What's a grommet?

Hate.

Shellyuk...here's a grommet

Bungalowmo, if you have a second can you elaborate a bit on your hate vote for grommets? Thanks!

I really don't know what it is about them. But...here's an example, I bought dark metal curtain rods & cream linen rod pocket curtains for my porch. Love them. My neighbor has my twin house (the only 2 like it in town) she wanted some too. I was cool with it, our places face West & afternoon sun can be brutal. She got grommet curtains.

When I come up the street, mine are in place, just like I left them...hers are always blown both over to one side of the rod. They NEVER stay in place. I realize they work differently inside your home, but I just feel like they're sort of juvenile. Like they belong in a kids room, but not in a living room...or an adult bedroom.

If it's any consolation....I don't like those tab top curtains either.


I'm a bit of an old soul. I love old architecture, old appliances & live in a 100 yo house. I just like old school, classic stuff. Not everyone's style, but mine, all the same.

I don't care for them generally.

Works for my kid's room.

I've never had grommets, but when I've seen them, they've been used with curtains or drapes that are MUCH heavier than I'd ever use. They're also too even and unnatural looking for my taste. I have sheer muslin curtains on wooden poles with rings and clips. They slide effortlessly and don't stay put … but that's the point for me. I want the air to blow through and around them, and I want to be able to open or close them with a swipe of the hand.

These are very helpful! We are bird watchers so need to see out. Only reason we are even putting up the sheers is to stop all the window strikes in the spring. And to give the rooms a finished look of course. But we do want that easy quick swish they are open for when we spot an interesting bird or fox or coyote, et cetera. I could do the rings but with three large windows and a slider all in close proximity in an open floor plan, I thought all those rings might look too busy. That brings me back to the ripplefold again but this time with a wand instead of cord. Love our master bedroom ones and they are heavier fabric with a draw cord. But the rod was the problem - ugly. I feel like I can finally see light at the end of this tunnel! So glad I put this out there for discussion. All my fabric samples arrived today - such beautiful choices!

I like grommets. I have them in all my rooms. I have rods that don't have a join so drawing them is not a problem and they stay where they are placed.

Finally a positive, condomary. What is the fabric like that you find works with your grommets and rods? We would not have joints either, so still considering. Do you open them often?

It's not the adjustable rods, although they don't help. It is the fact that if you want them to function, open & close, you will never get the folds even without considerable time and effort. And, even if you don't plan to open & close them it's hard to keep the folds looking neat and even.

In the living areas I have white linen on a stainless steel rod. In the bedrooms i have heavy cotton with a blackout backing on black metal rods. The curtains are usually closed during the day for sun protection for furniture. I open them when I come home and they are open all evening then closed when I go to bed. So.. Generally twice a day.

I have recently acquired two sets of curtains with grommets - one sheer and one block out. I only pull them at night for heat conservation and love how they fold back to nothing to reveal the view in the daytime. They open onto a wall. If I had them closed all the time I would probably choose a day/night blind instead but they are perfect for what I want.

I know this is an old post, but I love grommet curtains. I wasn't sure how I'd like them until I got them for our living room. They slide extremely easily, and they always look neat and evenly spaced when open or closed. If you have trouble sliding them, use a little furniture polish on the rod, and they'll slide like a dream.

I love my grommet curtains mainly because they slide on the curtain rod easily and I don't have to readjust every time I open or close them, like I do with the rod pocket. Plus I just think they look classy and hang even! I have them in several rooms now!

I LOVE grommets. Despise rod pockets. Rod pockets are so hard to open and close. They don't want to slide, because they're always so tight on the rod. Grommets slide like a dream. You can open and close them with the swipe of a hand.

I hate grommets, rings, hooks, and anything else that requires metal. I hate the sound they make. I don't like the tab tops or rod pockets either. All of my curtains are back tab.

I didn't think I would like grommet curtains but that's what we just bought for the living space in our beach house. The space is totally open with 3 sets of sliders and a large window. The previous owner had vertical blinds everywhere which I hate. I wanted to do some sort of bamboo flat roman shade but didn't think it would be the most practical. I wound up getting textured white curtain panels from Target that look more expensive than they are. I love the look for a beach cottage and I can easily pull them closed together to block the hot afternoon sun or for privacy in the evening. Otherwise I like leaving them open. They give a soft, casual look that finishes the space perfectly.

I was the original poster of the question so thought I would follow up. So nice to hear how everyone uses them or not. For me, I ended up spray painting electrical conduit to look dark and I now have long uninterrupted rods on large windows with grommet panels at the ends which are pretty much stationary we don't open and close. Where I need it for heavy sun, I have a sheer on the rod with a rod pocket to filter the light. Surprisingly with the sheer, I like it the opposite of the professional recommendation for width so it has almost no gathers and we can see through it. Normally I would double at least for a full look so it didn't look "cheap" but for some reason it looks good flat. It's a textured cream fabric that looks like a very sheer linen. Got it from bed bath beyond. I keep meaning to finish the other windows to match as it also prevents bird strikes but we keep our view. Houzz never fails to motivate me - maybe today will be the day! Happy spring to all!

Here's how it works for me

Nice update.I like my grommet panels, using them on all three windows in my living/kitchen area. The panels are washed linen and rarely closed. When I do close or open them a little twitching adjusts them to taste quickly and they don't need to be perfect as the fabric is so casual anyway. I made the rods from conduit that's painted close to the grommet color.

If I want perfect then pleated is the way to go, that's what is in my bedroom. That fabric is a fairly stiff cotton and probably would be extremely annoying if hung from grommets that were opened daily.

@Truffle lover I really like the look of your curtains. I have wide windows in the living room and two bedrooms, about as wide as yours. I bought double wide (100"x96"), rod pocket, linen curtains from Restoration Hardware intending to open and close them. Instead, I think I really should leave the panels stationary and have sheers like yours. What I'm wondering is how you capped the end of the conduit you used, and how did you mount the conduit? Thanks

Hi Rebecca
I used a cork from a wine bottle stuffed in the end. I found wooden finials sold separately at Home Depot and poked those into the cork. I had searched all the blogs about this project that I could find and some people used prettier endings but I couldn't find any.
For mounting, it's an L bracket attached to one of the "clamps" sold in the electrical conduit aisle that fits the rod diameter perfectly. I spray painted those as well but they end up covered by the fabric. And the wood is not a perfect match, it's brown and rod is black, but from a distance and with the rod covered in the sheer, you can't notice it so the lazy side of me took over and pronounced the project good enough.
If you do a google search for electrical conduit curtain rod you will find lots, and then you can tweak it to fit your situation.
Good luck; have fun; hope that helped.

Thanks so much for your reply! I really do think this idea is going to work well for me. Now I'm excited to see what I can find to use for a finial.

I don't like the metal of them. They add an element that takes away from the softness of the curtain fabric. I tried them once in a room with 4 windows and took them all back. Also,. I was repeatedly arranging them to get the folds to hang evenly.

Worse of all, my favorite stores carry hardly anything else. I'll be glad if they go out of style.

i hate, loathe, and despise them, in a deep primal way. they look like shower curtains to me, no matter how many 'pretty pictures' you show me. and while i'm not calling for them to be banned, i hate them so much i'd probably not buy a house that had grommet curtains anywhere but in the shower.

but i'm sure i love something you hate, so its all ok!

Grommet curtains have a place in window décor. Yes, they were in style a few years ago and they were overdone. But they all don't deserve to be sent to the thrift shop. They work great in small rooms, rooms with low ceilings, masculine rooms, rooms with transitional décor and heavily traditional rooms that need some calming down. Grommet drapes span the distance between modern and traditional. They offer the long clean, simple lines of the modern style with the soft warmth of traditional style. Sometimes a modern room doesn't need any more hard, cold surfaces (like a blind), and a traditional room doesn't any more flounce and busy-ness (like in a pleated or gathered drape). That's when it's time to call in the grommets. A grommeted curtain draws your eyes up to where the action is without all the pomp and weight of a valence or cornice. You rarely see a grommeted curtain in a patterned fabric because the circles of the grommets would compete with the pattern. Grommets can make a tailored, quality fabric look like a million dollars, and they can make an inexpensive fabric hang straighter than it's inclined to do. I recently went with grommets in my master bedroom, which has traditional furniture and a complicated bay window. The soft simplicity of this kind of curtain was just what my smallish room needed.

I personally hate grommets. They turn any room into instant “College dorm.”

How long before grommets go out of style? After a vacation to the land of the midnight sun, where we slept really well thanks to blackout curtains, we decided to add them to our master bedroom. We want them to move easily since we'll open & close them alot. Grommet curtains dominate the market now, and people seem to like the easy movement on the rod, but I'd be annoyed if we went that route & they go out of style before we put the house on the market in about three years.

I don’t like grommets because they can look messy and not evenly spaced. Also, they look more industrial for my taste. I like back tab curtains to cut the messy look, especially for stationary window treatments on the sides of windows. Any comments about back tab curtains?

I have a taste for more transitional - some traditional mixed with some contemporary. Personally, I do not like the grommet style. I find that it doesn't provide the elegance that back tabs, pleats or rod pockets do. I find that grommets belong more in a masculine space. I've had grommets curtains before. I do like how they glide easily and the grommet make the curtains look very controlled, instead of spreading so wide at the bottom when opened. But the moment I would look up and see the grommet, the curtain would lose all its charm and elegance. It just looks rigid and stiff, doesn't look natural. It just doesn't softly frame the window and "merge", if you will, with the wall. Hence, doesn't soften the room like a traditional style curtain can. To me, grommets are the equivalent of a 45 year old woman dressed in a mini denim skirt with a t-shirt with prints.

Grommet panels are ONLY good as a "curtain border". In other words, you use a 50"-54" wide panel to make 4 folds that hang on either side of a window opening. You have to hang some sort of rod pocket sheers in behind the curtain border. Grommet curtains simply do not hang right when you try to close them! The center looks terrible (they don't come together neatly and both sides turn to the back and look like a butt crack).

I don't like how they look so even with the uniform folds, heavy and somewhat bulky. They remind me a fence made of big plastic columns. Maybe it's just me, but they don't fit my interiors too. I prefer 19 century vintage style with some modern elements, or modern style with some vitage vibe. They can look fine in a modern interior, but there is something uncozy and odd about them that makes me really dislike them.

I love grommets, I have them on most of my windows. I also opt for rings as well. I don't have issues with them moving. The windows they dress are usually closed, and even when the window is open, they stay in place. I have the blackouts on the outside and the sheers in the middle where the breeze dances through them effortlessly. The room is not finished by any stretch of the imagination, but the grommets stay.

I ABSOLUTELY HATE GROMMETS ON CURTAINS!!! And I can not find any curtains in the colors or sizes we need with out Grommets!! We need total Blackout Curtains. Grommet ;et in a LOT of light! Yet, "Blackout" curtains are sold with Grommets. What good are "Blackout" curtains when the Grommets allow IN a LOT of light???!!!

FWIW, I ordered these rod pocket/back tab curtains from BB&B in Jan 2020. They are great as blackout curtains. It is 4 pm in New Orleans in August and it's so dark in this room right now that I have to turn on a lamp to find anything on the dresser.

Honeycomb Matelassé 84-inch Rod Pocket/Back Tab Window Curtain Panel in LINEN. They were only $76 for the pair with free shipping.

The light in the picture is funny--the colors match much better than they appear. In fact, they match so closely sometimes I think I need more contrast. And I keep that comforter for winter bc I just LOVE the way it feels. I have a coverlet for summer that complements the room better.

I am shopping for new glass lamps. I replaced that headboard in the first photo a few months later -- and please excuse the mess!

I use them in my formal living room and dining room. The color is perfect and they helped lighten up the room.

rhspargo, since you want a lightening effect, you might want to get those hemmed, as the pooling of the fabric on the floor adds weight. Definitely a great color, as it brings out the leaves in the rug, I just wonder if they would be better just touching the floor rather than dragging. (You could try pinning or taping them up (depending on what tye material tolerates) to see what it would look like.

If the light is coming through your grommets, your curtains are hung to low. Curtains should not be that close to the window. Look at the images here in this discussion. Rods should be up close to your ceiling. It is now late 2021 and the grommets are still being used in high end model homes by professionals. That says something.

I also hate grommet curtains. I always use hidden tab top. this allows curtains to have a pretty fold and look soft. I also like tie top but dont have any of those

previewjt, ...but they don't work as "curtains". They are more like a "window border fabric" than a curtain because the two edges don't match up right at the center when 'closed'.

Btw, I got new lamps today

!

old post but...

I think grommits still have their place, but only in a modern, industrial, or really casual room. I love the way they fold up curtains perfectly. the hidden tab styles look classier and give that same pleated effect.

I don't like grommets. They look cheap and dated. They remind me of a changing room at a clothing store or for children's windows. And they don't stay in place and you can't make your curtains fully closed straight. You can see light through them aswell. But that's just some of my reasons.

And also, it doesn't look right with a black rod, and silver grommets.

NobNobody has ment using old fashi hooks on pinch pleated drapes. the hooks go into the back of the top, and the hook goes into the slot along the back of the rod. if done just right, they look great and slide well.

I'm just cracking up a bit at all the comments about how grommet curtains don't line up perfectly without a fuss. Isn't life too short to worry about whether curtain folds are exactly perfect? I'd venture a guess that most people who comment here do not exactly have perfect designer homes where nothing is ever out of place and every pillow is perfectly arranged because no one sits on the couch. I have soft curtains with grommets in my bedroom and they are great for quickly pulling closed every night across a wall full of windows and a sliding glass door. When I open them in the morning, I just yank them back and call it good. Using old-fashioned pinch-pleated drapes with a draw rod would look ridiculous with my home style, and other styles don't open easily enough.