Can You See Through Sheer Curtains? (By Day And By Night)
Jeff "King of the Castle"
Sheer curtains seem to be one of those elements in interior design that never go out of style.
There’s a variety of reasons why many consider them to be the perfect window covering.
They’re affordable, versatile, and capable of breathing new life into your room.
With their textural and floaty appearance, they can soften up any space adding just the right amount of light.
Commonly made from flimsy and translucent fabrics such as lace, linen, or loosely woven polyester voile, sheer curtains have a high degree of transparency.
This is one of their main features which helps you cover the windows without blocking the sunlight from entering the room.
However, this is also the reason why some people are concerned about how well sheer curtains can protect their privacy.
The transparency wonderfully defuses the sunlight, but, on the other hand, raises the question can you see through sheer curtains.
Can You See Through Sheer Curtains During The Day?
Sheer curtains provide a certain level of privacy but mostly during daytime as they’re not that easy to see through while the sun is up.
During the day, they can offer the protection of your privacy and shield you from the outside world.
Even though they are not 100% opaque, sheer curtains still do a pretty good job of keeping prying eyes from seeing what’s going on in your home.
As long as it’s brighter outside than inside, you should be able to maintain a satisfactory degree of privacy.
The little the outsiders may be able to see will be unclear and unrecognizable.
In addition, before the night falls, sheer curtains will also protect flooring, furniture, and fixtures at your home from being directly exposed to sunlight, thus preserving them.
At the same time, while there’s natural light outside, you’ll be able to see through the curtain while inside.
Can You See Through Sheer Curtains At Night?
The privacy issues with sheer curtains begin at night when you turn on the artificial light in your home.
The lighting brightens up the room allowing anyone outside to see what’s happening inside.
Due to the lighting contrast, when it’s dark outside and the light inside is turned on, the translucence of sheer curtains works to soften up the sunlight light during the day becomes a weakness.
In most cases, passers-by will not only be able to see figures and contours of people inside the house but also recognize faces and have a clear sight of the situation in the house.
The ability of strangers to look inside your home creates more problems besides invasion of privacy. It also brings security and safety issues.
This can particularly be problematic if you live on the ground floor with windows facing a busy street or looking directly towards the neighbors.
How To Make Sheer Curtains More Private?
Many people want to have sheer curtains in their house for all the benefits and style they provide.
Still, at the same time, they care about privacy and want more protection from the curious looks of outsiders.
Luckily, there are ways you can approach this problem and keep your room looking beautiful while maintaining your privacy.
Here are a couple of options on how to make sheer curtains more private:
Layering Sheer Curtains
Probably the easiest and the simplest way to make your sheer curtains more difficult to see through is to add the extra curtain layer.
To do this, you’ll need double curtain rods and double brackets. You can layer two sheer curtains together, doubling their ability to protect your privacy.
For even better results, layer the sheet curtain under a thicker and more opaque drape.
This hack will allow you to have a couple of options when it comes to light in the room and level of privacy.
By drawing back the thicker curtains, you will be able to allow sheers to do their thing and let the more light in.
This is the perfect option for daytime. At night, you can pull all the curtains shut for maximum privacy.
Combining Sheer Curtains With Window Coverings
Another good option is to use your window shades or blinds. If you don’t already have them, installing them is super easy and simple.
There are several types of windows coverings you can install with different degrees of blackout and light filtering.
You should choose the ones that suit your needs the best. You can go with traditional window blinds, cell shades, roller shades, or pleated shades.
Plus, you will have a very diverse choice of colors and materials. An additional benefit is that some of these shades also make your house more energy-efficient.
The downside is that using blinds that totally obstruct the view into your home will reduce the light inside and keep you from being able to look outside.
Adjusting The Brightness In The Room
As I said above, the brighter the room, the easier it is to see through sheer curtains inside.
You can deal with this to a certain level by adjusting the brightness inside.
Dimming the artificial lights in your home or lowering the brightness setting on your TV set will make it more difficult for outsiders to easily look through the window with sheer curtains.
At least, it will make the view from outside to inside more blurry.
Conclusion
Sheer Curtains are a fantastic way to transform your home and add a touch of class and elegance.
Also, besides the visual element, sheers provide the perfect warm lighting to your room and increase your privacy a little.
However, this last part is not perfect as it only works during the day.
While they provide privacy protection while there is sunlight, it’s fairly easy to see through the sheer curtains at night.
Still, people who value their privacy and like to keep their private life to themselves can use a couple of tricks to make a view through their window and sheers less transparent.
This way, you can have sheer curtains enhance your living environment and spend nights at your home without stressing about endangered privacy.
