Help Me Curtain a Bathroom Window

October 22, 2018 4:32 PM

I have a window in my small downstairs half-bathroom. Here it is along with the disgusting curtains that came with the house. I need to block the view. A bottom half-curtain would be sufficient, but I think a two piece might look better. FWIW it's an old house, a Sears kit Dutch Colonial, so I don't want to go real modern.

I kind of like the fabric/pattern in the photo here, though I don't understand of the jargon on the page. But I'm not particularly hung up on it. Anyway, here are stats:

Outer molding distance: 36.5"
Inner molding distance: 28.75"
Window height: 45.5"

Disgusting upper curtain height: 10"
Disgusting bottom curtain height: 24"

The room will be painted in Benjamin Moore #295 in eggshell finish.

Suggestions? Rod/hardware suggestions appreciated, too. It's currently dollar store stuff.

Also, I suppose I'll paint the moldings white. Any suggestions re: which white to use? And should it be eggshell finish as well?

posted by Quisp Lover to Home & Garden (18 answers total)

Are you set on curtains? I think a wide (2") faux wood blind in white would have a classic look.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 4:36 PM on October 22, 2018 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Yeah, I think curtains for this.

How about these in 46w x 24h? With maybe this matching upper?
posted by Quisp Lover at 4:42 PM on October 22, 2018 [1 favorite]

To answer your last question, go with a semi-gloss white for the molding/trim. You want it to be a bit shinier than your walls.

I also agree with Sweetie Darling that some wooden blinds would look great. They could be white, or a color of wood to match any other wood in the room (cabinet?).
posted by hydra77 at 4:45 PM on October 22, 2018 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: hydra, ok, will do. But...just "white"? Aren't there like 2000 whites? Does it matter? FWIW, I'm doing the ceiling in "ceiling white".
posted by Quisp Lover at 4:53 PM on October 22, 2018

I'm a big fan of privacy film for bathroom windows, so you still have light but no one can see in. Then you could get a lower half/cafe curtain and still have privacy.
posted by bluedaisy at 5:04 PM on October 22, 2018 [14 favorites]

Response by poster: Ok, ok. I'm considering:

Arlo Blinds Snow White 2-Inches Faux Wood Horizontal Blinds
and Arlo Blinds White Cordless 2 Inch Faux Wood Horizontal Blinds.

I like cordless, though I'm not sure I trust them to work in the long run.

One problem is my window is 45.5" tall and the blinds are 50” and 60” tall, respectively.

Privacy not an issue. No direct line of site in for quite some distance. Light and gauzy works fine (remember this is just a downstairs half bath, not a master bath)
posted by Quisp Lover at 5:04 PM on October 22, 2018

You can shorten most wooden blinds by removing slats, although it's a bit tedious dealing with knotting the cords at the right length and keeping them level. I've done it on some of our blinds and just left the rest to hang long or "puddle" at the window sill. It might be worth checking with your local home-improvement megastore to see if they can do a custom LxW order or if they can shorten the ones available in the store. Most of those stores carry a variety of widths that can be cut on-site - I can't remember if they will adjust the length or not.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 5:35 PM on October 22, 2018

Custom ordering blinds for a similarly-sized window I have was the same cost as buying blinds that would have mostly fit, but been too long. I ordered them through a big box store website.
posted by quince at 5:56 PM on October 22, 2018 [1 favorite]

Would plantation shutters work?
posted by bendy at 7:19 PM on October 22, 2018 [1 favorite]

I'm entering the home stretch in my own bathroom reno; I went with a top-down/bottom-up cordless cellular shade. Which you'd think would be too modern for a mid-century-style bathroom, but turns out it makes the window trim really pop. And the top-down function is nice, since I do have neighbours and they don't need to see me get out of the shower; when it's in the halfway-down position, it has the same sorta coverage as a cafe curtain but without a frou-frou top piece.
posted by Mary Ellen Carter at 7:54 PM on October 22, 2018 [1 favorite]

Yep, we're all beating the blinds/temporary window film drum here.
Home Depot has temp films.
I did DIY with a cheap plastic table cover from the birthday supplies section at Wal-Mart, and just dampened the windowpanes of a nine-lite exterior door, stuck the rectangles on, and redampened and tucked the corners back in place when they started to droop. No big deal, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

How are you at hemming a curtain? Seems like you could either get a curtain rod and the hardware and set it in place, cafe curtain-style, and add any lace curtains available. A bit of lace on the bottom edge covers a lot of problems.
You don't have to do the swag curtains at the top unless you like that look, but again, the hardware is readily available.
Check with the hardware store about paintable fill for the holes from previous hardware and how to smooth that out before painting.

Benjamin Moore 295 -- Candlelit Dinner... nice.
What other trim is on the wall? Baseboard, around the door? Are you carrying the treatment across all the trim work in the room?
A generic white for the trim is dead easy and hides a lot of problems. You could also check to see if a slightly lighter or darker version of your color is available.
I'm not getting a lighter version on the website, but you should be able to get that information at the paint store. The darker versions are a nice creamy yellow.

Another option is using the same color in a semi-gloss on the trim and an eggshell on the walls. Also, try getting a sampler pint and a piece of drywall and paint the eggshell base, then do sponges/stamp designs with the semi-gloss to see if that is interesting. I did that in a stairway. The paint store should have some special effects pamphlets, but the slightly different paint finishes will also work.
posted by TrishaU at 9:00 PM on October 22, 2018

I would just replace the glass in the bottom panes with frosted glass and forget about this whole thing. Curtains in bathrooms are prone to damp.
posted by DarlingBri at 2:50 AM on October 23, 2018 [2 favorites]

Benjamin Moore Simply White is a nice white for trim.
posted by songs about trains at 3:53 AM on October 23, 2018

The words for what you're looking for are "cafe curtains" and "valance".

"Cafe curtains" are what you're calling the "lower curtains", and "valance" is the upper bit. There are umpty-squillion options for cafe curtains at all price points; the picture in the "I like the look of this" are the cafe curtains alone.

If you want to block the view in the window entirely what you want are full drapes that cover the whole window. If you like the "just cover the lower half" look then cafe curtains is what you want.

One last thing to consider is if you want just the view inside but still want to let in light. If you want to block light as well, make sure you're looking for "light blocking" curtains.

A very easy DIY solution would be to find a fabric you like, get some cheap rings to clip onto the fabric, and use that. You can even do that to cover the entire window - just move the curtain rod up to the top part of the window.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:05 AM on October 23, 2018 [1 favorite]

I'd go with plantation shutters too. Easy to close when you are doing your business, easy to open the rest of the time, easy to clean.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:41 AM on October 23, 2018 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: If I get white blinds or shutters, do I need to worry about them clashing with the white of the molding paint (e.g. Benjamin Moore Simply White, per above suggestion)? Or will the default flat white of most blinds/shutters go with anything/everything?
posted by Quisp Lover at 8:30 AM on October 23, 2018

I have hung stained glass panels in windows for privacy. And you can get a spray that will give your glass a frosted look. I used that on a landing window, once, and on basement windows.
posted by Enid Lareg at 10:00 AM on October 23, 2018

What should the room feel like? In my old house, I wanted the bathroom to feel serene, and chose accordingly. Your existing curtains feel dated. Loose-woven curtains feel fresh and breezy. My downstairs bathroom is intended to feel like it was original to the house when it was a cottage, and to pretend it's not windowless. My upstairs bathroom is intended, should it ever be finished, to feel industrial. I don't like theme rooms, I just think rooms will have a feel to them, and I'd rather be in charge of what that is, with color, texture, pattern, etc.

It looks like there's a fair amount of empty wall space. I'd look for a piece of art, maybe a big framed poster, and choose other furnishings from there.
posted by theora55 at 6:24 PM on October 23, 2018