Curtains are available in almost every household, but few people can actually buy them. I often hear people complain: just entered the curtain shop and gave me a quote of 1,000 yuan; In the end, the miscellaneous additions added up to several times!
The owner of the curtain shop once told me that the addition in the curtain has the lowest practical value. To put it bluntly, don’t look at the temptation of curtain accessories, if you want not to spend money in vain, you must remember to choose three out of three – the last point, choose as appropriate.
Choose deep rather than shallow
One of the functions of curtains is to block the light – to block the sun during the day and the light at night.
The parameters that describe the shading properties of curtains are called “shading rate”. There are two factors that affect the shading: color and fabric.
The darker the color of the cloth of the same thickness and material, the higher the shading rate.
As we will say below, the higher the shading rate, the better. However, by choosing dark curtains, you can achieve the target shading rate with thinner, simpler fabrics.
The fabric is thinner, the process is simpler, and the price is naturally lower.
So what is “dark”? Refers to the proportion of black in a color. For example, red, dark red is darker than big red; Big red is darker than pink.
Choose thick rather than thin
The second function of curtains is heat preservation and sound insulation – it is no exaggeration to say that a good set of curtains can be comparable to a window.
The first thing that affects the thermal insulation and sound insulation ability of curtains is the thickness of the fabric.
Curtains are all superimposed by layers of cloth, and the greater the amount of fabric, the greater the thickness.
The thickness of the fabric is the best judgment: reach out and touch it, and you will instantly know which fabric is thick and which is thin.
What needs to be vigilant is the process of fabric, that is, the surface of the cloth has been deeply processed. For example, brushing, linen, these fabrics are quite thick to the touch, but in fact there are not many layers.
When you use it, it does not have the effect of heavy curtains as expected. This type of fabric is purely for appearance, not very practical.
Another factor that can affect the insulation and sound insulation ability of the fabric is thread count and density. The higher the thread count and density of the curtain, not only the heat preservation and sound insulation will be better, but even the sense of drape will be better.
However, high-count and high-density curtains have a disadvantage, that is, they are easy to peel off. Especially if there are cats and children at home, you must be especially careful when using them.
Choose a pattern, not a decoration
The third function of curtains is decoration – a beautiful set of curtains can add a lot of color to the decoration effect.
How to make curtains beautiful? There are two ways to do this: either work on the fabric or on the accessories.
It is recommended to choose a set of fabric that looks better. The upgrade of the fabric will not cost too much money, the same quality of the fabric, only for the appearance of the upgrade, the difference will not exceed a thousand yuan.
But accessories are different, so add a few accessories, it may be more expensive than the whole fabric. There are three types of common fabrics:
The first is yarn, I refer to the decorative yarn hanging on the surface of the curtain in the picture above, not a separate yarn.
The second type is the edge, which can be understood as the lace edge on the clothes. But on the curtains, the material of the edge is not only lace, but it is all the same.
The third is the lead block, plumb, and lead line embedded inside, which is claimed to increase the drape of the curtain.
These three decorations are often not useful, and the first two will accumulate dust in use. The third type only works when the curtain is new, and after a few months, even without the plumb, the curtain can hang down.
The shading rate is discretionary
The shading rate of curtains is not as high as possible, but it must be higher and more expensive.
The bedroom has the highest requirements for shading, but it is also necessary to divide the room. Adults, especially healthy young people, like to sleep in, or often stay up late, night shift, can choose a slightly higher shading rate, about 90% of the curtains.
Children’s room or elderly room, it is best not to choose curtains with too high shading rate. Let the morning sun shine in, it’s better for the body. Therefore, in these rooms, it is enough to choose curtains with a shading rate of 70%~80%.
Public rooms such as living rooms and study rooms do not need to choose high shading rates, and the best effect of these rooms is “light transmission and opaque”. That is, it is enough to protect privacy after turning on the lights at home, and there is no need for people to stand outside the window and not know whether the lights are on in the room. Therefore, curtains with a shading rate of about 60% are generally selected.
The shading rate of the gauze curtain is lower, and the gauze curtain behind the curtain is generally suitable for people to feel dazzling when they are relaxing and basking in the sun in the room. Therefore, it is usually recommended to choose curtains with a shading rate of about 20%.
The curtains on the balcony are designed to avoid too strong sunlight. Here the curtains can choose the shading rate of 30%~40%.
