Recently I had a client ask me if he is required to put curtains on the windows. The answer is no. I do recall a situation with a client where the landlady was complaining because the she had not covered the windows.
I called the landlady and explained to her that not everyone likes curtains, and that there is rarely a ready-made curtain that will fit perfectly. Most need hemming of some kind, and while it is possible to use iron-on tape, rather than sew, it is a lot of work. Curtains are not inexpensive.
Window blinds may be an option, and with various gadgets on the market that allow you to hang many blinds without drilling, (called a Klemmträger - see photo below) worth looking into. The fact is that if you don't have shutters, how else are you going to have any privacy at night or early in the morning?
I hate bare windows, but I sew .
Just wondering if others think it is unusual not to cover the windows?
I agree. Many years ago I lived in an apartment with custom wood shutters on the insides of the windows. They were great. Easy to clean, you could open them completely or have total darkness. I would prefer that to shutters on the outside, where I have to worry about what time to open and close them.
You can at least vacuum curtains in place. I can turn down the power of my vacuum cleaner for this and for unholstery. I vacuum my window sills so it is an easy matter to vacuum the curtains if I want to at that point.
The worse things to clean are blinds for when you are leaving an apartment. They attract dirt and are extremely difficult to clean without breaking them.
Isn't down to preference and the size of the windows? To me biggish windows which aren't "dressed" can look a bit bare so we use a lot of "Voile" or sheer full length curtains which are very light and because the fabric has lace-type holes in them air can pass through, avoiding the mould problem. They don't have to be expensive. They give privacy during the day but not at night. We use the shutters for that at night. If you don't have shutters then privacy is going to be a problem.
I guess it depends on the view. In Malta we had total privacy and a gorgeous view to the sea so I wouldn't even dream of putting anything to cover up the huge windows. Of course, it would have been very different if we were staring at another house.
You are right Nev, the sheer curtains can be quite nice and much healthier than those heavy thick ones.
I personally really like curtains I find they add something to the room that makes it more "dressed" and cosy. But definitely a matter of taste.
To your question: are they a necessity? No, definitely not unless for privacy. But having said that, sometimes it is more for other's privacy than your own (i.e. I sometimes walk around in underwear and Tshirt and do not really care if the neighbour sees me but I did mind when we had a neighbour walking around stark naked... really did not want to see that whilst eating my Muesli in the morning.... )
I'm not a fan of curtains, I prefer to leave the windows bare and use the outside blinds. In my living room, one wall is windows/doors to the balcony and if I really want privacy, I just roll down the awning outside.
curtains would mean that I would not be able to see Rappi castle from my sofa spot. And, as we're on a hill, we are not overlooked on the side that most of the big windows are on.
btw professional cleaners will clean your shutters when you'd moving out.
... and should you have white curtains and want to keep or have them snow white you should add some baking powder and a bit of salt in the wash one of those precious grandmother advices
I lived for 2 years in an apartment without curtains and I never thought I needed it!....but know I'm changing to a ground floor and I realize that is a basic necessity for me now! Even if I believe that in switzerland nobody will look inside your house...
To me it depends on the place. If you have an interesting place with lots of different angles, wood beams, brick etc I might put curtains on a few windows where it looked good but generally not.
The place I recently moved into... its a big white rectangle made of echo inducing cement (and is ground floor). I really need some curtains both for looks and hopefully cut down the echos! (but have not found the intersection of ones I like and ones that will fit my windows - and I don't know how to sew).
We're having the same debate at the moment, regarding our living/dining room.
Two of the walls, at a right angle to each other, are glazed almost all the way across, meaning we have a magnificent view of the mountains on both sides and the valley in the middle. Unfortunately, directly opposite our flat (at 10:00, if you consider the vertex where the two windows/walls meet to be located at 12:00), we are overlooked by a block of flats containing several very friendly but very nosy neighbours (they seem to spend half their lives hanging out their kitchen windows, watching the world go by with a cigarette in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other...).
On the one hand, we don't want to cover or distract from the view with curtains or drapes. On the other hand, we'd quite like to be able to nip in and out of the room without worrying who can see us and what they can see...
We could have curtains across the wall which faces the flats, I suppose, but that would look a bit daft, having half the room curtained and half left open.
Curtains in the kitchen window - absitively posolutely. Call me old-fashioned but my kitchen won't be finished till it has curtains (either white lace or some bright calico) in the window.
Curtains in the bedroom - we have blinds, so don't really see the need for opaque drapes there. Maybe I will hang some sheers in the summer, so we can let some fresh air in without sacrificing too much privacy.
Curtains anywhere else - nope. Not in this flat. My rule of thumb is that if I can't imagine wanting to sit with them drawn (and I can't), they will only be a waste of money and laundry days.
(Anyway I don't think the neighbors can actually see us in the daytime, unless we are right up near the window. We certainly can't see halfway into their living rooms unless it's dark and lights are on... and if it's dark we can always lower the blinds.)
Put curtains in the bathroom window... Because even if someone doesn't want to see something , sometimes it can't be avoid and gosh you wish you didn't see what you saw...