When you move into a new apartment or house, there are basic things that almost everyone agrees on: mattress, table, sofa. Then there are curtains, and then the road splits into two lanes – people with curtains and people without windows. I, for one, fall firmly in the former camp.
I know this might not work for everyone – when friends ask me how I sleep through the city lights streaming in my windows or the early morning sun, I have to admit that I’ve been blessed with the ability to sleep through anything. I have never had a need for blackout curtains. And whenever the morning sun wakes me up, I take it as a sign that it’s time to get up after all.
Even when I lived in New York for five years, I never had curtains. In one apartment, my windows looked directly into my neighbor’s kitchen; in the other, more intimate, it looked straight into someone else’s bedroom. No one talked about it, and no one cared.
The choice to have curtains or not is a matter of much debate, and some people label it as a class difference. Avoiding curtains can signal that you’re not concerned about saving money by controlling the temperature in your home with window coverings, and that you have more windows to enjoy rather than just one or two.
As a freelance writer, I’m certainly not going to leave my windows bare to signal my income bracket. But still, you’ll never catch me hanging curtains — here’s why I think a bare window will always reign supreme.
Natural light seems happier.
“Exposure to sunlight is known to increase serotonin levels, as well as enable the production of vitamin D, which affects your mood and energy levels,” explains clinical psychologist Alara Alagül. “In contrast, insufficient exposure to sunlight is associated with lower levels of serotonin, which can lead to feelings of depression.”
Undraped curtains allow natural light in, which does wonders for your mental health. It’s an effect I’ve noticed in every place I’ve lived. When I am in a space filled with light, I also feel lighter. It motivates me to work — or at least to get work done so I can get outside and enjoy the sun.
There are some cultural differences.
Alagül points out that while it’s a controversial topic in the US, people in Scandinavian countries usually don’t hang curtains. “While no curtains or keeping them open at all times is the norm in those cultures, it may be considered inappropriate to keep them open in others. Our cultural background dictates what we consider normal in many aspects of our lives, and its influence on how we make this choice is no different,” she says.
Even when I lived in Manhattan, my understanding of the social contract between New York neighbors to pretend you couldn’t see and hear every part of each other’s lives felt like a cultural stance. When I bring this up to anthropology PhD candidate Aslihan Niksarla, who lives in Istanbul, she agrees. “We have floor to ceiling windows. I will walk around my home as I please with the curtains open. Since when do we comment on each other’s lives in the house?”
It helps me feel less isolated.
As a freelancer who often works from home, the lack of curtains helps me stay connected to the world—a need that became even more urgent during the pandemic when I was desperate for any interaction with the outside world. I love being able to look out and feel less closed off from everything going on outside, even if I have to stay in and work.
My current view is on a beautiful tree that is home to a flock of sparrows. After staring at the computer for too long, I enjoy looking out the window at the birds, the tree, my neighbors and up at the sky.
One of the biggest arguments for hanging curtains is that they provide a sense of privacy and security, but I’ve often felt less safe when I’m in the house with the blinds closed because I can’t see what’s going on outside. There is a Turkish idiom that roughly translates to: “I am not afraid of what I can see.” Being able to watch helps me feel connected to my community and more aware of my surroundings.
Alagül says that the choice of curtains or no curtains can come down to your expectations of other people. “If you believe that the onus is on your neighbors to respect your privacy, not to have fun, you may be more inclined to keep your curtains open,” she says. “However, if you believe that others will watch and lurk if they get the chance, or that they will judge you based on what they see, you may be more hesitant to do so.”
At the end of the day, as I work from home and soak up the sunlight through my bare windows, I choose to trust that they won’t screw up—and I return the favor. It’s part of the unusual but beautiful sense of intimacy that comes with living in a city or close-knit community. And that’s why I will never cover my windows with curtains.