How to Choose Curtains for Your Home | Fabric, Fit, and Finish

Choosing curtains comes down to four decisions: what the room needs, how much light and privacy you want, getting the measurements right, and picking hardware that fits the space. Nail those four, and the fabric, color, and heading style mostly fall into place. This guide walks the process in the order you’ll actually do it.

Start With Room Function and Light Needs

Before picking a single panel, decide what the curtains must do. A living room that gets afternoon sun needs a different treatment than a bedroom facing a street. Fabric choice follows function:

• Cotton and linen feel relaxed and work in most rooms. They let in soft light while giving daytime privacy.
• Velvet, especially heavyweight, suits bedrooms and formal living areas. It blocks more light and adds insulation.
• Silk looks luxurious but rots in moist environments—skip it in bathrooms and kitchens.
• Sheers give a pared-back look but usually work best paired with a blind underneath.
• Blackout lining earns its place in bedrooms; thermal lining helps cut drafts near cold windows.

Pattern matters too. A bold print should still look good when the curtains are closed, since that’s how they’ll sit half the day. Strong colors fade in sunlight, especially in bright south-facing rooms, so check the fabric’s lightfastness if the window gets direct sun.

Measure the Pole, Not the Window

The single most common mistake is measuring the window glass instead of the curtain pole or track. The curtain covers the hardware, not just the glass, so the pole width sets your panel width. Use a metal tape measure—fabric ones stretch and lie to you.

Mount the pole about 12–15 cm above the window recess and extend it 15–20 cm past each side. That extra width lets the curtains stack clear of the glass when open, so the window still gets full light. Hanging the pole higher also makes the room feel taller—hang it too low and the ceiling drops visually.

For length, the classic options are sill length, below-sill, and floor length. Floor-length curtains look best sitting about 1.5 cm above the floor, just kissing it without dragging.

Fullness and Heading Style

Curtains need extra width to gather correctly. The heading style determines how much. As a general guide, aim for:

Retail guides vary: larger spaces often look right with panels 2 to 2.5 times the window width, while smaller rooms suit 1 to 1.5 times. When curtains close across a center gap, add 2.5 cm (1 inch) so the panels overlap instead of leaving a light gap.

If a radiator sits below the window, keep curtains about 3 cm above it so heat can escape instead of pooling behind fabric.

Safety First in Homes With Children

In any home with infants or young children, the safest choice is cordless window coverings. The Window Covering Safety Council and government safety officials recommend cordless products because exposed pull cords and inner cords—including cords against the back of the fabric—pose a strangulation hazard. Australia’s product safety regulator notes that curtain and blind cords have caused deaths of young children and requires window fittings to comply with a mandatory safety standard.

Some blind systems need looped cords to function. If you can’t go cordless, secure loose or looped cords with tie-downs (cleats) or tension devices fixed to the wall or frame, keeping them out of reach. Check every cord, including those hidden behind the fabric.

Once you’ve narrowed down fabric, measurements, and safety, explore a curated selection of styles for your space in this roundup of top curtains online.