What Is the Best Type of Drapes for Living Room?

Corner styled with Beige Botanical Stripe Custom Curtain in front of illuminated window with wooden chair next to wooden drawers

Each room in your home has different furniture necessities. For example, a bedroom requires a bed, and a kitchen needs a refrigerator. But what about when it comes to less obvious furnishings, like functional home decor? 

Window treatments are an essential part of home furnishings, especially in well-used parts of the home like bedrooms and living rooms. That’s why one of the questions we get most often is how to choose the right curtains for your living space.

While our design experts can answer any of your home decor questions through our Complementary Design Assistance, these living room curtain tips can help you get started in the custom design process.

How Do You Choose Living Room Curtains? 11 Steps

Do you want lush decor or a more minimalist look? Are you choosing velvet curtains for a dramatic statement piece, or do you want a linen curtain for a breezy, light aesthetic? 

Pepper Home has plenty of design options to choose from, and each of your questions will bring you one step closer to the custom curtains of your dreams.

We’ve put together eleven steps that lay out all you need to know when it comes to picking the ideal curtains for your living room.

Find Your Light Filtering Preferences

One of the most important questions to ask when searching for the right curtains is how much natural light you want in your space. 

We don’t recommend blackout curtains for living spaces because they will rid your room of any natural light when they’re closed. However, privacy curtains made of light-filtering fabrics will help provide privacy while allowing some sunlight to enter your home — 30 percent of that sunlight, to be exact.

If you do prefer a thicker curtain in your living space, we recommend layering thick curtain panels over semi-sheer curtains, like privacy curtains. 

You’ll be able to enjoy the benefits of the thicker curtain — whether that is the functionality of blackout curtains or the aesthetic of elegant materials like velvet — while also maintaining the possibility of privacy and natural sunlight working in tandem.

Choose Curtains Based on Your Home Decor Style

Coral Velvet Custom curtains with Pink Floral Custom Band on metal rod in front of an illuminated window with a Green Moss Velvet chair with a Pink Floral Custom Pillow on top

Once you’ve determined your light-filtering preferences, you can focus more on style. Consider aspects of your home like your color scheme for your living room and how minimalist or maximalist your style tends to be. 

Living room curtains can be an excellent statement piece, especially if your existing decor tends to be more neutral. 

If the rest of your living room is mostly comprised of solids, you could incorporate an interesting pattern with an eye-catching curtain. If you already have patterns in other parts of your room, we recommend perusing complimentary solid curtain panels, such as light pastels.

Do You Need Blackout Curtains in the Living Room?

Typically, we don’t recommend blackout curtain panels for a living room because it is a wonderful space to enjoy natural light. However, the answer to this question truly depends on individual preference.

There can be legitimate reasons to prefer room-darkening window curtains in your living room, such as if you live in a busy urban area with lots of light pollution. However, we typically recommend blackout curtains for the bedrooms and privacy curtains for living rooms.

Measure Your Living Room Windows Before Getting a Curtain Set

Getting a new part of your home furnishings in is an exciting feeling, so we recommend making extra sure you’re purchasing the right-sized curtain panels beforehand. Knowing your window measurements plays a key part in that. 

While there are other factors to consider, like construction preferences and curtain length, window measurements are arguably the most important when purchasing custom curtains. 

We suggest you use our Curtain Calculator to make sure you purchase the right curtains for your needs.

Choose Between a Solid Color or Pattern

Living room corner with a white couch with three blue and white printed pillows on one side and a Blue Ikat Custom Pillow on the other side next to a window styled with Blue Ikat Stripe Custom Curtains

The choice between solids and patterns is another one that is affected by the rest of the decor in your living room. Balancing patterns throughout a space is a key part of the design. While you may think that engaging multiple patterns in a space can be tricky, there are actually tricks to doing so perfectly.

If your room is already furnished, we recommend considering what types of patterns and solids are already in that space to determine if you want solid or patterned curtain panels.

For example, if you already have damask patterns in your living room, you might want to opt for a single panel or curtain panel pair that has the same pattern.

Pepper Home offers cotton, velvet, and linen curtains in a variety of patterns, so you can easily find a print that works in your space. To take the guesswork out of your design, you can use our Fabric Swatches to more easily picture how our fabrics and patterns would look in your home.

Pick Your Curtain Trim

An important part of curtain construction is determining if and where you want trim on your curtains. Because our curtains are handmade to order, you can choose exactly where you want your trim; along all sides or just certain edges. 

Pepper Home offers bands, rick rack, tassels, and pom poms in gorgeous accent colors to ensure your curtain perfectly integrates into your existing living room color scheme.

Get Curtain Ideas From Interior Design Experts

When styling your place of living, you’re not on your own. Consult with the experts! The internet is a treasure trove for design advice. You can find social media accounts on websites such as Pinterest or Instagram dedicated to design inspiration. Youtube is a great hub for video tutorials in design as well. 

If you want individualized advice, please take advantage of our complimentary design assistance. We have design experts on hand to help you furnish your home, simply email design@pepper-home.com, and we’ll respond within two business days.

Match With the Window Treatments in Other Rooms

One great tip for improving the flow of design in a home is thinking about the curtains for other parts of the home, such as your dining room, home office, and bedrooms. Finding curtains that complement each other while incorporating different patterns and colors in the home is a perfect way to spice up the layout of your home.

Do you already have multiple curtains with patterns? Or maybe you have solid white or off-white curtains in other rooms and want to shake things up with a color like taupe or sky blue. 

These cohesion queries are important to ask during your search for the perfect curtains for your living room.

Find Matching Living Room Decor for Accent Pieces

Compliment your window treatments by adding flattering decor through other furnishings. You can use larger elements of the room, such as sofas, rugs, and wallpapers. 

Our wallpapers are made with our curtains in mind, and you can even peruse the perfect pairs we’ve matched with each print. Our Wallpaper Calculator makes purchasing your custom wallpaper just as simple as purchasing your custom curtains.

A complimentary pillow or throw are great ways to use little bits of functional decor to tie the room together and accent colors in your curtains and wallpaper.

We suggest browsing the Spice Market, where we suggest and link to other decor that goes well with our curtains. Our Style Guides can also help you find cohesive room designs for all aesthetics and color palettes.

Learn How To Install a Window Curtain Panel

Curtain installation plays a key role in bringing these window treatments into your home and there are a few elements to consider. 

Firstly, what type of curtain construction do you want for the top of your window panels? You have a few options:

  • Rod pocket curtain panel
  • Grommet top curtain panel
  • Ring top curtain panel
  • Pinch pleat curtain panel
  • Tailored pleat curtain panel

The rod pocket and grommet top do not require rings, while the ring top, pinch pleat, and tailored pleat do. The latter two options add a finishing touch to your curtains and are great for velvet and silk textures.

Next, you want to make sure your curtain rod is installed properly. Making sure your curtains hang at the perfect height is an important aspect to consider during installation. 

Do you want your curtains to end on the floor for a crisp and tailored look? Or do you want your curtains to puddle at the bottom for a more dramatic and elegant flair?

Our Curtain Measurement and Installment Guide has everything you need to install your curtains easily and correctly, no matter which aesthetic you prefer.

Find the Right Material for Your Curtains

While color and pattern are what most people largely assume are the most important visual aspects of home decoration, texture actually plays an important role as well. This third element affects the style of your window treatments and how they are regarded. 

Velvet curtains add an air of luxury and drama to a space. Sheer linen curtains and light-filtering curtains give a room a light-hearted feel and allow sunshine to play an important role in your space. Cotton curtains, finally, provide a neutral base for your design with durable and soft fabrication.

The Finest Curtains for Living Rooms

Window close-up styled with Sky Blue Botanical Stripe Custom Curtains in front of a white bed with a Sky Blue Botanical Stripe Custom Pillow and palm trees outside the window

Figuring out how to style your home is a delightful process and something we very much enjoy. With plenty of experience in the realm of window treatments, we wanted to provide you with the very best resources to incorporate the perfect curtains into your home. 

If you follow these eleven steps with some of our best-selling curtains, you’re sure to find that the curtains you bring into your living room are perfect for your home. 

Once you’ve designed your ideal curtains, Pepper Home will bring your creation to life through sustainable production practices in the United States. Our custom curtains ship in just seven days, meaning you can reap the benefits of your unique curtain design quickly, easily, and in style.

 

Sources:

The Trick to Pattern Mixing No One is Telling You | Architectural Digest

Light Pollution | National Geographic Society

Color Wheel - Color Calculator | Sessions College

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