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Original poster

Bedroom curtains

31 replies

TremoloGreen · 05/04/2016 22:31

Have so many design decisions to make at the moment, I have this one little detail crippling me, but I need to get on and place a huge fabric order, so need to decide.

Floor length or below-sill length curtains in the master bedroom? Pencil pleat or eyelet? Two wide but not particularly high windows. Radiator is directly below the bigger window. Cold north-facing room.

Thinking of this or this fabric.

Walls will be Little Greene Woad Ercol style furniture.

OP posts:

minipie · 05/04/2016 22:43

Floor length, pencil pleat, first fabric.

TheFurryMenace · 05/04/2016 22:49

Second fabric, pencil,pleat, floor length. I like your colour scheme!

Pinkshire85 · 05/04/2016 22:52

Second fabric, pencil pleat

Pinkshire85 · 05/04/2016 22:52

Second fabric, pencil pleat

wowfudge · 05/04/2016 22:53

No - if the radiator is below the window, the curtains should not cover it or all the heat will go up behind them! Just below the sill will be perfect. Agree with pencil pleat though. Second fabric for a bedroom.

DelphiniumBlue · 05/04/2016 22:54

I wouldn't cover the radiator up with curtains, so would probably go for sill- length for practical reasons.
But floor length does look nicer, so maybe have floor length to dress the windows, but also blinds to actually block out light, so then you can leave the curtains permanently open, and then the blinds for function, without blocking the radiator. The blinds could be same fabric or complementary. Pencil pleat curtains look more finished, IMO.

yomellamoHelly · 05/04/2016 22:55

Floor length, pencil pleat, second fabric

Original poster

TremoloGreen · 05/04/2016 23:08

Great. I'm glad everyone said pencil pleat as cutting out eyelets makes a right mess. Also I'm glad people like the second fabric, DH is not sure, but he is known for being pedestrian when it comes to interiors.

Argh. I'm on a very tight budget. I don't know if I can afford to have curtains that are purely decorative and then another thing to actually block out light. How dreadful is sill-length? Is it the curtain equivalent of a big flatscreen above the fireplace, be honest.

OP posts:

Original poster

TremoloGreen · 05/04/2016 23:10

Also, I am slightly tempted by a half-price roll end on Ebay that will make the bigger pair of curtains, but only if sill-length. Not how a purist would make such decisions, I know.

OP posts:

wowfudge · 05/04/2016 23:32

Sill length curtains are only an interiors faux pas on MN

Youremywifenow · 05/04/2016 23:54

Love the second fabric. I'd go for plain curtains though and make a duvet cover (if it's wide enough) so you can change the look easily and it won't clash.
Or patterned curtains and white linen.

FrikkaDilla · 06/04/2016 07:31

I'd have plain curtains too. That's a lot of pattern going on and you are stuck with it. Full length, pencil pleat. Simple and classic.

Original poster

TremoloGreen · 06/04/2016 08:42

Plain curtains? You and DH would get on Also, I would have to be able to cut a straight line.

OP posts:

Kingfisherfree · 06/04/2016 08:50

I would have sill length I have just made some which haven't turned out that well because the material was a thick linen union and then put with a thick lining. I would make the material quite thin and line them and also make the pole fairly flush so they do sit on the sill correctly.

namechangedtoday15 · 06/04/2016 09:22

Never sill length. If you're worried about losing heat in the bedroom, have a roman blind made (lined with black out fabric).

Original poster

TremoloGreen · 06/04/2016 10:00

I can make blackout roman blinds. The only problem with them is in our old house, there was a lot of condensation pooling under them as the blackout lining is completely non-breathable. It might be less of an issue in this house, because that house had original sash windows we couldn't change, and we have draughty double glazing here.

What is wrong with below sill curtains then? Just dated because the fashion is now for floor length? I'm a bit by it all as I get that floor length look great on french doors and big tall georgian windows, but my house is/was a 30s country cottage, so no high ceilings and the window sills are above waist height* upstairs. So, I'm not sure if slavishly putting in floor length when not practical is a bit like when you see those energy-efficient 90s houses with a 'fireplace' on a flat wall and no chimney - just because it was decreed somewhere that all sitting rooms must have a fireplace IYSWIM?

*For me. May be waist height for a normal sized person.

OP posts:

namechangedtoday15 · 06/04/2016 10:10

I do think it depends on the house (we're also in a 30s house) but they just look very dated and old fashioned (imo).

We had one room with a condensation issue and had a (cheap) blackout blind which seemed to make the problem worse. I think (and someone with more knowledge than me can add something perhaps) blackout fabrics have improved and certainly the bespoke roman blind we had made (with blackout lining) a couple of years doesn't cause / amplify the problem, no problem at all.

Original poster

TremoloGreen · 06/04/2016 10:22

That's interesting. I must say, blackout lining I have bought for this house are indeed quite different - lovely soft stuff now that doesn't feel as rubbery. It still wouldn't be breathable in a million years but drapes v nicely.

OP posts:

minipie · 06/04/2016 16:33

If it was a ye olde cottage with beams and rickety floors then sill length curtains would be right. Not sure what a 30s country cottage looks like? I know 30s town/suburban houses and would go for floor length in those.

Or sill length roman blinds. We have blackout lined roman blinds in our (victorian) house and don't have condensation issues (actually the worst condensation, still not very bad, is in our bedroom where the blind is unlined).

specialsubject · 06/04/2016 16:36

sill length covering radiators is obviously foolish. (remember this is MN where it is deemed feminine to be pig-ignorant about basic science)

if you do it, remove the radiator or at least turn it off. You'll be freezing, but stylish. That's feminine too, it seems...

specialsubject · 06/04/2016 16:37

now, just substitute 'floor' for 'sill' and that will make sense...

wowfudge · 06/04/2016 16:43

Ha ha special - it's catching! I think I'm going to go sill length in our Edwardian living room in our new house - waits for screams and snorts of derision - I might even post photos to wind all the naysayers up

minipie · 06/04/2016 16:46

See I don't get the whole heat blocking thing.

Bedroom curtains are open in the daytime, shut at nighttime. (And in the master bedroom, night starts at about 10-11pm when you go to bed). So in the day the curtains are open and are not blocking heat from the radiator. In the night, heating is set to very low and the radiators are barely on, so no heat to block. At least that's the way it is in our house.

Prepared to be told I am pig ignorant about basic science though...

wowfudge · 06/04/2016 16:58

Do you not have the heating set to come on before you get up though? If so, the heat from the radiator is going up behind the curtains instead of into the room. Ditto in the evening if the heating is on and the curtains closed before you go to bed.

namechangedtoday15 · 06/04/2016 18:27

I'm with you Minipie - heating goes off about 8 or 9pm (if its really cold) - house stays warm until we go to bed about 10.30/11pm ish - at which point we draw the curtains in the bedroom. Room nice & warm.

We probably leave the house within 45 minutes of getting up in the mornings so we never have the heat on in a morning.

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