Curtain Ideas: 13 Looks From Real Australian Homes

The quickest way to choose curtains is to see them in a real room. Every photo below is an Australian home with our curtains in it, and every idea is something you can order yourself. You measure, pick the fabric and heading, and we sew it to your sizes in Australia. Then you hang it.

For each idea we've noted the fabric, the heading, where the track goes and how the hem meets the floor, so you can copy it. It's all in our made-to-measure curtain range.

Bedroom curtain ideas

1. Sheer in front, blockout behind

This is the setup in the bedrooms of Oak & Orange's Dream Home 10: Bali Pearl sheers from the ceiling to the floor, with a motorised blockout roller blind behind them. The sheer stays closed by day for soft light and privacy. The roller comes down at night for sleep.

Want curtains only? Double curtains hang a sheer and a blockout curtain on one double track, and each opens on its own. Our guide to sheer curtains over roller blinds covers the roller version.

2. Run a small window's curtain across the whole wall

This bedroom in the Better Built Homes Northwood 54 display home has one short, wide window. The white S-fold sheer runs the full wall instead, from the ceiling to the floor, so you see a soft wall of fabric rather than a small window.

To copy it, measure the track length you want, not the window. We make curtains from 800 mm to 5,750 mm wide. Choose a ceiling track and a drop that reaches the floor.

3. Hang it from the ceiling, right to the floor

The main bedroom at Belmont Manor, a Better Built Homes custom home featured as Oak & Orange's Dream Home 5, has ivory sheers from the ceiling to the floor on two walls. White blockout roller blinds sit behind them for sleep.

If you go for a blockout curtain instead, the ceiling track matters even more. Light can't spill over the top, and a centre-opening pair overlaps in the middle to cut the light there too. Run the track at least 150 mm past the frame on each side and take the hem to the floor.

4. Match the wall, or go dark

In this HAAUS.6 bedroom, white HAALUX Aire sheers sit against a blush plaster wall. A pale curtain, or one close to your wall colour, blends in and helps a small bedroom feel bigger.

Prefer something moodier? A dark blockout frames the window and looks richer. Our Simplicity blockout runs from White to Black, and HAALUX Aire sheers include darker colours like Storm and Ebony. Order free curtain samples and hold them at the window in daylight, then again at night.

Living room curtain ideas

5. One sheer along a whole wall of windows

Belmont Manor's open-plan living room has a row of tall windows along one wall. Instead of dressing each one, the ivory sheers run the whole length, so the wall reads as one piece of soft fabric. The Northwood 54 living room does the same with white sheers.

For a long wall, split it into a centre-opening pair, or into a few curtains that stack beside the doors you use. Each one comes with its own track, cut to your width.

6. Use a ceiling track to make the room feel taller

In the HAAUS.7 house, Milk HAALUX Aire S-fold sheers hang from the ceiling line to the floor in every room. In the dining room that hides the top of the window frame, so the windows read taller than they are.

In our designer, choose Ceiling (top fit) for the track, then measure the drop from the ceiling to where you want the hem. We make drops from 900 mm to 4,000 mm. Look along the ceiling first: if a cornice or bulkhead is in the way, put the track on the wall above the window instead (face fit).

7. Hide the track behind a beam or bulkhead

In Dream Home 10, Oak & Orange used the ceiling beams as a pelmet. The curtain track and the roller blind motors are tucked out of sight, so all you see is the Bali Pearl sheer.

If you're building or renovating, ask your builder about a recess or bulkhead for the track before the plaster goes on. Planning a hard-wired motor? Tell your electrician where the power needs to be at the same time.

8. Pick S-fold for a modern line, pinch pleat for a classic one

S-fold curtains hang in soft, even waves (you'll also see it called wave fold) and stack back tightly. It's the heading on the sheers in every room of HAAUS.7, including this lounge. Choose fixed flow and each wave keeps the same spacing every time you close it.

Pinch pleat curtains gather the top into sewn folds, in pairs (double) or threes (triple). They suit a classic lounge room or a period home.

Sheer curtain ideas

Most of the homes above use sheers. Here are two more ideas for getting them right.

9. Try a warm colour instead of white

The bedrooms at Magenta Palms, a holiday rental styled by Oak & Orange, pair blockout roller blinds with sheer curtains. In this one the curtain is a warm sand colour, which frames the golf course view and sits softly against the white walls.

Oak & Orange went pinker in Dream Home 6, with Bali Blush sheers. Bali alone comes in 19 colours, from Snow and Pearl through Flax and Taupe to Storm. White is easy, but a warm colour makes the curtain part of the room.

10. Make sheers hang straight

Two small choices make a sheer look neat. A lead-weight hem is a fine chain sewn into the hem, so the sheer hangs dead straight. Then pick how it meets the floor: 20 mm off the floor is the practical choice, touching the floor looks crisp, and puddled adds 20 mm so the hem breaks softly.

Run the track at least 150 mm past the frame on each side as well. The open sheer then stacks off the glass and you keep the whole view.

Curtain ideas for tricky windows

11. Sliding doors: stack it away from the door

In this HAAUS.6 living room, the HAALUX Aire sheer stacks beside the sliding door to the deck, so the doorway stays clear while it's open. In our designer you choose which way a curtain stacks: left, right, or a pair that opens from the centre.

Stack it over the fixed pane, not the opening, so you can walk straight through. Run the track well past the frame on that side so the folded curtain sits beside the glass.

12. Corners: one curtain for each wall

The HAAUS.7 lounge has glass on two walls, and the sheers run along both. For a corner like this, order a curtain for each wall, each on its own track.

Stack both into the corner to keep the glass clear, or away from the corner if that's where the view is. Keep the same fabric, colour and heading on both so they read as one.

13. High windows: dress the glass you look through

The Northwood 54 main bedroom has a high window under the gable. The sheer covers the glass and door below it, and the high window is left bare. You get privacy where you need it, without a curtain you can't reach.

If a tall window does need covering, a motorised track saves the stretch. The Somfy Movelite runs on a battery and needs no electrician. The Somfy Glydea 35e is hard-wired, so it never needs charging. Both come with a Situo 1 remote. On a hand-drawn track, even our longest wand (1,520 mm) can hang out of easy reach on a very tall drop.

We make it, you hang it

Every idea here is a standard order in our designer. Measure the track width and the drop, choose the fabric, heading and track, and see the price as you go. We sew it to your sizes in Australia and dispatch it in 8 to 15 business days.

Hanging them is a DIY job. Your order arrives with its own track, brackets and instructions. You'll need a drill, a level and a ladder, plus screws and plugs to suit your ceiling, and a long track is easier with two people. That's Harries Carroll from Bondi Rescue in the photo, hanging his own Bali Pearl sheers. If you need a part later, there are curtain spare parts online.

Curtain questions