Stylish ideas for using curtains as partitions
The recent trend for open plan living is all very well, but sometimes we all need a little more privacy, especially those living in close quarters or in new-builds whose architects forgot the value of a firmly-closed door. If you don't want to partition a room in the permanent fashion of a door and a wall, curtains are a useful (not to mention decorative) way to cordon off a little peace and quiet. They are functional but also useful for bringing in colour, pattern and texture, while slight breezes may let them shimmer and shift in shape in a pleasing way. We've rounded up our favourite curtains as partitions from the House & Garden archives to help guide you.
Michael Sinclair1/11Our decoration editor recommends using curtains for partitions in small spaces particularly, as she did in this scheme for a studio flat.
"If constricted to a one-room flat, there is every chance you will want to screen certain sections off for privacy or for cosiness, such as a living snug or bedroom. Internal curtains are a perfect way to do this. They are easy to install and to move: far less of a commitment than other options such as a stud wall or crittal windows, and they easily open up to make the space feel bigger when they are not needed.
They look particularly great in a modernist building, because they add a real hit of warmth and texture to an otherwise severe architectural style. What’s more, in a modern, small apartment, it can be best to avoid curtains on the actual windows. Very simple windows are a key architectural feature, and curtains can suffocate them, masking their clean lines and eating too much into the size of the room. Note that heavy fabrics are particularly great for internal curtains."
Michael Sinclair2/11An instinct for recognising talent paid off handsomely for the owners of a Victorian house in north London when they selected the decorator Rachel Chudley to shake up its interiors with her exuberant approach. In the living room, the red hand-dyed velvet curtains by Lucy Bathurst, which hang from a bespoke copper rail, divide the living room from the dining area, instantly adding texture to the space, as well as pick up on the colours of the ‘Verdure’ wallpaper in tapestry green by Melissa White for Zoffany.
Owen Gale3/11The most ambitious room in Joanna Plant's West London house is her own bedroom. This haven of peace and quiet is wallpapered in a stunning Laura Ashley chintz matched to similar but ever so slightly different ‘Chinese Paper’ hanging fabric from Bennison, which she trimmed in red to better define its edges (as the Laura Ashley chintz is discontinued, Joanna had to amass the wallpaper roll by roll whenever she came across it on eBay). A curtain in the Bennison fabric separates the bathroom from the bedroom – a very appealing use of matchy matchy pattern.
Boz Gagovski4/11Creative consultant Max Hurd’s London terrace is the perfect illustration of his eclectic influences, from Oscar Wilde to Verner Panton. The result is a flamboyant contemporary take on country-house style realised in collaboration with the designer Benedict Foley. On the first floor landing, a panel of plain chintz fabric has been sculpted and staple-gunned to the wall to make a theatrical entrance to the bedrooms.
Ben Edwards5/11Sometimes it is the smallest and simplest of details that can upgrade a scheme from good to great. The interior designer Adam Bray has explained how he did just that, room by room, in a Victorian terraced house in Hackney.
“The lower ground floor was already one massive space and, with future-proofing in mind, we wanted it to have some level of flexibility. I have always loved an image of a Rose Uniacke project in which she divided the kitchen from the dining table with a curtain, so we used the idea here to create a separate seating area at the back. The track reaches across the entire width of the room, so it can be completely closed off. This also helps to give the kitchen and dining area a more intimate feel.”
Mark Anthony Fox6/11Adding a curtain to an existing wall can add texture and colour to a room; it's what Phoebe Clive, who runs homewares shop Tinsmiths, has done in her 16th-century cottage in Ledbury. Phoebe’s collection of Hungarian and Bulgarian folk-art frames is displayed above a wall curtain in Tinsmiths’ ‘Ledbury Elizabethan’ linen, based on a Tudor wall painting discovered above the council offices in Ledbury. This is the backdrop for Curwen Menagerie, an original lithograph by Mark Hearld.
Michael Sinclair7/11In a small bedroom in Thea Speke's country house, curtains in a green check from Merchant & Mills screen an iron bed from The French House. It's a charming and easy way to create a snug bed nook in a small room.
8/11A derelict workshop in East London has provided a wonderful blank canvas for interior designer Rachel Chudley, who has used a creative approach to transform it into an exuberantly colourful home. Here, Rachel uses a copper-toned curtain to cordon off space in a room, picking up on the playful textures and patterns throughout the living space.
Jake Curtis9/11In the open-plan kitchen, living and dining area of Thea Speke’s flat, the dining table, with its built-in banquette, has been pulled to one side to open up the space. A curtain forms a gentle divide between this space and the hallway, which leads to the bedrooms and front door.
Martin Morrell10/11If you've got a draughty house, then a door curtain can be a highly welcome addition. In Jeremy Langmead and Simon Rayner's Lake District farmhouse, an Anatolian wool blanket from Susan Deliss has been made into a door curtain.
Ruth Ribeaucourt11/11In their coastal house in France, Jean-Baptiste Martin and Vincent Farelly of paper company Antoinette Poisson have used their own dramatic ‘Torrent’ fabric as a divider between two halves of a room. It forms a pleasing contrast with the understated 18th-century panelling.
