What are the best curtains for a bedroom?
Updated
The best curtains for a bedroom are the ones that match how dark you want the room. For a dark room, use blockout (blackout) fabric or add a separate blockout lining. For soft daylight and daytime privacy, add a sheer on a second track. Fabric, heading and colour are then a matter of style and care.
How dark do you want the room?
Light is the main reason people choose bedroom curtains, so decide this first. Blockout (blackout) means the fabric stops light passing through it. There are three ways to darken a room, and a sheer for the day.
| Option | What it does | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Self lined blockout | A coating on the back of the fabric stops light | Stitching leaves tiny pinholes of light along seams and hems |
| Separate blockout lining | A second fabric hangs behind the face fabric | It covers the pinholes, and adds weight and thickness |
| Dense woven fabric (triple weave or dim out) | Darkens the room without a coating | Usually lets a little light through |
| Sheer | Softens daylight | Gives daytime privacy only, not privacy at night with the lights on |
No curtain seals a window completely. Light can still show at the sides, over the top and under the hem. A track that runs wider than the window, fixed to the ceiling where possible, reduces it.
Many bedrooms hang both: a sheer and a blockout on a double track, the sheer closed by day and the blockout drawn at night. A double track needs more room off the wall.
Which fabric and heading suit a bedroom?
Fabric decides how a curtain hangs, feels and ages, so ask to see a large sample in your own room.
- Linen has a natural texture, creases easily and moves with humidity and temperature. Speedy Blinds recommends a protective lining on high linen fabrics to help them last.
- Velvet is heavy and its pile runs in one direction, so it can look a different shade from different angles. Heavy fabrics also settle lower after hanging.
- According to the paint maker Resene, acrylic and polyester stand up to sunlight better than many other textiles.
- Heavy fabrics and extra layers help a curtain insulate, says the Australian Government's YourHome guide, but the benefit drops if air moves around the curtain.
Wave Fold, S Fold and pleated headings such as pinch pleat can all work in a bedroom. The track has to suit the heading, so ask your retailer which heading and track they are quoting. Other heading names, such as eyelet, depend on what the maker offers.
What colour curtains are best for a bedroom?
Whichever you like the look of. Colour is a style choice. What makes a curtain blockout is its coating or lining, not the shade on the front.
If the room gets strong sun, a lining takes the sun in place of the face fabric and helps it last. Sunlight fades every fabric over time, and Resene says sun fading affects colours with a lot of red in them the most.
Do you need blockout curtains in a baby's room or nursery?
That is for each family to decide, and this page is not sleep advice for babies. For that, ask your doctor or child health nurse. A curtain's job here is to darken the room: blockout (blackout) fabric or a blockout lining stops light passing through the cloth.
For sleep in general, the Sleep Health Foundation lists morning light that comes too early among the things that can disturb sleep, and better curtains among the things that can help with disruptions from outside.
Cords and chains matter most where a young child sleeps. Ask your retailer for a way to work the curtain with no cord or chain loop, such as a wand on a hand drawn track or a motor, and keep cots and beds away from windows with cords.
Ask your curtain retailer which blockout option they are quoting, how much light will get past the edges at your window, whether the track can be fixed to the ceiling, and how the fabric is cared for. They take the measure, give the quote and place the order with the workroom.
Other ways people ask this
Are blackout curtains good for babies?
Blockout (blackout) curtains darken a room by stopping light passing through the fabric. For advice on a baby's sleep, ask your doctor or child health nurse, and ask your retailer about the curtains.
Do I need blackout curtains for a nursery?
Only if you want the room dark, and that is the family's choice. If you do, ask your retailer for a blockout fabric or lining and a way to work the curtain with no loose cord or chain.
Which curtain colour is best for a bedroom?
The one you like. Colour is a style choice. What makes a curtain blockout is its coating or lining, not its colour.
Are thermal curtains good for a bedroom?
Heavy fabrics and extra layers help a curtain insulate, says the Australian Government's YourHome guide. It also says air gaps around the curtain reduce the benefit.
This answer is general information. For your own windows, your retailer's advice and your order with them come first.