These designer-approved tips balance privacy and style.
Creating a cozy and chic living room, especially as the holidays approach, involves more than just furniture and throws—considering your window treatments is just as important. The best living room curtain ideas offer both privacy and style, seamlessly integrating into your overall design. With a plethora of curtain options available in various styles and price points, you can easily find options that suit your aesthetic and budget as you refresh your space for the season.
Explore living room curtain ideas ranging from semi-sheers to blackout options with patterned trims to vibrant botanical drapes. Curtains and drapes are versatile, as they can highlight or conceal architectural features, anchor a room with bold colors, and when extended from ceiling to floor, give the impression of higher ceilings and a larger space.
Once you decide on your design direction, browse through these 39 designer-approved living room curtain ideas to find inspiration. You'll be ready to shop at the best places to buy curtains, ensuring you have a clear vision for transforming your living room.
Additional copy by Kelly Allen and Kate McGregor.
In a living room with a detailed wallcovering, such as the one designed by Dane Austin for our 2024 Whole Home, matching curtains to the pattern can be challenging unless you opt for custom designs. However, if this isn't feasible, consider Austin's approach: select drapery in the same color as the wallcovering's background, but with its own pattern. When open, the folded print allows the curtains to harmonize with the wall without an exact match.
Almost every room in this home by designer Charlotte Lucas has pink in it, so to help tone down the feminine hue, Lucas used darker toile curtains and an animal-print rug. This living room curtain idea elegantly contrasts with the color-drenched atmosphere throughout the rest of the home.
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In this pretty pink sunroom, designer Charlotte Lucas hung up floral curtains from Schumacher to further embrace the feminine, romantic look of the house. The different-colored flowers on the curtains bring depth to the space, and the ruffles along the side give the room some youthfulness.
When choosing a more neutral tone for your living room curtains, add playfulness to your living room curtain idea by adding on some fun trim. In this historic Kansas City home designed by Annie Kern, she knew the stained glass windows and elegant colors throughout the space were the standout features, so the curtains couldn't detract from the architectural beauty. However, by attaching the Samual & Sons pom-pom trim, she made the space feel more approachable.
Though it's not an exact match, you can see the general hues of the living room's color palette reflected in the floor-to-ceiling curtains. The neutral-pink, gray-blue, and creamy white make jagged lines in the drapes while they're closed, and the team at Pfeffer Torode made them custom for this space.
This living room curtain idea from the team at Kobel + Co features neutral hues throughout. The curtains are a shade darker than the walls, adding a nice layered effect to the common area.
Go even darker with your curtains in an already dark and moody space, as designer Marie Flanigan did in this home lounge and bar. The merlot-colored curtains add a shadow-like look against the deep purple walls, bringing in more dimension even when they're pulled open.
You can see in this living room designed by Marie Flanigan that there are two sets of diaphanous curtains installed on the same wall: One pair to cover the floor-to-ceiling windows, the other pair to cover the glass French doors. While the doors don't touch the ceiling like the windows do, Flanigan kept the curtains at the same level to keep a cohesive look and make the space feel more symmetrical.
From the colors to the trim, there's a lot going on in this Illinois home by Sarah Vaile, and the living room curtain idea adds to the busyness in the best possible way. The heavily patterned drapes bring more playfulness to the room where there are already a lot of prints and hues, yet they work beautifully and fit right in thanks to the dark gray walls and intricate, white ceiling trim.
The colors black and yellow are heavy in this home designed by Studio Thomas James, so the team hung long, dark curtains in the living room to anchor the elegant space. Using yellow curtains would've been too much color; going with the black ones with yellow trim kept the luxe look.
Choose a drapery color similar to your paint hue for a subtle living room curtain idea that still adds impact. In our 2023 Whole Home, designer Rasheeda Gray of Gray Space Interiors opted for a slate blue that adds texture and warmth but doesn't distract from the view it borders.
In this Cate Dunning–designed space, the living room curtain idea helps to round out the color palette by pulling in the accent hue: a bright, cerulean blue that's also seen on the armchairs.
If you need privacy but don't want to completely block out the light in your living room, consider giving yourself options. Dane Austin chose to double-layer the window treatments here, using both a cafe curtain and a full-length blackout shade. This setup allows homeowners to customize the light exposure to their exact liking.
While most people agree that curtains should fall to the floor, that's more of a suggestion than a rule. Take inspiration from Rita Chan's California home where the drapery stops at the bottom of the window frame. This also prevents them from getting stuck behind the sofa.
Curtains are a great way to highlight a colorful pattern without the print overtaking the room visually. The trick, as seen here in our 2023 Whole Home studio apartment designed by Jenna Gross of Colordrunk Designs, is to use pleated curtains to help confine the pattern.
If your home is short on natural light but still needs privacy, opt for a pair of cafe curtains instead of a full-length set. This living room curtain idea is best for rooms and apartments that are above ground level.
The best way to get the custom curtain look without the price tag is to precisely align the corners. Be sure to match the heights of your curtain rods and leave enough of a gap so your curtains don't bunch together and overlap.
Narrow windows are still deserving of chic treatments. Use thinner fabrics and tight pleats in your drapery to help frame the window without overwhelming the smaller proportions.
If you're a pattern lover, it can be tempting to place a print on every surface you can. However, to balance the space (and help focus your eye), solid curtain panels can be a strong design choice. Take inspiration from HGTV stars Ben and Erin Napier and this calming living room curtain idea.
If you've got it, flaunt it. Towering windows are hard to dress, but matching, floor-to-ceiling curtains are rarely a mistake. Opt for a complementary color rather than a neutral to help draw the eye upward.
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