Blinds v Curtains for bedroom?

[LadeOde]

We're doing redecorating and have a chance to change our dated looking bedroom curtains. Only I'm now wondering whether curtains are actually outdated and blinds might be better. What is the current thing and what's modern? to give some context, we have 2 large bedroom windows, the bed head is against one just beneath one window and on the other window has a radiator beneath it, so we currently have short curtains on both. Are curtains still seen as a must have for the bedroom? if not what kind of blinds would you recommend i.e roller/roman.

Curtains should be a cm above the floor or just tipping the outer edge of the window ledge. Bollocks to ‘fashion’ lengths just go with what fits well. As long as the window ledge curtains are heavy enough to hang well they will work well.

Thanks all for your very interesting and varied comments. There's a lot to think about. I'll let you all know what i decide in the end.
I think i might spend some time looking at bedroom photos online for inspiration and what looks aesthetically pleasing to me. I started off thinking there were just 2 options but you lot have now offered so many different ones!!!

My bedroom had blinds when I moved in. It felt like a clinic. The windows fill the whole width of their wall, which made the curtains intrude on the glass, so I put up a curved rail, and ran the curtains round on to the wall. I have furniture below, so the curtains from my old place, hanging about 8ins below are fine. I never thought of being out of date, fashion, or anything. Just what worked.
The rail didn't. Hot weather seemed to weaken the grip on the fixings and the whole contraption fell down. Major job redrilling the fixing holes etc, moving the afore mentioned furniture.
But don't get Venetian blinds if you don't fancy the hospital look. Fabric is the way to go.

This is one of mine, half open. It’s a plain fabric but heavy and textured so I think it’s cosy enough!

Blinds for me, we have gorgeous heavy teal velvet Roman blinds. I find curtains very dated, especially short ones.

@Lalalaletmeexplain Those are lovely, very nice. Where are they from?
@Lilliesandjasmine Where do you get your thick blinds from?

is blinds2go and good? also curtains (curtains2go). I've looked around at John Lewis & Dunelm and nothing caught my fancy they all looked like old farm house styled curtains.

Thank you! They were from Hillary’s. I think the fabric is called nest something. They weren’t too expensive from what I remember

Yes blinds 2 go, it’s these ones. They are very thick and heavy.

www.blinds-2go.co.uk/roman-blinds/47767/finnestone-velvet-peacock.html

If you want some ideas, and it depends on your taste,

my daughter has these blush pink ones in velvet, we have thermal backing or black out on them all. Light filtering in thr hall.

https://www.blinds-2go.co.uk/roman-blinds/30796/plush-velvet-blush.html

and these in her en-suite.

https://www.blinds-2go.co.uk/roller-blinds/24799/fairhaven-carnival.html

Real silk in a reception room.

https://www.blinds-2go.co.uk/roman-blinds/38479/real-silk-allora-obsidian.html

And faux silk ones in the halls.

https://www.blinds-2go.co.uk/roman-blinds/15791/dupioni-faux-silk-shimmering-grey.html

plus a load of others, but if you get the right fabric, I think they look lovely. Surprised someone said blinds look cheap 😂,

It’s all about the fabric, and it’s worth ordering the free samples of the material whatever you chose and from where ever, as they do look different in real life to the images, plus a lot depends on the light in thr room.

Think about the bedroom. Facing east? Blackout blinds so you aren't woken at 4am in the summer. Small windows? Blinds within the window recess might block too much light. Is the room cold? Thermal blinds or curtain linings might help. Overlooked? Voiles you can draw for privacy in the day. Then choose your favourite colour and fabric. It sounds like you don't like short curtains so don't have those. My pet hate is curtains so long that they drag on the floor and sweep up dust. Best wishes, I bet whatever you choose will look great.

In our bedrooms we have fitted velux black out blinds as all the windows are velux. But even though the windows slope, they are quite far inset into the wall so the walls themselves are completely vertical. With just the blinds the wall looked cold and the room was lacking a cosiness. So I put up floor length curtains as well. So we now have blinds and curtains. It's lovely as we can get total black out with the blinds, but also the snug cosy look and feeling that the curtains bring, and all are quite modern in style.

I agree short curtains aren't as nice. Floor length feels more plush and statement. But we did have a similar issue in our old house where the radiator was below the main window. In winter I was always tucking the curtains in behind the radiator so as not to miss out on the heat!

@Bringbackspring This is the problem with long curtains as you say. In winter you want the warmth, cosiness and elegance that long curtains afford but then the radiator is concealed and you don't get the heat from it and i hate scrunching tucking long curtains behind radiators. I'm swaying towards long curtains though, because of the wow! look. Do you still have radiators below your window at the moment?

We don't have radiators below the windows in this house, fortunately the window walls don't have anything on them. The down side in this house though is all the radiators are tiny, can't win 😂

We have both in bedroom.Blackout roller blinds on a bay window with 3 panes and full length curtains.

@LadeOde I don’t pull the curtains until bedtime when heating is never on so it doesn’t matter about the radiator.

Both blinds and curtains

When I moved into my house, I swapped from my usual net curtains and heavy curtains over to close, to blinds in the recess and voile hanging where you'd expect a heavy curtain to be.

Wish I'd thought of it before tbh. It makes the rooms look bigger.

I would avoid just having blinds mounted in a recess as they will let the light in around the edges. Either mounting them in front of the recess or in combination with curtains would be best from a blackout point of view.

I just got rid of floor length curtains hung over a radiator as I found them annoying although it does depend on if you will have the radiator on after dark.

I work in interiors so luckily get everything trade for home. We've got blackout pleated blinds inside the window recesses, and then a mix of roman blinds or curtains in the bedrooms. I've just had a huge roman blind fitted in the main bedroom - it's far more effective than curtains covering the radiator and it's thermal lined/blackout lined so with that and the pleated blind it should be super cosy this winter. But I have used quite a bold fabric so it's a real splash of colour. It's also ceiling fixed so you get a decent amount of fabric showing during the day but it doesn't block any light.

Just had roman in bedroom. Look great in the daytime, very neat. However, if you have tge window open behind the chain rattles if its windy. They do not block the light out as well as curtains (though they are inside the window frame rather than outside it, so that might make it better)

Depends whether the bedroom tends to be cold in winter, gets too much sun in summer and whether it faces sunrise or sunset (or neither!).

I don't care about being in fashion or not but we chose blinds and curtains. Curtains have thermal linings and are thick fabric which helps a lot with warmth in the winter months. Blinds are verticals so great for stopping the sun shining in and making the room too hot in summer (Roman blinds it would have meant the whole blind having to be down) and act as an extra layer in the winter. Blinds also easy to use for privacy as we're overlooked.

The light shines round the edges of the blinds - we had a delay getting the curtains made so experienced the just blinds effect. Having blinds without curtains would have made the room very light early on in the summer months.

Thanks for all your comments coming in, still reading.
@LizzieBennett73 Could you post a photo of your windows pls?

Don't worry about fashion. Do what you like andmost importantly what is practical. We have roman blinds in DS's room (edited to add: his room is small and curtains overpower the room) short curtains in the DDs' room (for practical reasons, there's furniture under the window but the room has a lot of MCM furniture and the short curtains works with that asthetic), and full length curtains in our bedroom bay window.

For you I think roman blinds with interlining in a luxury fabric will work brilliantly and give a cosy feel but also be practical.