Design Journal

Curtains as the thing that makes a living room look finished

A bare window in a furnished room is the clearest signal that a home is unfinished, and it is the cheapest of the four things that fix it. Hung correctly they also buy back daylight.

Height and width do most of the work

Fix the pole close to the ceiling rather than just above the window, and extend it 20 to 30 cm beyond the reveal on each side so the gathered fabric sits on wall rather than on glass.

Two things follow. The window reads as larger and the wall as taller, which matters in the 1970s stock with modest ceiling heights. And the glass is fully clear when the curtains are open, which in a country where the sun sets before half past four in late December is a real gain rather than a decorative one.

This single decision separates curtains that make a room look finished from curtains that make a window look smaller.

Length

To the floor, or within a centimetre of it. Curtains stopping at the sill cut a room horizontally and lower the apparent ceiling.

Where a radiator sits under the window, which is common, full-length curtains over it block the heat during a heating season running roughly October to April. Two workable answers: hang to just above the radiator with the pole still near the ceiling, or move the seating rather than shortening the fall.

Fabric, and what it does across the year

Lined curtains reduce heat loss through glass measurably, and over the single glazing still common on rear elevations in converted stock that is a genuine saving.

They also add mass to the largest hard surface in most rooms, which reduces reverberation. That helps conversation, television and anyone taking a call, and in a building with timber floors it contributes to reducing what carries to the neighbours below.

In summer they do less than people expect. Internal fabric stops glare after the energy has passed the glass; external roller shutters stop heat before it enters, and you cannot add external shading yourself since the facade is almost always a common part of the copropriété.

Colour and pattern under flat light

A large share of days between November and February are overcast. Under that light a strong pattern on the largest textile in a room dominates it for five months.

An unpatterned fabric in a tone close to the wall makes the room read as larger and lets the curtain function as texture rather than as an object. It also supplies one of the three texture registers a restrained room needs, without adding anything to a surface.

Where colour is wanted, the curtain is a substantial commitment. A rug or the seating is usually the better place for it, and the rug has the additional benefit of anchoring the deepest tone at floor level.

Privacy without losing the day

In the denser districts, ground and first-floor rooms face the street directly. The standard answer is two layers: a sheer for the day, a heavier curtain for the evening.

The problem is that a full sheer costs daylight in exactly the months when there is least of it. Where a room is already dark, a lower sheer covering only the portion of the window at eye level from the pavement, leaving the upper glass clear, is a considerably better trade.

Check the angle to whatever faces the window: above roughly forty-five degrees, a south-facing room on a low floor already receives very little direct winter sun.

The fixing question, settled first

A pole near the ceiling requires fixing. In a rental, read the lease, ask in writing and photograph the wall before and after: filling and touching in a fixing costs a few euros before an exit inspection and appears at contractor rates afterwards, against a guarantee capped at two months' rent excluding charges.

In an owned apartment, anything touching a load-bearing element or the building's common systems requires consent and frequently the general assembly's authorisation. Fixing into a partition is usually straightforward; fixing into structure is a different question.

Where fixing is refused, the honest position is that the room will lose some daylight and the compensation is the lighting plan rather than a different curtain.

Measure before ordering

Six numbers, and fabric ordered without them is fabric ordered twice.

Ceiling height, since the pole goes near it. Window width plus 20 to 30 cm each side. The drop from pole to floor, or to just above a radiator. The reveal depth, which tells you how far the pole must project. Any obstruction: a light fitting, a shelf, a door swing. And roughly twice the pole width in fabric for a proper gather, since flat panels read as a temporary arrangement.

Where curtains sit in the order of spending

Third, after the lighting and the rug. Those two change a room more for less; curtains are what make it read as complete.

All three move to the next apartment, which in a market where an open-ended lease can be terminated at any time with three months' notice and most tenants move more than once is the strongest argument for spending on them rather than on anything fixed.

Three questions we are asked

Blinds or curtains? Blinds sit inside the reveal and cover glass permanently. They suit a kitchen or bathroom; for a living room, curtains hung high do more for both proportion and daylight.

Should they match the walls? Close in tone rather than matching exactly, which makes the window read as part of the wall and the room as larger.

Do I need a track? A pole is simpler and reads better in most rooms. A track suits a bay or a run that turns a corner, which is uncommon in Luxembourg apartments.

The order to do it in

Curtains are usually bought before the pole position is decided, which is why so many end up hung inside the reveal.

Decide the pole height first, close to the ceiling. Decide the width second, extending 20 to 30 cm beyond the reveal each side. Check the fixing is permitted and possible, and photograph the wall. Decide whether a radiator forces the drop to stop above it, since that changes the measurement by half a metre and cannot be corrected later without re-hemming. Only then order the fabric.

Where privacy is needed, decide the sheer at the same time rather than adding it later, since a lower panel and a full sheer need different hardware.

Three questions we are asked

Are curtains worth it in a rental? Among the better portable purchases, since the hardware and the fabric both move and most tenants here move more than once.

What if the window is very wide? A single pole with a centre bracket, and accept that the stack of fabric needs more wall each side. Measure before ordering.

Lined or unlined? Lined in a living room and a bedroom, for the heat and the acoustic mass. Unlined only where daylight is genuinely scarce and privacy is not a factor.