Curtains
Living room curtains made to measure
Living room curtains chosen for light, privacy and acoustics.
Living room curtains from €9.50/m · For a 200 × 260 cm window, about €165–380. Measuring is free in Vilnius.
How do curtains work in a living room?
Living room curtains are chosen by the height of the window, how much light control you need and how much privacy. Fabrics of medium transparency (60–80%) are a practical choice: they filter the sun and give a soft light. For panoramic windows (3 m or more) Lavina (a heavy fall) or Crepe (a micro-grained texture) suit. For a ground-floor living room, choose a denser sheer that shows less, such as Sevim, or pair a sheer with a lined curtain. The full price for a 200 × 260 cm window runs from about €165 (Voile, wave pleats) to about €380 (Heritage, S-fold).
The best transparency for a living room is 60–80%: Voile (85%, €9.50/m), Lavina (60%, €15/m), Crepe (70%, €15/m), Šilkas (65%, €15/m). On the ground floor, very sheer fabrics such as voile or net sheer show silhouettes from outside in the evening, once the lights are on, so a denser fabric or a second layer suits there.
Family evenings: a light room by day, a soft dusk effect in the evening. TV and cinema room: fabrics that cut glare on the screen, Sevim or Crepe. Warmth at a large window: a denser fabric or a second, lined layer takes the chill of the cold glass off the room in the evening.
Which five fabrics suit a living room?
The choice depends on the floor, the size of the window and the style of the interior. For a living room we recommend five fabrics: Voile, Lavina, Šilkas, Crepe and Sevim.
Voile (lets 85% of the light through, from €9.50/m) is light and bright, and lets the most light through; it suits a first-floor room and panoramic windows. Lavina (60%, €15/m) has a heavy, flowing fall and suits a spacious living room with a panoramic window. Šilkas (65%, €15/m) has a silky, glossy texture and the richest look; it suits a classic or Art Deco living room. Crepe (70%, €15/m) has a micro-grained matt texture and suits Wabi-Sabi and modern classic styles. Sevim (45%, €14/m) is semi-matt, with UV filtering, and suits ground-floor living rooms that need privacy.
A worked example: a 3 m panoramic living room window
An example for a panoramic living room window 3 m wide. Fabric: Lavina, €15/m × 6.30 m (S-fold heading, 2.0× fullness plus 0.30 m for the side hems) = €94.50. Making (a sheer fabric): €8/m × 6.30 m = €50.40. Hanging: €4/m × 6.30 m = €25.20. A 3 m ceiling track with four brackets: €27 + €52. Fitting: €9/m × 3 m = €27.
In all, about €276. With Heritage (€39.50/m, a dim-out fabric, so making is €13/m) instead of Lavina, the same window costs about €462.
What are the three most common mistakes when choosing living room curtains?
These mistakes cost an extra €50–200 or spoil the look of the room. All of them can be avoided at a consultation.
1. Fabrics that are too thin for a ground-floor living room. Voile or Net sheer (85–90% transparency) let silhouettes show from outside even by day, which makes a privacy problem on the ground floor. Fix: a ground-floor living room needs a fabric that lets through under 70% of the light (Crepe, Sevim, Šilkas); on the first floor and above any sheer will do.
2. A track directly above the window, with no overhang. Open curtains cover 20–25% of the glass on each side: the living room looks darker, and a panoramic window works as a smaller one. Fix: the track should extend 25–30 cm past the window opening on each side, and for panoramic windows (3 m or more) as much as 35 cm.
3. A track fixed too low. A track 5 cm above the window frame makes the room look lower and flattens the panoramic effect. Fix: choose a ceiling track (straight to the ceiling), or a track a third of the way from the top of the window to the ceiling; that makes the ceiling look up to 30 cm higher.
Questions
Which curtains suit a living room best?
For a living room we recommend medium-transparency fabrics (60–80%) that balance light and privacy: Voile (85%, €9.50/m) for the most light, Lavina (60%, €15/m) for a heavy, flowing fall, Šilkas (65%, €15/m) for the richest look. For panoramic windows (3 m or more) Lavina or Crepe suit, for their full folds.
How much do living room curtains cost?
A standard 200 × 260 cm living room window, with a ceiling track and fitting: Voile with wave pleats, about €165; Crepe with pinch pleats, about €275; Heritage with an S-fold heading, about €380. For a panoramic 3 m window the sums are about 1.5 times higher.
Do sheers give enough privacy in a living room?
On the ground floor, choose a denser sheer that shows less, such as Sevim, or pair a sheer with a lined curtain: Voile and Net sheer let silhouettes show from outside in the evening, once the lights are on. On the first floor and above, any sheer is fine. In city flats two layers, sheers plus lined curtains, are practical.
Which curtain colours make a room look larger?
Light colours (white, sand, light grey) and fabrics with vertical patterns (Lietutis) make the ceiling look higher and the room larger. A ceiling track with a fabric from ceiling to floor is the most effective trick for small living rooms (low ceilings, under 2.7 m). Darker colours (graphite) suit spacious rooms where you want a more enclosed feel.
Do I need lined curtains in a living room as well?
It depends on how the room is used. If it is a day and evening space with no sleeping, sheers with suitable privacy are enough. If the living room is also a cinema room, an evening work area, or part of an open plan with a bedroom, two layers (sheers plus blackout) give full control. More is on the lined curtains page.
How do curtains affect the acoustics of a living room?
Heavier fabrics (Lavina, Crepe, Heritage) and full folds soften the echo in a living room. How much depends on the fabric, the folds and the room, so no decibel figure is given. It matters most in open-plan layouts with hard floors and concrete walls. Thin Voile has almost no effect on acoustics.
Ideas for your home
Flat, living room. A white sheer across the whole window wall and sand-coloured curtains from ceiling to floor. 
House, window recess. Sand-coloured curtains and a white sheer on a ceiling track. 
Flat, living room. Sand-coloured curtains and a white sheer from ceiling to floor. 
House, bedroom under a pitched roof. Peach curtains with tie-backs and a white sheer. 
House, room with oak floors. A sheer in wave pleats and a pale curtain in a ceiling recess. 
House, corner room. White sheers in wave pleats on ceiling tracks.