Bedroom Curtains & Window Drapes: Top Ideas & Tips
Image by Elizabeth Hay Design
Bedroom curtains are the last thing you see before sleep and the first thing you see on waking. Drawn at night, they shut out the streetlight, the early sun and the neighbours; opened in the morning, they frame the day. The best bedroom curtains and drapes do both jobs well, and that comes down to a few choices: a lining that darkens the room, a fabric that keeps it private and warm, and a colour, pattern and heading that make it feel like yours. Whether you are a siesta-lover, a night worker or the parent of a baby who naps through the afternoon, this guide walks you through each one.
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Functionality with Elegance: The Best Bedroom Curtains
Image by Heidi Caillier Design
Fulfilling sleep is necessary for both a healthy body and a peaceful mind, so a bedroom’s decor should never be compromised on this aspect. And yet, in the urge to make the bedroom curtains meet an aesthetic preference, some lose sight of this crucial function of drapery to facilitate unhindered sleep. Others, while chasing functional efficiency, land up with curtains that feel too austere or visually dull for a bedroom. Maintaining the balance between functionality and elegance is key and it can be achieved by following these styling tips:
‘No Entry’ for Light & Noise: Opt for a Room-Darkening Fabric
Image by Heidi Caillier Design
The first step to creating a sleep-friendly ambience in the bedroom is to shut off incoming light and minimise external noise. While many factors contribute to making light-blocking, noise-resistant curtains, the prime among them all is the choice of the right fabric and lining which is fortunately in your hands since you are taking the made-to-measure route. Bedroom curtains need textiles that are inherently capable of cancelling light and noise substantially. So, our topmost recommendation for bedrooms is blackout curtains.
One of the most intelligent inventions in the field of textiles, blackout textiles are thick, coated fabrics that block most light and muffle sound. So, with blackout curtains at your doors and windows, you can expect a much darker, quieter bedroom.
To that end, we invite you to browse our blackout curtains collection for your bedroom drapery. However, please do not find yourself constrained to our blackout fabrics only for the desired functionality!
Our vast collection of drapery fabrics is at your disposal - waiting for you to simply add blackout lining behind and be transformed into room darkening, blackout curtains, thereby offering you all the benefits of blackout drapery while widening the design potential to infinity. Our blackout lining is sewn in and comes in white, beige and grey: beige sits well behind warm face fabrics, grey behind cool ones, and white keeps a bright, airy room fresh. Our guide to drapery linings explains the options in more detail.
FURTHER READING: With the selection of the right fabric and lining, you will have taken the first and most important step. But, more can be done to ensure a dark cocoon of a bedroom. So, for more designer tips on room darkening, visit our blog post on How to Stop Light Leaks Around Curtains.
Don’t Let Your Secrets Out: Ensure Flawless Privacy
Image by Dimitra Anderson Home
Visual exposure of the bedroom to the external environment amounts to a feeling of insecurity that is detrimental to sleep. Bedrooms are the most private spaces of any home and that aspect should be guarded flawlessly. Therefore, our stylists do not recommend dressing your bedroom windows with sheers and semi-sheers alone. We also advise against using thin, unlined drapery panels as these will likely fall short of meeting the privacy needs of a bedroom.
Instead, choose fabrics that don’t let light pass through or for shadows to form on their silhouettes, ensuring flawless privacy. Again, we fall back on blackouts because none can surpass them in keeping your secrets. Their acoustic abilities also come into play in softening the indoor sounds before they meet the external environment. So, if your bedroom is closer to a busy street or structurally attached to another house or room, blackout curtains will soften the sounds that carry out of your private space. If you would rather keep the room bright by day, choose our privacy lining instead: a drapery-weight white lining that cuts glare and protects the face fabric without darkening the room.
If your house is located on a busy street, you may be looking to ensure privacy during the day as well in your bedroom. For this, consider sheer or semi-sheer window treatments like roman blinds, curtains or other blinds layered under your blackout drapery. When non-sheer treatments are used as standalone, you will have to choose between privacy and light/ air, but by layering your drapes with sheer curtains or blinds, you can have it all at the same time. And, if you are lucky to have a great view from your bedroom, you can enjoy it too without keeping your privacy at stake. Our sheer and semi-sheer curtains have a chain weight along the hem, so they hang straight and neat behind your main curtains.
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Keep It Cosy Round the Year: Provide Ample Insulation
Image by Banda Property
After ensuring light control, sound absorption and privacy, you can now sleep well. But, blackout curtains don’t stop at that, they go a step ahead to ensure that you don’t wake up with cold feet in winter or with sweats during hot summer nights. They act as a thick layer between the internal and external environment making your bedroom strictly a universe of your own where the ambience is set to suit your practical needs.
The thick weave of the blackout fabric, together with its special coating, makes a robust insulative coverage. In addition, the rippled contours of curtains enhance their insulative capacity as the pleats bring about multiple layers of fabric and also double up as air pockets that trap warm air. This is why curtains prove to be better insulators than flat-layered treatments like shades or blinds.
Windows let warmth escape on winter nights and let the sun’s heat pour in on summer afternoons. Blackout curtains help with both: they hold on to the warmth in winter and keep the heat out in summer, so your heating has less work to do. So, you have two more reasons to sleep peacefully: a warmer room and lower energy bills. For more ways to keep the warmth in, see the Energy Saving Trust’s advice on draught-proofing. And if you are an eco-conscious person, you can be proud of cutting down at least some amount of greenhouse gases from your end.
When opting for blackout lining, pay keen attention to the choice of face fabric. Besides the aesthetic appeal that each fabric carries, its composition and thickness will have a say in the insulative capacity of the drapery. While you can expect a velvet or thick cotton drapery to insulate your bedroom very well, the same cannot be said about loose-woven linen or lightweight cotton. These lighter fabrics are, however, the best choice if you are going for a more airy bedroom.
Colour & Pattern? Yes, Please! Make the Most of the Aesthetic Opportunity
Image by SCW Interiors
Made-to-measure curtains come with unlimited potential to bring colour, pattern and texture into the space, unlike off-the-rack purchases that often confine to plain neutrals and a handful of patterns. If your bedroom needs some pizzazz, trust that role to your curtains and they’ll execute it most responsibly. Their sumptuous wavy contours contribute to making your bedroom look soft and dreamy, a true haven for restful sleep. In addition, they can be the apt signatories of your design style. Plain white flat panel curtains reinforce the Nordic themes and minimalistic leanings of a Scandi bedroom, bohemian curtains featuring global motifs suit an eclectic bedroom, while frilly rod pocket pastel floral drapery is the apt finishing touch of a country-style bedroom. Tapping into the full aesthetic potential of your bedroom curtains, you can use them as mouthpieces of your decor style. To that effect, make the following considerations.
PALETTE: Choose colours that calm down the mind rather than stimulate the senses as you will use this space mostly for sleep or rest. Depending on your taste, you may find your perfect pick in soothing neutrals and soft pastels or dark brooding colours. Since curtains occupy such a large optical real estate, it is better to avoid bold fiery colours like saturated red or bright yellow which will make the mind more alert. Instead, you can introduce these as accent tones, or opt for their muted versions.
PATTERN: Sometimes a bedroom needs a dose of pattern to add oomph and what better place to bring them in than made-to-measure drapery? Besides, patterns are the most candid spokespersons of a decor style. So, browse our collection of patterned drapes to find the best suitor for your bedroom. Consider a soft floral or ombre for a whimsical effect or a neutral paisley or damask for a classical touch. Add a plaid if you are going for a country look or a modern geometric for a contemporary flair. No matter what your taste, there is no dearth of choice when shopping with The White Window. Wide bedroom window? Our fabrics are 137 cm wide, so panels wider than about 122 cm (about 50 cm for pinch pleats, which use far more fabric) are joined with a vertical seam, and we match the pattern across it.
HEADING STYLE: Besides the fabric, the heading style will have a say in the aesthetic value of your bedroom curtains. The heading style refers to the design of the top portion of the curtain that attaches to the drapery pole. The header’s structure contributes to the decor language of the room and also dictates how the curtains control incoming light and glide on the pole. At The White Window, you have the luxury of choosing from over a dozen heading styles, each offering a unique configuration of aesthetic appeal and functional benefits. Browse our detailed Drapery Headings Guide for more information and pick the one that forwards your vision. For eyelet, pencil pleat, rod pocket and flat panel curtains, order twice the width of your pole for soft, generous folds. Pinch pleats are different: the pleats are already stitched in, with 2.5–3x fullness, so order them to the width they will cover.
Finish with Personalised Touches: Explore Curtain Trims & Coordinated Treatments
Image by Jenkins Interiors
Since you are taking the made-to-measure route, make the most of it to deliver your aesthetic vision to the full. Use all the options for adding personalised touches to your curtains, but don’t stop at that. Explore the plethora of options available at The White Window to curate your bedroom to feel like a space uniquely carved out for you, of all others in this universe. Let your bedroom wear the stamp of your personality. And these are some of the ways to achieve it -
CURTAIN TRIMS: These little add-ons go a long way to add interest, elegance and a customised appeal besides speaking to your taste and the mood of the space. In a bedroom that looks eclectic, decorative and ornate, curtains with tassel and fringe trims will further that aesthetic language. Similarly, a bedroom packed with casual elegance can look done right when the curtains sport lush pompom trims. For a bedroom that is more suave or cut to the minimum for a clean-lined, relatively less fussy decor, ribbon trims suit right. Curtain trims are a great way to add colour, texture and pattern to the space. So, depending on your decor style and the mood you’re trying to relay, choose a curtain trim that goes best with your drapery fabric.
Image by SCW Interiors
COORDINATED ACCESSORIES: To accentuate the bespoke charm of your drapery, try adding accent pieces that coordinate with your drapery fabric. Explore our store of made-to-measure accessories where you can shop cushion covers and tie-backs in the same fabric as your drapery. You can also order fabric by the metre if you want to further that same idea onto your headboard, bed runner or upholstery to enhance the cohesiveness of your bedroom.
Bedroom Curtains: FAQs
What are the best curtains for a bedroom?
Lined curtains in a medium to heavy fabric. Choose blackout lining if you want the room dark for sleep, or privacy lining if you want soft daylight but no view in from outside.
Should bedroom curtains be blackout?
They don’t have to be, but blackout lining is the best choice if you sleep while it’s light outside, work nights, have a streetlight outside the window or a baby who naps by day. It blocks most light, though a little can still creep in around the edges.
Can you add blackout lining to any curtain fabric?
Yes. Any of our 2,500+ fabrics can be made with blackout lining, in white, beige or grey, so you don’t have to choose a blackout fabric to get a dark room.
Do blackout curtains help keep a bedroom warm?
Yes. The thick, coated lining helps hold warmth in on winter nights and keeps the sun’s heat out in summer. It also muffles outside noise.
How long should bedroom curtains be?
Floor length looks best and blocks the most light, so let them just skim the floor. Sill length suits a window above a bed, a desk or a radiator.
What colour curtains are best for a bedroom?
Calming colours: soft neutrals, gentle pastels or deep, moody shades. Curtains cover a lot of wall, so keep bright reds and yellows for accents rather than the whole window.
Shop Bedroom Curtains at The White Window
Image by Sian Parry Jones Designs
Bedroom curtains can easily be that one finishing touch of your bedroom that changes its entire look. But over and above the visual beauty, these accessories have to fulfil the vital role of containing incoming light and ensuring flawless privacy. We hope that this guide has helped you to identify your priorities with your bedroom drapes and decide on the route to be taken to best satisfy them. With the tips and insights shared by our able designers here, creating your bedroom curtains may end up as a joy ride and we hope to assist you in your journey. Browse The White Window’s collection of 2,500+ designer fabrics today, all made to measure and handcrafted by artisans in India, to find the drapery that finishes your bedroom on a luxe relaxed note. If you need help, email us at info@thewhitewindowcurtains.co.uk.
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