What is a sheer curtain?
The sheer curtain is made from transparent, lightweight material that is a wonderful light filter. This means sheer curtains allow sunlight to enter your room, but their fabric acts as a light diffuser, which dims the natural light. You can only see from the darker side into the brighter side. We can see outside in the daytime while no one can see us from outside.
Benefits of using sheer curtains:
1. Light diffuser: Sheer curtains, like polyester, are made from translucent fabric. They intend to soften the light entering through your window.
2. Elegant appearance: Sheer curtains can create a soft, ethereal, and elegant look that allows light to filter through. It brightens your room and also gives an airy feel to your space.
3. Reduce heat: Sheer curtains are a good option if you want to let in some light because they also reduce the UV rays and their heat. Some other benefits are pointed out below:
- Easy maintenance
- Enhanced visual depth
- Energy efficiency
- Instant infusion of style into your interior decor
- Versatility in decor
Negative sides of sheer curtain:
Not suitable at night: They provide a little bit of privacy during the day only, but little to none at night, if the room is lit.
No privacy: Sheer curtains do not offer good privacy. Due to its least amount of privacy, it cannot be used alone in bedrooms.
Where sheer curtains can be used properly?
Sheer curtains can be used for closet doors or door-less entryways that don’t need too much privacy or insulation.
What is a blackout curtain?
Blackout curtains are fabric shades that cover your windows. They block sunlight and artificial light from passing cars, streetlights, and other sources. These curtains provide an extra layer of protection which tend to have gaps that allow light to leak through. They are typically designed to eliminate 95_100% light. These curtains are made of two or three interwoven blackout layers on thick fabrics.
Benefits of blackout curtains:
1. Noise reduction
2. Insulation
3. Reduce heat
4. Lighter in weight and appearance
5. Energy saving efficiently
6. Provide best privacy
7. Blocking UV rays
Where blackout curtains are used commonly?
Blackout curtains are perfect for bedrooms, nurseries, dark rooms, and theater rooms.
Layering Sheer curtain and Blackout curtain:
Layering of sheer and blackout curtains is a great way to add style, sophistication, and functionality to any room. They have a wide variety of colors, patterns, styles, and sizes to customize your window to fit your style. Sheer and blackout curtains both give a finishing touch to your room look.
This is the most popular layered look, combining sheer with blackout curtains. It can be layered in two ways, blackout curtain as a base layer and sheer in another layer but this setting may be completely reversed according to your decor and taste.
Some factors are needed to consider for layering sheer and blackout curtains that you must keep in your mind while layering them together.
Factors to consider:
Light control and Privacy: Privacy is a delicate concern for homeowners. People use CCTV cameras or other reliable services to secure their home. They take hard steps to secure their privacy. Layering of window curtains provides you a great opportunity to control the entrance of light and privacy of your room. If you add sheer curtains behind the blackout curtain for an additional layer, then you can get more control over the flow of light. This combination is especially popular because sheer curtains soften light while blurring the look from the outside and heavy fabric curtains can be drawn for complete privacy when it is needed.
Consider Thermal implications: The blackout layer provides insulation against light, sound, and temperature. This can be used to warm the room in winter and cool the room in summer, and if sheer curtains are layered further, the insulation factor goes higher and your energy bills go lower.
Layering Colors, Textures, and Patterns: Another advantage of layering curtains is to mix fabrics featuring various colors, textures, and patterns to bring depth and different dimensions to your space. Mixing fabrics can make your window more versatile and adaptable to the room decor.
Selection of the order of your layers:
It depends on how you can use a sheer curtain as a base layer or as the top layer.
Sheer as the base layer
When the sheer goes behind the blackouts, they will only be visible when the blackout layer is drawn open. Once your blackout curtains are drawn close, the sheers will hide, making the blackouts visible centerpiece of the window. This arrangement offers a highly versatile option for both aesthetic and light control. You can change the room’s look by just opening or closing blackouts. Light, wind, sound, and dust come into contact with sheers first so they get filtered before entering the room, it enhances the functional aspect of blackouts.
Sheer as the top layer
When sheer curtains are the top layer, they hang over blackout curtains. It creates an interesting look to your window. When the layering order is decided, choose the fabric and style of your curtains. This will be based on your room decor aesthetic, color scheme, and overall feel.
The final word:
To conclude, we prefer to layer sheer with blackouts, as both look elegant, beautiful and enhance the charm of your room. They give optimum results working together.
