16 Best Curtains for Windows (original) (raw)
The Very Best Window Curtains
By ,a Strategist writer covering décor, furniture, and garment care. They previously worked as an editor at Garage magazine.
Photo: Courtesy of the retailer
A home with lots of natural light is wonderful, but if you find yourself overheating in a midday sunbeam or making extended eye contact with your next-door neighbor, it might be time to buy curtains. Adding curtains to your windows is one of the quicker and less expensive home-improvement projects: The only additional supplies you’ll need are a curtain rod and (maybe) a drill and a ladder. And while there are some very luxe window treatments out there, there are also tons of inexpensive options that do the job well. To find the best options, I tested four sets of curtains in my own homeand brought in advice from 12 designers and home experts.
Update on May 21, 2026
Added a velvet curtain from Quince. Updated prices and checked stock for all other products.
When buying curtains, choose a material you like — one that looks good during the day and night, up close and far away, gathered to the side or pulled shut. All kinds of materials can be made into curtains, but the most common are wovens with a nice drape, like cotton, linen, silk, and velvet, which are substantial enough to hold their shape but not so heavy that they sag or droop. Synthetic textiles like polyester are also used for light-blocking blackout curtains, which tend to have a stiffer silhouette.
If your curtains will hang in a high-traffic area, you may need to occasionally take them down to clean them. If that’s the case, consider buying a machine-washable material, like cotton — some fabrics like linen and silk are dry-clean only. If you’re trying to lift wrinkles or need to perform a light cleaning, you can also do a quick once-over with a garment steamer with the curtains still hanging on the rod.
Window curtains range from translucent, windswept-Italian-villa gauze to heavy fabrics optimized to block out light and heat. The right opacity depends on your needs — whether you’re aiming to diffuse bright light, preserve privacy, or need absolute darkness to sleep. We’re categorizing curtains as sheer (thin enough that you can see your hand through it), semi-sheer (not see-through, but lets in enough light to “feel like day in the daytime,” as my colleague Liza Corsillo puts it), opaque (darkens the room when shut but bright light can filter through), and blackout, which often also blocks heat.
Most curtains are between 48 and 50 inches wide per panel, but the length is variable. Megan Hersch, the owner of Studio MG Interiors and online interior-design service RoomLift, says that she typically hangs a curtain from the rod to the floor, “so that it just ‘kisses’ the floor. This way, nothing is dragging and trapping dirt, but they don’t look too short.” If you want a more dramatic vibe, Hersch recommends adding an extra 1.5 inches so the drape “breaks” on the floor. Alternately, if you need to shorten your curtains to fit above a sill, console, or radiator, they’re fairly straightforward to hem on a sewing machine, or you can hire a tailor to help. You can also do a no-sew DIY job with an iron-on hem tape.
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Material: 100 percent cotton | Opacity: Semi-sheer | Length: 84 inches, 98 inches
Curtains can be expensive, but for a one-size-fits-all pick, you don’t need anything fancier than these affordable, 100 percent cotton Ikea curtains. Editorial consultant Sarah Leon, who is in the process of renovating a home in Brooklyn, also used the curtains all over a previous apartment, a “fake two-bedroom” in a converted factory. “We hung Ikea white curtains everywhere,” she says. “It was really good for acoustics, it was cheap, and it gave us a lot of hidden storage in an apartment that had no storage.”
I hung the curtains in my home, both before and after washing them, and was impressed by how substantial and high quality they feel. (I also repurposed one as a canvas, and it held up well to being stretched over wooden stretcher bars — no rips or sagging.) The off-white color I tested is made of undyed cotton. They pass the crucial test of looking just as good close up as far away. They do shrink a bit in the wash — about four inches after a cold wash cycle and pulling them out of the dryer while still damp — so if you’re planning to hem them, I’d recommend washing first. To remove wrinkles, I used a handheld garment steamer. Strategist senior writer Liza Corsillo washes hers every couple months to remove dust and radiator drips, and usually irons them.
I tested the Ikea Lenda curtains in my kitchen.Photo: Author
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Material: 100 percent linen | Opacity: Sheer, opaque | Length: 84, 96, and 108 inches
For a sheer curtain that diffuses light without dimming your space,linen is my first choice — although the fabric is more expensive than cotton, the material of our best-in-class pick, the airiness and heft of linen is uniquely well-suited to curtains and is hard to find in another fabric. There are plenty of linen curtains on the market, but West Elm’s stand out as a great balance of price and reliability (the brand also makes resident bedding expert Lauren Ro’s favorite lightweight linen sheets).
I installed a set of West Elm’s cotton-lined curtains to cover a closet door and was impressed at their smooth, substantial drape and the quality of the fabric. I also tested Crate&Barrel’s linen curtains and a linen set from Quince, and West Elm’s was by far my favorite. Although haven’t tried the sheer, unlined version myself, Strategist home editor Simone Kitchens has used them in a street-facing window and reports that they let in plenty of sunlight. And although Kitchens had planned to wash them, she ended up not needing to: “They naturally softened and looked lived-in after a short while.”
The West Elm linen curtains were smoother and more substantial than any others I tried.Photo: Author
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Material: 50 percent cotton, 50 percent recycled polyester | Opacity: Sheer | Length: 98, 118 inches
For a less-expensive set of curtains that are sheerer than the Ikea option above, try H&M Home. Strategist senior editor Ailbhe Malone uses them, hung over a set of blinds. They “let in light when the blinds are open, but still mean people can’t peek in,” she says, and they “look far more expensive than they are.” They’re easy to install with a four-way header, which allows them to be mounted on the rod itself or hung below it with hooks, depending on your setup.
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Material: Polyester | Opacity: Blackout | Length: 63, 84, 95, and 108 inches
If you’re looking for curtains with more light-blocking capability, you don’t need to splurge. Curtains from Sun Zero do the job and are relatively inexpensive and effective at blocking sunlight (they also provide insulation, to keep sunny rooms from overheating). They’re the go-to blackout curtains of Dani Mulhearn, a senior designer at online interior-design service Havenly. She likes that they’re affordable, come in a variety of neutral colors, and are available in several lengths.
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Material: 55 percent linen, 45 percent cotton; polyester lining | Opacity: Blackout | Length: 84, 96, and 108 inches
If you’re working with a larger space or just love drama, you might want to consider a patterned curtain. These linen-and-cotton-blend curtains are decorated with narrow, irregular-size stripes that add a “casual and coastal feel,” according to interior designer Katherine Tlapa, and have a light-blocking polyester lining.
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Material: Cotton velvet; three lining options | Opacity: Opaque | Length: 84, 96, and 108 inches
When I tested all the curtains at Quince, these cotton-velvet panels were my favorite. The material is soft, dense, and substantial, and the camel-colored panel I tested lit up gold as the light filtered through. It’s a great price for a high-quality material. Par for the course for Quince, these panels only come in subdued colors — the zaniest is a deep forest green — so if you prefer bolder colors, the Anthropologie panels below are a better bet.
The Quince velvet light-filtering curtain in front of a sunny window.Photo: Erin Schwartz
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Material: Cotton and polyester velvet, cotton lining | Opacity: Opaque | Length: 63, 84, 96, and 108 inches
If you’re not looking for curtains that blend into the background, these dramatic velvet panels from Anthropologie are a great pick. Megan Huffman, a designer with the online interior-design service Modsy, recommends velvet curtains, especially these light-blocking matte velvet panels from Anthropologie that come in a range of colors from goldenrod to navy blue. The opposite of breezy and sheer, they’re both sumptuous and functional, with the fabric’s dense pile and substantial feel serving to block light as well as dampen sound.
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Material: Raw silk, cotton or polyester lining | Opacity: Opaque or blackout | Length: 84, 96, and 108 inches
This curtain is woven from raw silk, which has a nubbier texture and subtler sheen than finished silk. Quince is known for trendy basics that are a degree of magnitude cheaper than market rate, and this is no exception — silk curtains are usually quite expensive, and this one is a deal. When I tested all the brand’s curtains, I noticed some imperfections, like pulled threads, nubby fibers, and some small streaks of uneven color. You could chalk it up to rustic charm. I’d recommend it for those who want natural-fiber curtains with more texture and drama than linen.
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Material: 100 percent silk with cotton lining | Opacity: Opaque | Length: 96, 108, and 120 inches | Header: Rod pocket, includes drapery hooks
Another luxe, eye-catching pick are these dramatic cabana-striped silk curtains, which came up in our investigation of the best window treatments according to designers. They have a cotton lining to block light, come in a range of colors, and would make your space feel like a rococo parlor.
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Material: Hardwood, cloth tape | Opacity: Adjustable| Length: 12 to 120 inches | Header: Mounted to wall
In a smaller space, even sheer or lightweight curtains can feel obtrusive; if that’s the case, wooden blinds are great a great option. They’re “both budget-friendly and chic,” says interior designer Jessica Stambaugh. This set from Home Depot is versatile and a great deal. They’re made of North American hardwood and are extremely customizable — you can specify measurements down to the inch, from 12 to 120 inches in length, and the slats come in 34 different finishes, from natural wood to deep walnut and a gray shade called “smoked oyster.”
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Material: 26 materials | Opacity: Customizable | Length: Customizable inches | Header: Roll with brackets
Kitchens first noticed these blinds on the website of L.A. interiors studio Reath Design. She emailed the brand and found out that they’re from Zwick, a custom shade store in Chicago that’s been in operation since the 1930s. The company sells custom shades in a ton of vintage-y colors, fabrics, and configurations, cotton plissé, moire, and four different kinds of fringe. Their website is “super lo-fi” but easy to use — Kitchens ordered a ton of swatches, then placed an online order for pinkish-gray blackout shades with a matching cloth ring pull. (The shades are custom-cut, so a representative from Zwick called to triple-check all the measurements.) “They came out perfect. They’re so well made,” she says.
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Material: Custom fabric | Length: Custom size | Header: Drapery pins
If you want to customize everything about your drapery, from color and material down to header style, interior designers mentioned Shade Store over and over again as a go-to source. Its roller shades are a less-expensive, unobtrusive option (“An overtreated window can feel dated. For a more understated window, go for a solid color roller shade,” says interior designer Jenny J. Norris, who uses them in her own home).Designer Betsy Burnham especially likes its solid-color linens with inverted pleat drapery, which she favors for a “tailored feel.” For custom curtains with a more classic pleated look, Alyssa Kapito suggests a pinch pleat: “It’s not too traditional and not too modern,” she says.
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Material: 26 fabrics | Length: Custom size | Header: Customizable, hardware available
We first wrote about Everhem as the curtain company designer Ariel Okin used at Goop’s headquarters. The curtains come in over two dozen colors and fabrics, like clay-colored Belgian linen and rose-printed cotton, and you can also add matching hardware. Kitchens recently bought a set for a wide set of French doors flanked by windows. She could never find curtains wide enough to cover the full span, which “felt like a bit of a disservice to the beautiful woodwork.” Custom dimensions via Everhem’s design-consultation service turned out to be the perfect solution. “It was nice to just have someone to help me figure out how to fix this problem I couldn’t quite figure out on my own,” she says.
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• Bachman Brown, interior designer
• Betsy Burnham, interior designer
• Liza Corsillo, Strategist senior writer
• Nicole Fuller, interior designer
• Megan Hersch, owner of Studio MG Interiors
• Megan Huffman, interior designer
• Alyssa Kapito, interior designer
• Simone Kitchens, Strategist deputy editor
• Ailbhe Malone, Strategist senior editor
• Dani Mulhearn, senior designer at Havenly
• Katherine Tlapa, interior designer
• Emma Wartzman, Strategist writer
Additional reporting by Miranda Agee and Lauren Ro.
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