above a radiator? Tuck curtains behind? Bunch up on top?

Thank you very much bunch of fives. I have booked marked in readiness.

I never knew there was anything wrong with short curtains, they keep the heat in and stop your windows getting condensation on at night.
People with long curtains in front of windows are just paying to heat up their windows unless they have very crap thin curtains with no thermal linings?

Our lounge has a tall Victorian window with a low sill, radiator under, sofa in front. The curtains finish an inch above the radiator, they don't let much heat out and since the bottoms of them are hidden behind the sofa, it doesn't matter that they aren't full length, instead they are extremely practical. The two back-facing windows have matching Roman blinds because they are more square and one also has a radiator.

IMO long curtains look best on big/tall windows and old houses, in a modern house with wide windows they are more likely to look like a patio door. People should use their common sense - no way is there one rule for all styles and proportions of rooms. Curtains trailing on the floor are great in a big grand room but too much of them is a bit like chandeliers and four poster beds.

I was just looking through Rightmove for pictures to prove my point- there are so many other curtain crimes it's worth a whole new thread. Curtains ending a foot above the floor! Either they are properly four-inches below sill length or one-inch above floor in my book - not in the no-mans-land between!

Shutters are quite expensive. We have them at the front of the house after I got sick and tired of trying to find a decent bay window curtain rail. They are great at keeping the heat in and look lovely, but they do need dusting and every now and then you have to clean out the crap in between the shutters and the window. In our nursery we also left a curtain pole up so we could hang a blackout curtain, as they're not totally light excluding. Doesn't bother my three year old though.

I hate short curtains, but I admire their utility. I would never have fake long curtain bits on short curtains. Urgh, mullet curtains. I only have three sets up though, two floor length and in need of hemming up a bit (Ikea massive long curtains) and one short in DD's room. It's hard to find long character curtains!

RaisingSteam Start that thread!

We have long curtains on our bedroom sash windows with a radiator underneath, so not ideal. However, we have fugly built-in secondary glazing on those windows, which mean a) we have to have long curtains to 'hide' the frame work of the secondary glazing and b) no heat is lost out of the window if the curtains are open, so we only close them last thing at night when the heating is off anyway.

I can't bear them, but only have the radiator in front of the window in the kitchen, so I just pull the curtains in front of it.

I also have an aversion to both short curtains and short sleeved shirts on men.

Wonder if the two are linked?

And are men with short sleeves more likely to buy short curtains? Interesting.

Oh no - short curtains I have issue with at all. Short sleeved shirts on men, particularly if worn with a tie or untucked in, are definitely the work of a very cruel devil.

No issue with the curtains

I used to work with a bloke who liked to show off his (admittedly lovely) muscly arms in short sleeved shirts. It served to make him look like a coach driver or postman. Obviously this would be okay if a man was either a postman or coach driver.

My curtains are just longer than the sill and I bunch them on top to stop the warm air getting trapped behind. They slip off all the time though and it drives me mad. Considering sewing weights in the bottom.

I have short curtains. Rollers look hideously functional on my smallish windows and while romans are less stark, with my previous ones the cord kept getting jammed and then they would raise unevenly. I think short curtains look more passable if they aren't too voluminous and blend with the wall color..

I have two square windows in the sitting room, about 45cm apart and with a long radiator that runs under one of them and unevenly out at the sides. If I had long curtains, it would stick out either side.

Nothing I can do will make them look better.

They have short, neat curtains. The ones over the radiator are actually about one inch shorter than the others, because the height of the radiator is just one inch below the sill. No one has ever noticed.

The window with the radiator is the one most on display; the sofa obscures the wall under the other.

I use roller blinds to keep the morning sun out in summer and as an extra layer to keep the heat in in winter. The heat still goes up the inside of the curtains.

Are shirt shirt sleeves just for menial types then? must remember to tell DH later. He started off with long sleeve shirts but now has short. We started off with long curtains and now have the correct length

I would take a pic of my curtains, window and radiator, but my christmas tree is still up and quite rightly frankly I'm too fucking embarrassed.