Café curtains are back: why this classic detail works in every room

Soft, practical and full of charm, café curtains are finding their way into every kind of interior. Designers and makers explain why this long-standing favourite of Parisian cafés is making a comeback and how to get the look right.

By Charlotte McCaughan-Hawes and Marco Mansi

23 July 2025

In the living room of Tanya Burr’s north London house, café curtains shield the space from passers-by while letting the trees outside cast their presence within.

Dean Hearne

Café curtains are nothing new, but their popularity has been growing among those looking for an affordable, easy-to-install and instantly charming way to maintain privacy without blocking natural light — all while lending a chic French inflection. Long overlooked in the curtain competition, they’ve now found their way into almost every kind of home, from compact city flats to rambling country houses.

Designers and curtain makers alike agree on their being the perfect fit for functional spaces. ‘Café curtains are especially useful in rooms where there are lots of hard surfaces such as bathrooms and kitchens, which need the introduction of a fabric to soften all the hard lines,’ explain Laragh Bohn and Mary Walsh, the duo behind The London Curtain Girls. ‘They offer a stylish solution to balancing privacy and natural light while adding texture to a space.’

It’s also the atmosphere they create that is earning them a more prominent place in interiors. ‘Café curtains are a lovely halfway-house, soft-solution to adding some privacy and interest to often quite a functional space,’ says designer Flora Soames. ‘With the emergence of more patterned voiles, there is real scope within a scheme — in a bathroom or kitchen, for example — to bring in that touch of softness and emulate the chic café curtains of a Parisian bistro we all hanker after.’

This sentiment is echoed by interior designer Scarlett Supple. ‘There’s something really comforting about café curtains — they let in that lovely soft light whilst still giving you a bit of privacy,’ she explains. ‘They feel relaxed and nostalgic, and they add a gentle charm to a space without trying too hard.’

Whatever style you go for, the key is getting the proportions right. ‘Use a lightweight fabric that is three times the width of the window so that the curtain doesn’t look pulled or tight over the space,’ advises Alice Palmer. ‘A chunky hem on a light fabric helps the fabric hang well, and I also like to have a doubled-over ruffle at the top with the track for the pole sitting 4–5cm below this.’

Dean Hearne
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In the main bathroom of Tanya Burr’s north London house, café blinds lend a gentle softness to the airy ensuite bathroom.
Stephen Kent Johnson
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In John Derian’s Cape Cod bedroom, white café curtains diffuse the light. The bedcover, stitched from vintage kantha quilts, is by Jeanette Farrier and comes from a collection she made with John.
Mark Anthony Fox
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Café curtains sit comfortably among the mix of antique and design pieces in Christian Bense’s Battersea flat, such as the 1970s Tulip chairs surrounding a leather-topped Victorian mahogany table. ‘That combination of opposites sums me up as a designer,’ explains Christian, who likens the decorating process to a pie where you get the balance between contemporary and traditional just right.
Jake Curtis
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Café blinds suit the pared-back feel of Georgie Stodgon’s north London bathroom, where antique and reclaimed pieces add texture to a carefully considered design scheme.

Christopher Horwood
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Voile curtains in Robert Kime's ‘Marmara’ line the windows in the entrance hall of this Carlos Garcia project, with a custom-made pole so that the curtains can be pulled smoothly around the generous bay window.
Mark Anthony Fox
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Cafe curtains in an antique French linen from Susan Deliss hide the under-sink storage in the utility room of a characterful former vicarage near Bath, designed by Anna Haines
Paul Massey
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In the smart utility room of this unconventional country cottage in Sussex, Beata Heuman paired striped café blinds with cupboard façades in Pierre Frey’s ‘Aquila’ wallpaper.
Owen Gale
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Café curtains on the bottom half of the windows in Sandra Barrio von Hurter's Victorian house let light in but ensure privacy from the street outside.

Christopher Horwood
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In this Hackney coach house, designed by Evelina Mamedovaite, a café curtain on an internal window lends privacy to the windowless bathroom — without blocking the flow of natural light.
Dean Hearne
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In Tattie Isles' house in Dorset, curtains made up by Tattie's mother from a fabric bought from Upstairs Downstairs in nearby Sherborne, conceal open cupboards and add to the warm, rustic feel of the space.
Peter Dixon
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In the cloakroom of this charming Chelsea cottage, Sarah Morris of McWhirter Morris used pale blue café blinds alongside a small-scale wallpaper by Robert Kime.
Helen Cathcart
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Café blinds in Le Gracieux’s ‘Keshte’ pattern bring character to the utility room of this seaside house, designed by Isabella Worsley.

Owen Gale
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Angus and Charlotte Buchanan of Buchanan Studio wanted the bathroom of their north-west London home to feel like part of the living space; to achieve this, they opted for wooden floors and put a vintage armchair upholstered in sheepskin in the corner of the room. The large window is shaded from prying eyes by a sheer voile across the lower half.
Christopher Horwood
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Tongue and groove panelling painted in Edward Bulmer's ‘Milk White’ covers the walls and ceilings in this house by Emma Ainscough, which has a very sweet cafe curtain covering the bottom half of the window.
Dean Hearne
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The bathroom in Daisy Sims-Hilditch's Notting Hill apartment is fresh and airy with its sage green colour scheme and sheer linen curtain.
Paul Massey
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Interior designer Octavia Dickinson has put together an appealing blend of antique finds, favourite fabrics and bespoke pieces to create a comfortable, colourful home for her family in south London. She is known for her love of gathered fabrics and has mirrored that style on the window, bath panels and vanity unit.

MICHAEL SINCLAIR
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For maximum privacy but to still allow some unfiltered light in, try a higher positioning of your cafe curtain as seen in this Hampstead house.
Simon Brown
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In this Georgian house by Salvesen Graham, a cafe curtain has been used in the utility room, blocking two thirds of the window.
Simon Brown
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In the same house, another is used in the pantry, hanging from a gold rod.
Elsa Young
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Pink walls the colour of setting plaster, contrast with deep pink curtains in the bathroom of Henrietta Courtauld of The Land Gardeners'. Her London house, redesigned by architect Maria Speake of Retrouvius, features reclaimed marble running up to dado height, and finished with a band of antique bevelled mirror for a touch of sparkle. The clawfoot bath, positioned next to the window is a deep aubergine purple.

Christopher Horwood
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Lucy Williams has used café curtains throughout her London house, and in the living room, she looked to East London Cloth for a lovely sheer.
Christopher Horwood
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Above the bath, window treatments by East London Cloth and a wall light by Flos hang.
Christopher Horwood
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In the master suite, the custom headboard is upholstered in Tori Murphy stripe and is complemented by yellow wall lights from Howe. The curtains are made from Rose Uniacke linen in Straw and sit with café curtains in RU sheer linen in Honey.
Dean Hearne
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In their London rental house sisters Olympia and Ariadne Irving have used bold colour, high street finds and a mish mash of antiques passed down from family to create a witty and deeply personal home. In the dining room, the girls added the cafe curtain at the window, which is held up with a tension rod to take with them when they leave.

Christopher Horwood
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This first-floor laundry room in this London home is very pretty, thanks to touches like the curtain, blinds and frilly pendants.
Sarah Griggs
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The living room of this small terrace in Chelsea looks directly out onto the street, so Tiffany Duggan added sheers to the windows.
Haris Kenjar
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Sheer cafe curtains with a subtle floral motif cover the windows of this Berkeley house.
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Our agony aunt and resident decorating expert Fiona McKenzie Johnston's bathroom features a café curtain made from a Day Dress fabric.

Photography: Read McKendree | Styling: Mieke Ten Haave
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The cafe curtains in Max Sinsteden's former beach house are made from a Chelsea Textiles check and based on a design by David Easton.
Ollie Tomlinson
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‘The little café curtain was by our curtain maker The London Curtain Girls who did all the window treatments through the house,’ says Tom Morris of this Cotswold project.
Simon Brown
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The floor length windows in this Beata Heuman project required a lot of covering to maintain the owners' privacy so Beata opted for a very sweet embroidered linen across the length of them, allowing light in but eyes out.
Milo Brown
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The woodwork in this sitting room by Lonika Chande is original to the house and painted in a gloss ‘Murrey Red’ by Papers & Paints. This of course blocks all the light when closed so Lonika added cafe curtains for privacy.

Ollie Tomlinson
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The curtains make the exterior of the house look lovely.

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Charlotte joined the digital team at House & Garden in 2019, following time working at Vogue and Vanity Fair. She joined with a rookie knowledge of interior design but huge love of perusing all the houses, hotels and recipes in the magazine and on the website and quickly became au ... Read More

Deputy Digital Editor

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