Ask interior designers and you’ll be surprised with how most of them can’t imagine a home without window treatments.
This may be the reason why we add these panels and fabrics by default without assessing whether we really need them.
It is not uncommon for homebuyers to factor in window treatments when buying a home.
But, Is It OK To NOT Have Window Treatments?
This question can’t be answered with one answer. Whether you can live comfortably with or without treatments on your windows depends on an array of factors.
Six Reasons To NOT Utilize Window Treatments
In these cases, yes – it would be perfectly ok to not have window treatments:
1. The View Is Irresistible and You Can’t Afford to Hide It
All window treatments are an integral part of your room’s design, but you are more likely to have second thoughts if your windows are positioned to overlook a beautiful seaside or picturesque city skyline.
In this case, you’d want a clear view uninterrupted by the meddlesome curtains and stuff.
So, if you are a homeowner who always wants to establish a connection with the environment around your home, window treatments may not be a priority for you.
2. The window panes look good alone
It is not always all about the window glasses and the treatments themselves, but what is around them as well.
The best time to think about bare windows is when the neighbors’ prying eyes are far away.
Some windows can be pieces of art that may compel you to admire them from both inside and outside the home.
If there’s something beautiful to gaze at outside your home and your window panes are equally stunning, then there is no reason to block the view with some unimpressive curtains and similar treatments.
In fact, if your home has windows that are artistically handcrafted and distinctive enough, they don’t require any form of dressing.
3. There is little natural light
For a designer, it is fun to add texture and fabric, but window treatments, at their core, are functional items.
If you often find yourself compelled to work in a room that receives very little or no natural light, nixing your curtains might be the best you could do.
If curtains are not serving a specific purpose like providing privacy or filtering the excess light, it is nice to keep your windows uncovered—provided they are a good scale and well made.
4. Modern spaces don’t go well with window treatments
Modern-styled homes seldom prioritize window treatments.
Most modern designers prefer bare windows and curtain-less bedrooms. This style is manifested better in modern-styled loft spaces, brownstones, or homes that feature double-height windows.
This arrangement is irresistible as it establishes a clean, modern, and open feeling.
Privacy is never an issue with this radical openness as you can choose to incorporate a few solar roller shades or panel track blinds.
They provide all the Ultraviolet light protection you may need, but you don’t get to lose your view. All this is achieved without window treatments!
5. Oddly-shaped windows
If your home is designed with porthole-style windows or wonky, offset ones, you may be justified to leave them bare and let their shape make the radical statement.
Truth be said – draperies do feel out of place sometimes especially uniquely-shaped openings and windows.
6. Give your eyes a break from the pattern
Have you ever realized that it can get really boring to stare at the same window treatments day in day out regardless of how beautiful they are?
This can be especially true if you are always indoors.
As such, bare windows can serve to rest your eyes in an otherwise cramped and busy room with ceiling to floor curtains and all manner of window coverings.
But it can depend on the overall scale of pattern and color in the room.
If there is a lot, by skipping some or all window treatments you get to make everything feel fresh, still, and not overdone.
Two Reasons When Window Treatments SHOULD Be Utilized
In some cases, however, it won’t be okay to try to live without even the most basic treatments such as curtains.
Here are cases where you should have window treatments:
1. You put a high price on privacy
The need for privacy is the number one reason why you may want to install window treatments.
Think about when you’re not at home, say, traveling.
Do you normally halt your newspaper delivery routine and ask your neighbor to receive your mail?
If you are gone for a few weeks, you would probably ask a friend to drive around with your car or appear to hang around the homestead – anything to show a sign of activity.
These are all smart maneuvers to protect your property. Unfortunately, none of these really matter to anyone if you don’t put window treatments.
Curtains and similar treatments create the much-needed barrier between the outside world and your personal space.
With all your curtains drawn down/across, unwanted onlookers will not be able to peer inside your living space and track your movements.
So, window treatments can calm your mind as you don’t need to worry about who people are investigating your home.
Of course, privacy is just as valuable – if not more – when you are actually at home.
Please imagine stepping out of bed or shower and getting dressed behind clear windows with an unrestricted view of the outside!
This is one of the many intimate moments that require window treatments, so you may be free and feel comfortable moving around in the space you call home.
Adding a few layers of drapery allows you to make up your mind about the extent of privacy you want in your family room, kitchen, study, and even master bedroom.
Still, not just any window treatment would do – some treatments are the same as not having a treatment.
Linen blends and real linen can be the perfect weight as they allow in a slight amount of natural light but still removes sight lines from the outdoors.
Woven wood shades can be another great choice for privacy especially in bathrooms, where total darkness is not necessary.
Your front-facing living room and bedrooms, however, might require more and better coverage. In these spaces, you can add a few layers or choose to go with a blackout lining on drapery.
2. Window Treatments improves Your Home’s Décor
Think about it – if Mona Lisa lacked eyes, the painting wouldn’t be as attractive as it looks today.
It would appear unfinished, basically. There would be one obvious missing piece.
The same applies to your window décor – without eye-arresting treatments on them, your windows would appear to be missing something.
These fabrics and panels do more than just block sunlight and your nosy passersby.
And, from a visual standpoint, window treatments are that charming, elegant, and sometimes theatrical add-on you must install to boost the appearance of the room especially if the décor in that room depends on them.
For one, they will frame the windows in such a way that the room occupiers lock their attention to them. This arrangement is more important in homes with arched windows and similar architectural details worth exaggerating.
Treatments also do a great job of calming the tone of your space.
Please imagine a large empty room with new hardwood floors but zero furniture.
By hanging curtains on windows, you add the much-needed warmth and create an inviting mood for visitors.
Conclusion
So, is it ok TO NOT have window treatments?
It depends.
It depends.
Some situations render them useless and unwanted. If the view of the outside is irresistible and you can’t afford to hide it, such things as curtains would be unnecessary.
If there’s something beautiful to gaze at outside your home and your window panes are equally stunning, then there will be no reason to block the view with some unimpressive curtains and similar treatments.
Also, modern spaces don’t go well with window treatments.
So, if your home is styled this way, chances are it doesn’t have window treatments.
If your home is designed with porthole-style windows or wonky, offset ones, you may be justified to leave them bare and let their shape make the radical statement.
Furthermore, bare windows can serve to rest your eyes in an otherwise cramped and busy room with ceiling to floor curtains and all manner of window coverings.
In some cases, however, it won’t be okay to try to live without even the most basic treatments such as curtains.
The need for privacy is the number one reason why you may want to install window treatments. Of course, privacy is just as valuable – if not more – when you are actually at home.
Please imagine stepping out of bed or shower and getting dressed behind clear windows with an unrestricted view of the outside!
This is one of the many intimate moments that require window treatments, so you may be free and feel comfortable moving around in the space you call home.
