Why it's time to rethink net curtains
Net curtains have a host of unfortunate associations: the slightly dingy, twitching curtain of suburban England is an image that’s hard to shed. But it wasn’t always so. Lace curtains made in the 19th century were a luxury item, and they continued to be so into the early decades of the 20th. It was only with the rise of man-made fabrics like polyester after World War II that the delicacy and intricate designs of the early lace curtains gave way to the manufactured tedium of their net successors.
And even with this history in mind, there is still a place for a sheer curtain – they provide much-needed privacy in bathrooms and ground-floor sitting rooms, letting in light without having to resort to frosted glass. Make sure you keep them spotlessly clean and pair them with other design notes that prove you’ve chosen them deliberately rather than as a cheap default option, and they’ll work wonders for you. Simple natural fabrics like cotton voile are an elegant, modern way to do a sheer curtain, and beautiful embroidered options also exist for a more traditional look.
Christoper Horwood1/11Window treatments by East London Cloth combine cafe curtains and a sheer ruched blind in the bathroom of Lucy Williams’ house, maintaining privacy but also brightness.
Christopher Horwood2/11Carlos Garcia deployed voile curtains in Robert Kime’s ‘Marmara’ in the hallway windows of this townhouse he designed in London. Patterned voile adds an element of detail and colour to curtains that might otherwise look a little slight.
Emma Lee3/11Another shoppable scheme features a simple voile window panel with lace appliqué, £500 as shown, with a panel in ‘Valenciennes FC370’, and borders in ‘FC289’ and ‘FC346’, by Cluny Lace, all from Nest Design.
Ben Robertson4/11In a shoppable scheme by our decoration editors, sheer curtains are used to filter daylight behind cotton curtains. The main curtains are in ‘Veronique’ (indigo), cotton, £75.50 a metre, from Les Indiennes, while the sheers are ‘Cali’ (oyster), polyester voile, 298cm wide, £39 a metre, from Designers Guild.
Ben Robertson5/11This shoppable scheme also includes another use of linen tablecloths as curtains for a tiny window – a charming rustic look.
6/11A modern voile design by Lucy Bathurst of Nest Design, who specialises in bespoke curtains made from vintage fabrics.
Paul Massey7/11Sheer curtains can work even in an otherwise very modern house. In Suzy Hoodless’s west London house, the straight, clean-lined sheers on the front window are almost invisible.
Tim Beddow8/11A bedroom at this farmhouse in southern France designed by Kathryn Ireland features gauzy sheer curtains as bed canopies.
Greg Funnell9/11An internal door in the hallway of Mimi Thorisson’s home in the Médoc has a net curtain, for a traditional French look.
Ngoc Minh Mgo10/11Sheer curtains are also an excellent way to create privacy in a bathroom, as here in Harriet Anstruther’s Sussex cottage, without compromising the clean lines and fresh feel of white walls.
Rachel Whiting11/11Octavia Dickinson’s Battersea flat takes a country-cottage approach to city living, and the bathroom has a traditionally-frilled net half-curtain alongside Cole & Son ‘Madras Violet’ wallpaper.
