drapes for doorway??

17 years ago

We have been looking for a door for our stair well for years now and can't find one (the doorway is very tall and thin because we have an old farmhouse). We want a door because all the heat goes straight up the stairwell during the winter and the living room is cold then.

So, I happen to be pretty good at sewing and have pondered making a nice curtain for the door way. I found some beautiful fabric however I am not sure if anyone has done this and if it would look really wierd. We would keep the curtain pulled back during the summer months or when we don't need to keep any heat downstairs.

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Comments (5)

cjra
17 years ago
I've been in old farmhouses in Europe where this is common (also a heavy curtain near the exterior door to keep the heat in). I don't think it looks weird, although I would keep it open when anyone was over.
calliope
17 years ago
I have an ancient house, and there are doors to most of the rooms, but there were no clothes presses, since it was built when armoires were common. I have drapes to all the closets we have built in, and also a drape to a small bedroom downstairs. I put a drape to it since it was remodeled as a bedroom for a wheelchair bound person and a lot less cumbersome to access than a door. It looks fine.
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palimpsest
17 years ago
These curtains were called portieres and they mounted on rods that are similar to shower curtain rods, set in the jamb of the doorway. (usually with rings)
scryn
Original Author
17 years ago
palimpsest: thanks for the name of the curtains! I couldn't find any images on line when I looked up "doorway curtain" but when I looked up "portieres" I see lots of images !

Mmm, Now I wonder if I should match the curtain in the stairwell doorway to the curtains on the window in the room, also maybe I should make curtains for a wider doorway in the same room, because it gets very cold in the adjacent room in the winter. Mmmm..
idie2live
17 years ago
scryn, your post brought back lots of memories of when I was younger and every penny was precious! The house I live in is the first time we ever had any modern heating (the heat came from a furnace in the hallway). There were lots of times I had no money to heat even this small house I have. I put a curtain between the bedrooms and the kitchen/living rooms. The LR/kitchen was left cold (or hot in summer) so I heated just the back part of the house. I can still remember scurrying in and out of that ice cold kitchen to cook meals! Even though there is a door to close off the L/R now - I still don't heat or cool it most of the time. Oh, by btw, back then my L/R furniture was gold crushed velvet, so naturally I put up a gold curtain when I closed those rooms off. lol I don't know where you live, but my sister lives in maryland and her heating bills are enormous. Good luck.