33 Curtain Ideas By Interior Designers That Will Transform Your Space, Whether You Want Them to Quietly Elevate or Boldly Stand Out

I often think of curtains as being the underdog in interior design. These hard-working decorative elements are so often an afterthought, but they can completely transform a space and tie an entire scheme together.

As the most popular modern window treatment idea, there are so many different styles, fabrics, and colors to choose from that it can be hard to know where to start. That's where the experts come in.

I've deep-dived into the Livingetc archives and pulled together the best curtain ideas for adding subtle elegance to bold drama. So if you're looking to buy curtains, consider this your ultimate guide to interior designer-styled curtains.

1. Mix the Patterns

"Our coppery curtains are incredible as the patterns differ on both, accentuated in the daytime when sunlight filters in from behind," says Yasmine Saleh Ghoniem who designed this sustainable home in Melbourne. "We love their pom-poms." Who said curtains have to match? These custom rust-colored curtains instantly add intrigue to the space.

2. Add Subtle Texture

The owners of this southwest London Victorian terrace designed by Anna Burles, founder of Run for the Hills design studio, wanted their home to be at once a cocooning and exciting space, making use of every nook and cranny. The curtains in this space are a perfect example of how you don't need color to add depth to a space, instead letting texture take center stage.

3. Opt for a Delicate Valance

For this Montreuil residence designed by Julie Nebout and Giuseppe Punzo of La Fotosintesi, warmth and personality were key. Decorating with sheer curtains not only allows sunlight to filter into the space throughout the day, reflecting off the large aluminium screen for added warmth, but the delicate valance also adds an extra layer of softness and romance.

4. Use as a Decorative Flourish

Curtains aren't just for windows — shelf skirts are an often-overlooked design idea and a great way to add softness to a space (and hide clutter), as this project by Arabella Maza and Stephen Maginn of Archive for Space proves. Textural draped linen curtains are used throughout the home, from radiator covers and cabinet skirting to doorway curtains, forming a cohesive poetic language.

5. Create an Ombre Effect

'Joy Haus', as this home is aptly named, is a celebration of color. "The palette evolved into more than 15 carefully choreographed hues," says designer Ruby Shields. "Every color responds to the light, orientation, and purpose of its space, but equally importantly, to the spaces before and after it," adds Ruby — and these ombre-effect curtains perfectly enhance the room's color narrative.

6. Cocoon With Contrast

Entrepreneur Séverine Redon and her partner Olivier wanted to create a "warm and immersive atmosphere" in their Geneva apartment, with a nod to 70s retro design. This chill-out space in the open living area is a masterclass in using curtains to add contrasting color and zone a space. With the ability to envelop the seating space in a cocoon of warm yellow, the opposing curtains also frame the space perfectly.

7. Soften With Peach Sheer

Color and materials play a key role in this bold, immersive 60-square-meter home in Paris, a short stroll from the Moulin Rouge, designed by Hugo Vince and Adèle Nourry, co-founders of Atelier HA. The soft peach 'Andora' curtains — a wide-width voile in pure wool — by Nobilis complete this living space, adding soft drama, texture, and tonal color.

8. Choose Heavy Drapes for Depth

The deep brown tones of the curtains in this home office area are part of a wider earthy color palette used throughout this Kazakhstan apartment designed by Diana and Elina Musakulov, founders of sdelaemremont. Enhancing the wood tones and pairing wonderfully with the warm sunshine yellow walls, the brown curtains add depth and a cozy feel to the space.

9. Blend Them Into the Walls

Blending the curtains seamlessly with the walls was the approach of Charlie and Josh Karlsen of Opus 11 when designing their London home. This bedroom curtain idea works so well to define the mood of the space — soft, enveloping, and calming, while also being light-filled and interesting.

10. Create a Patchwork Masterpiece

"Across the ground floor, living and entrance, curtains by Isabel Farchy — made using fabrics from her own collection — introduce softness" says Ashley Law, founder of Flawk studio, which has a signature style of 'refined playfulness'. The curtains bring together the home's color palette with a pop of fun and visual intrigue.

11. Choose Tonal Pattern

"The rear living room was designed as a retreat, complete with an open fire, a fully stocked bar, and a cinema curtain that gives it the feeling of a cozy den," says designer Zoe Willis of this mid-century-inspired Victorian terrace. The curtains add a sense of theater to the space and mirror the tones of the artwork above the sofa.

12. Use Linen for a Relaxed Feel

As one of the best curtain fabrics, according to designers, linen curtains fold 'happily', offering a relaxed, natural feel, as seen in this Byron Bay home designed by YSG Studio. Used in the corner of a seventies-inspired sunken lounge, the curtains' earthy tones bring the space together, adding an extra layer of texture and depth.

13. Take Them to the Ceiling

This style of curtain, taken right up to the ceiling, accentuates the room's height to create a luxurious, clean-lined look in this neutral living room designed by Dan Rockenbach, founder of Charleston’s Rockenbach Design Studio. "Each piece serves a dual purpose, contributing to the overall aesthetic while offering comfort and practicality, making the living room both a visual and experiential centerpiece of the home,” Dan explains.

14. Keep Them Short

In the long vs short curtains debate, this hallway curtain in this Rome apartment designed by Marco Rulli, cofounder of 02A Studio, makes a case for short. It ensures the specially commissioned mural remains the centerpiece while enhancing it by drawing out the botanical greens of the painted landscape.

15. Use a Pelmet

While a more traditional approach, there are plenty of modern pelmet ideas that add a decorative touch to your curtain ideas, as seen in this Upper West Side apartment designed by Christine Gachot, co-founder of NYC’s GACHOT. Also a practical choice for hiding curtain rod brackets, pelmets can show confidence in an interior scheme and help to add structure and a 'finished' look.

16. Add a Pop of Color

Curtains are an easy way to inject a pop of color into your space, and these rust-colored velvet curtains uplift this dining area in Sha Wang's home. Founder of design studio Atelier Fēn, Sha designed the home for her family, which hinges on the tension between color and no color. The velvet adds weight to the curtain's texture and warmth in the rusty orange tone.

17. Blend Them Into the Room

Almost hidden in the corner, these curtains blend into the wall while also relaxing the space with texture and quiet elegance, allowing other unexpected details to shine. Designed by Chris Rak and Kathryn Robson of Robson Rak, this Melbourne home, where "nothing is really linear", nods to the home's history while adding a bold, contemporary touch.

18. Go for a Vibrant Pattern

Decorating with patterned curtains is a great way to add a bit more personality to your space. In this Art Deco-inspired home in Florida, designer Chelsea Cox of Chinotto House used them to pull the colors together in this open plan space, from the artwork to the furniture, adding a dynamic layer to the scheme as well as a visual pop.

19. Choose a Valance With a Trim

What could be more romantic than cream sheer curtains with a valance and contrasting trim? A total showstopper in this elegant apartment in Kazakhstan, designed by Fariz Mamedov of FM Interiors, the French fabric curtains add a sense of nobility and multidimensional depth.

20. Tie in Other Decor Details

Designed by Anna Møller, this 1930s family home in London is as practical as it is cozy and stylish — and this curtain idea is no exception. Adding depth and quiet drama, the curtains echo the colors of the space from the walls to the sofa and rug, creating a cohesive scheme that complete the look.

21. Go Wall-to-Wall

When windows go wall-to-wall, take the curtains with them. Designed by Trevor Wallace, the principal and founder of Reflect Architecture for multi-award-winning record producer Noah ‘40’ Shebib, the curtains in this 2,700 sq-ft Toronto penthouse — previously one of the sets of the TV show Suits — add a layer of intimacy as well as refined contrast with the darker hues and modern angularity.

22. Conceal a Desk

Curtain ideas come in many forms, including cleverly concealing a desk area, as seen in this theatrical Warsaw apartment designed by Gosia Kotyczka of Warsaw's Obiekty Studio. "Despite the high volume of stimuli and textures, the entire apartment — just under 50 m² — reads as a coherent, logical, and harmonious composition where every element has its place," Gosia explains.

23. Separate Spaces

Designed by Jennifer Kranitz of Set Setting Studio, this dining area is separated from a living room by the thick drapes that fall from a double-height, two-storey ceiling, which define the zones and create a wall of texture and color as well as a practical, statement-making feature.

24. Add Moody Elegance

As well as helping to introduce a light and airy feel into spaces, curtains can also help to create a moody atmosphere, with dark tones that help to create a cavernous effect, as seen in this cozy living room designed by Allison McAfee and Naina Hotchkiss of Park Interiors, which perfectly balances the visual and tactile. Using a darker tone than the olive green walls, the curtains make the space feel effortlessly layered.

25. Choose Cafe Curtains

Café curtains in kitchens continue to be a major curtain trend, and for good reason. Inherently timeless, this stylish yet practical choice offers privacy without compromising light in a delightfully elegant manner, as demonstrated in this mid-century-inspired Brooklyn Brownstone designed by Crystal Sinclair.

26. Bring the Detail Into the Room

"The screen is covered using leftover material from the curtains," says designer Jo leGleud of Maddux Creative. "The owner complained of glare from the big windows, so we wanted to do something that felt quite soft." This curtain idea cleverly carries the pattern detail into the room, almost making the room divider and curtains come together as one.

27. Define a Space

This mezzanine modern bedroom that is revealed or concealed by romantic curtains with an elegant trim, is inspired. Designed by Oksana Zavarzina of the Moscow-based interior design and architecture firm Lake & Walls, the project, called Jazz Apartment, "gained its character and distinctive atmosphere from these historic buildings," Oksana explains, which were constructed in 1972 and redesigned in 2026. The white curtains contrast with the bedroom's chocolate-colored walls and echo the white of the living area below.

28. Be Brave With Black

Sometimes it pays to be bold, like in this pre-war apartment on Manhattan’s Upper West Side designed by New York–based designer Jessie Schuster. Tying in with the color of the dining chairs, the black curtains serve as a bold backdrop to the equally bold and vibrant red artwork, allowing each element of the space to truly pop. "The artwork inspired vignettes and color moments throughout the home,” Jessie explains.

29. Take Them Into the Center

Hanging curtains in the center of the wall, as seen in this London duplex apartment, designed by De Rosee Sa's co-founder Claire Sá, not only ensures there is as much light as possible flooding into the bedroom, but it also frames the dressing area and serves as a reference for the earth clay color palette carried throughout the home and across other details within the bedroom.

30. Be Unique With Tie Backs

Tie-back curtains don't need to look formal and stuffy, as this adventurous home in Kentucky proves. Designed by Bethany Adams of Bethany Adams Interiors, the striped fabric of the window treatments mirrors the beach scenes in the triptych by Massimo Vitali that hangs above the sofa and adds a relaxed elegance to the space.

31. Opt for Dramatic Drapery

And if you really want to go for it, take inspiration from the dramatic drapery in interior designer Kristina Busko's maximalist Spanish apartment. “They make the usual interior unusual, bringing magic, a runway vibe, which is very flexible and diverse, works with light, and can be easily changed,” she says. “You can create many forms out of it, which can also be soundproof and intimate.”

32. Balance a Moody Space

Bring balance to an otherwise dark color palette with a more neutral-hued curtain idea, as styled in this London home office designed by Kathryn Porter. The space, in contrast to the otherwise neutral color scheme across the rest of the home, is color-drenched in a deep burgundy, and the soft warmth of the curtains brings together the accent chair and rug details.

33. Tuck Them Behind a Window Seat

The corner banquette seating in this space is enhanced by the floor-to-ceiling curtains that elegantly frame both the windows and seating. Designed by Irene Gunter of Gunter & Co, who wanted to give the London apartment a "sense of summer," the light-filled room is softened and defined by the curtains, inviting you to take a seat by the sunshine.

Stylish Curtains to Shop

Feeling inspired? These designer-look curtains all cost under £100 and will instantly elevate a room.

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