I’ve never really liked curtains. I didn’t understand their purpose.
You have windows to see out and to let the light in, why would you want to cover the windows so you can’t see out or let the light in?
Or you have sheers which make even less sense to me.
Curtains were just something that you had to wash or you had to keep kids and cats from climbing.
So, we really haven’t had any curtains in the house. Prince J has some curtains to cover the big sliding door in his room. I understood those… he’s a teenage boy, he doesn’t really want people watching him do whatever it is he does in his bed (which is right next to the door) and also teen boys like to sleep so he didn’t want sun blaring in on him early in the morning.
We got an almost sheer green curtain for our bedroom when TW did that Home Goods campaign for BlogHer. (I think it’s really a fancy shower curtain, something else I don’t understand.) The curtain covers the blinds. Whatever.
We have somewhat sheer curtains in our bathrooms, too. That mostly (maybe?) keeps our asshat neighbors from watching us shower since the windows are over the tub in both bathrooms.
And that’s it.
When TW’s mom moved in, she did not like it that we had no curtains in the living/dining room. Three sets of french doors and another window seemed like too much window for her.
We talked about getting some curtains to help block the cold air but I didn’t believe that would really help. (I’m pretty sure I’m right about that based on the fact that we covered a set of french doors with bookcases and that didn’t help.)
So why am I a sudden curtain convert? Because we have dogs who HATE squirrels and cats and cars and people and they bark constantly. It wasn’t such a big deal when it was just Skeeter. She was pretty happy to stay in the bedroom with us (mostly). But then Lola came along and Lola is so ant-squirrel that she will guard the house from them 24 hours a damn day and she barks and barks and barks and barks. (She’s also teaching Buster to be anti-squirrel, but that’s another topic entirely.)
When I saw some big sale on blackout curtains, I figured what the hell. I’ll buy some panels and we’ll see what happens. The colors were ugly. I had no idea how many to buy. Knowing the height/width of things is not my forte’. So, I ordered five panels which ended up being just enough for one set of french doors plus a couple of little windows next to them.
This has helped cut down on the barking more than I ever dreamed it would. If only I’d bought another five panels, we’d be in good shape. We’d be sitting here in the dark a lot, but we’d have a lot less barking going on.
And TW’s mom, who you would think would be happy to see some curtains enter the house… no. She loves the windows in here and wishes we did not have any curtains at all. (Eyerolling, I’ve done a lot of eyerolling about that.)
Thank god for curtains. Now I just need to order some more.
We need blackout curtains for the office. We’re putting a daybed(ish) in there as a sort of extra spare bedroom and with the lights from the street it would not be fun to sleep in there without them. I didn’t have curtains on our bedroom window for a long time — not until we painted it and everything. And we don’t have any in the spare bedroom because no one can see in. (Cat likes the lack of curtains in there because she gets to sleep in moonbeams.)
You did really good just buying panels and fitting them! And lol at TW’s mom not liking the curtains… And I totally get the need. We have floor to ceiling windows in the living room and it gets cold in here in the winter. But hubby has resisted drapes all the while we lived here. And then…. I bought roll down shades that you can see out but it blocks the sun glare from 4-7 in the summer and he said “honey, why did you wait so long to buy shades?”. Now he says “honey, why didn’t you buy remote control shades?”. So maybe I will end up with lined drapes with a remote control in the future? Sure would help with our electric bill! all our other windows have wood slat blinds and I have to mostly keep the front blinds closed to keep the dang alarm dogs from going off. I totally understand.