DesigningOrland.com

I don’t know about you but I think that every home needs good curtains. I’ll even go a bit further than that: I think a home or an apartment without curtains or some other type of window treatment is missing something in a big way.

Of course, as I’m sure you’re well aware, there are a lot of different types of curtains, fabrics and designs that you can choose from. I just want to mention only a few of these. One of the most unusual types of curtains that you will find are called blackout bedroom curtains. In some parts of the country these are called room darkening curtains, and their purpose should seem pretty obvious: to block out incoming light, in order to give you a better night’s sleep. Room darkening curtains also help to keep the room dark, restful and peaceful when the light is shining brightly outside. This makes room darkening curtains an essential for those people who find themselves sleeping during the daytime — such as medical workers and those who work the night shift on assembly lines.

Interestingly enough, blackout bedroom curtains became extremely popular during the war years, as they were used to completely darken houses and apartment buildings so that they could not be detected by enemy invaders flying overhead.

Have you ever heard of French doors? They are extremely popular in some neighborhoods, and many older homes have been equipped with them. Many people that have them, just love their French doors — perhaps because they are made with a lot of glass, which lets in a lot of light. Well, to help present your French doors in the most attractive way possible, you should purchase curtains for your French doors. When these curtains are mounted, they take on a characteristic hourglass shape when the drapes are gathered in the middle, and tied off.

There is another room in the house where you will also find curtains, and that is the bathroom. Now, you may have curtains hung across your bathroom windows, but I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about another type of curtain in your bathroom — your shower curtains! The problem with most people’s shower curtains is that they are very boring and dull looking. But you can purchase shower curtains that are very unique in appearance.

For example, you can purchase novelty shower curtains with your favorite comic book character, TV personality, outdoor scenes — or just about anything that you can think of. Novelty shower curtains are also great to use in kids bathrooms or teenagers bathrooms (believe me, they’ll really get a kick out of it!)

Here’s an important tip: whether you are purchasing room darkening curtains, or novelty shower curtains, curtains for French doors, cowboy or southwestern style curtains — or any other type of wall-mounted curtain — make sure that you also buy hardware in a matching design/theme. You can select end caps for your curtain rods (these are called finials), tieback knobs and other hardware, and you should do this at the same time that you purchase your curtain rods, so that you know that everything will reflect the same design style.