French doors are a popular architectural feature of many residential properties, which can create a sense of openness between indoors and outdoors and invite nature into your home. If you have never had French doors before, you may be wondering whether you need to dress them with curtains or leave them bare.
Here we will look at the pros and cons of installing curtains on French doors and whether they are likely to be a good addition to your home.
If you need a quick answer, find it below.
When thinking about whether or not your French doors should have curtains, there are a variety of things you will want to consider, which range from practical through to aesthetic. The importance of these factors and the level to which they apply to you and your home will help you decide if you should install curtains over your French doors.
French doors can look great with or without curtains, so essentially, the decision is entirely personal, and it all comes down to your own circumstances and opinions. There is, of course, no rule book that tells you whether you should or shouldn’t install curtains in your own home.
Privacy
One of the main reasons people install curtains in their homes is privacy. Curtains allow us to draw them at any time to prevent outsiders from having visual access to our homes. Most people tend to close their curtains in the evenings because if it is dark outside and you have lights switched on in your home, people who are outside will very clearly be able to see you and your belongings.
This makes many people feel self-conscious that they might be being watched, and it also could make you a target for theft if people see that you have valuable or attractive items in your home. In this sense, curtains give homeowners peace of mind that comes along with privacy. However, whether or not you really need curtains on your French doors is going to depend on the aspect of your home.
If the French doors are on the back of your property, and your home is not overlooked by any neighboring houses, then you may not feel it is really necessary to have curtains on your French doors if they aren’t visually accessible.
If your back French doors can be seen from your neighbors windows, then you may feel it is worth installing curtains to create privacy. If your French doors are on the front or side of your home where people who are passing on the street could look through them, then it is likely curtains will be a big benefit for you.
Light Filtering
Different types of curtains offer light-filtering qualities that can be beneficial at certain times of the year. French doors let much more light in compared to windows, simply due to their bigger size.
On very bright days, you might want to block some of the light streaming through your French doors, maybe to reduce the temperature a little, or maybe so that the bright sun isn’t disrupting your vision of a computer screen or TV.
Curtains made from thin fabrics or sheers can be useful in these scenarios to block light during certain times and then have them open when you want the full benefit of the light.
Coordination
Curtains provide a way to coordinate the color scheme in a room. For example, you might want to match the fabric of your curtains to the fabric of your throw cushions. If you decide not to have curtains on your French doors, then this will limit the amount of soft furnishings in the room for color coordinating.
Atmosphere
Many people are surprised at the effect curtains have on a room. If you ever take your curtains down to wash them, you have probably noticed how bare or vacant a space can look without curtains to soften the edges of the walls. When stylists are given the task of making a room feel warmer and more comfortable, one of the key things they will do is increase the amount of soft furnishings in a space.
This is because soft textures and fabrics make people feel safer and cozier. Curtains, due to the amount of space they take up, are one of the primary soft furnishings in a room that make a space feel warmer and inviting.
Style
The style you are trying to achieve in a room is going to affect whether you should install curtains on your French doors. If you want a luxury space, then heavy velvet or suede curtains are really going to help you achieve this look, while a minimalist style would be best without curtains so that more of the clean lines and straight edges of the room’s architecture can be seen.
Cost
Curtains and the curtain poles they hang from, of course, cost money. French doors will require full floor-length curtains, which use a lot of fabric and therefore are typically quite expensive to buy. If you are trying to reduce the amount you spend on decorating a room, then you could leave your French doors without curtains, as it is not essential for you to have them.
Installation
If you are not able to install a curtain pole yourself, then you are going to need to hire a contractor to install one for you. This takes time and money, and you may not feel it is worth the hassle.
Maintenance
Curtains which are fitted in high traffic areas can get quite dirty. If you frequently have children or pets running through your French doors into your yard and back in again, then it is likely your curtains will suffer from splashes of mud every now and then.
Most types of curtains can be dry-cleaned or hand-washed, with some even being suitable for machine washing, but if you don’t want the added job of washing curtains, then you may feel it’s best to avoid having them in the first place.
