Using curtain to separate kitchen and dining room

[CerseiLannistersHair]

Hello

Our small kitchen and small dining room are separated by an open doorway - ie no door. A door would open into the dining room making it hard to put a table in. But the rooms look so utterly different I hate them being open to each other at all. But it's handy of course for bringing in food.

Has anyone ever used a nice curtain to separate rooms like this? Does it look daft?

Could you put a sliding door in?

what about a concertina door folds up really small when open and dosent take up any floor space when shut

You can get rebate doors that actually slide within the wall - provided you have non-solid wall (ie frame and board) you can install them. When open you don’t know they are there, closed they are a proper door.

I have a plain cream curtain. I pinched the idea off 60 minute makeover.
I like it. No one has said it looks daft, and I can assure you that my family would say that if they thought it

I'm thinking the same OP. The concertina doors look really cheap IMO, ans sliding doors still need clearance - it removes the use of a wall, whichever side it goes.

I've looked at acoustic curtains, as I'd like something really heavy to block the noise of the washing machine!

If it is a small kitchen would it be a fire risk having a curtain in there?

Should also add, we have no money! It's only wide enough for 1 door so nothing fancy can go there.

You will be able to get a cheap curtain from a charity shop

I have seen this done with heavy velvet curtains . When they were shut it looked as though they covered a window rather than a kitchen. The owner used tie backs so that they didn't get in the way when she was serving food. They seemed to work well for a single lady, but I'm not sure they would work in a house with kids (or maybe that is just our house with kids - they would cover the curtains with food in no time).

Why not board over it?

Because then we'd have to walk through the hall and living room with food.

How about going a bit retro with a bamboo or beaded curtain or a folding screen? I don’t think a fabric curtain would look daft so long as it’s not crushed velvet or something impractical, go for a utilitarian fabric like sacking, hopefully these images will help.

Or you could make a simple barn door, there are tutorials on you tube.

I think it would look awful. Knock the wall down and have a kitchen diner. It would get in the way and smell of cooking.

Knocking a wall down is not exactly a cheap option though is it Bubbles did you read the thread? The OP has no money, I’m sure she would love to create a kitchen diner but probably the cost of a builder, making good flooring, redecorating, possibly having to install and RSJ put paid to that idea.

A curtain would look fine. It's a huge fire risk though (as is having no door though). Please make sure you get a heat detector in the kitchen, linked to your smoke alarms ideally.

I would paint the rooms the same colour, I think a curtain would look daft.

Surely a curtain would look a bit odd at the other side? You'll have one room where you're looking at the back of the curtain, unless you hang two (one in each room), which sounds a faff for getting through.

Curtain sound fine. Quite cheap to do, if you hate it take it down. I’d go for something easily washable....

But which room gets the back side of the curtain? Also I think it would smell like food/cooking smells quite quickly

On the upside my parents' neighbour had something similar in the eighties and we used it to play stars in their eyes, coming out of the kitchen in various get ups, singing.

I had one in my first house and it did the job just fine. I had a heavy velvety fabric curtain between the living room and kitchen, mainly to stop drafts and keep the heat in the lounge when I had the fire on.

If you do it, make sure it's washable because as PPs have said it will absorb cooking smells. And make sure it can't get accidentally caught on anything that could set it on fire.

The barn door looks awesome but there's not enough clearance on either side unfortunately!

You can get double sided curtains. I am kind of loathe to do it tbh but I'd really like to be able to shut off the kitchen mess sometimes.

Cooker is on the opposite side of the room, so v unlikely to catch fire.