A swishy way to subdivide an open space or to shut out the night with curtains, here are 7 dapper window treatments to try.
Window treatments make a room feel finished. Curtains can be a simple and very effective way to shut out the outside and reduce drafts in older homes.
In more contemporary homes, privacy screens can double as artworks, and drapes can be used to divide large open-plan spaces.
Here are 7 to try:
Welcome the dusk
Blackout curtains in the bedroom mean that the unwelcome chinks of light can be kept at bay until you’re ready to face the day.
Hillarys has collaborated with the V&A Museum on a William Morris collection that includes bedroom-appropriate window dressings.
The design house’s classic The Strawberry Thief comes in two options: a pale dawn colourway or the might blue dusk option, shown in the lead image.
Prices start from about €330 per pair of curtains, ex delivery.
A fabric wall
Curtains can be used to great effect to temporarily divide an open-plan room.
It’s an easy way to close off part of the space in one big swoosh.
A modern take on geometric design, Inka Stripe is a luxurious way to weave in print and texture.
From Jane Churchill’s Canya pattern book, the artisanal stripe makes a striking choice for bold drapery. It costs about €160 per metre to order from Collette Ward Interiors.
Draught excluder
A curtain with a ruffle adds a fancy frill to hard-working external door drapes.
This design by Tori Murphy can be ordered as a made-to-measure or ready-made option.
The wool fabric comes in the Harbour Stripe sage colourway and is thermally lined to help banish draughts. Make sure the fabric is long enough to pool a little on the floor, as this will trap the warm air in.
It costs about €1,415, ex delivery and charges, from the UK-based firm.
Posh privacy
The café curtain is a discreet way to create a veil between you and the outside world.
It also allows light to come through, essential to boost moods in winter and lends a home a touch of French polish.
There are many options, but the aged brass rail and ringed bracket set, from €75 for a 75cm width, ex delivery, at Matilda Goud’s MG&Co. could just be the chicest.
Etsy is selling a semi-opaque striped, pin-tucked linen-look curtain for about €7, ex delivery.
Door dressing
In a small house with too many doors, the temptation is to remove some of them for a better sense of flow.
Banish any draughts by installing a neat curtain to shut out the other rooms on winter nights.
This idea shown is part of Kirkby Design’s Heir range, available to order at Dun Laoghaire-based Brian S. Nolan, but any lined curtain will do.
The secret here is that the curtain mimics the colour of the door frame, so it doesn’t jar visually.
Artful screening process
At the upper end of the luxury market is an animated screen that also lends a room privacy that is worth a look, even if just for ideas.
This brass-trimmed, multiple-leaf design by Studio MTX, available to order through The Invisible Collection, is fixed to the ceiling in front of the window.
Made to order in France, it comes in three sizes. The smallest comprises five leaves, measures 200 cm wide and 300 cm long and costs from €16,560, ex delivery.
The pelmet makes a return
This short valance, or small cornice, is used to conceal curtain fixtures and is usually seen in a period property context.
It is used to great effect by Yellow London in the drawing room of Cotswolds-based, private rental property, Coombe End Manor, where the upholstered pelmet and curtains are book-matched. The Turnell & Gignon fabric in Alhambra pattern is available from Clarence House.
The pelmet helps keep draughts out, explains Co Offaly-based Noelle Interiors, where prices for a custom, interlined pair start from about €1,000.
The upholstered shaped pelmet with the contrast piping will cost from €390.
