Curtains and draperies are a mood setter, not just something that will cut down on sunlight coming into the home or for privacy. It is therefore important that the right ones be 
chosen while keeping the interior decor in mind. You therefore have to decide beforehand whether you want curtains to keep your privacy, to divide space in the room, to add a bit of color, or even to give your room a classy look.
One of the best ways to choose the kind of curtains that you want is to go online. You can find a number of stores that have pictures of their entire range on their websites and some of them even allow you to mix and match different patterns and colors if you are placing a large enough order. Plus you can also check out what others have to say about different companies in online reviews. These reviews give you a good idea of the kind of company it is and whether they satisfy the customer’s needs or not.
Making a choice may be difficult because of the large number of different colors and patterns that curtains come in these days. Ultimately what you choose will depend on who you are and what you want. For a simple look, a translucent blind may suffice. They cut down on a lot of the glare from the sun, while still giving you decent privacy at night. If you are not satisfied with it, you can always go for sheer curtains of a pale cream or white color, to give you that added privacy while still giving your room that simple look.
If privacy is what you are looking for you can go with a lining for the curtains. During the day you can use tiebacks to pull them back, not only allowing a little of the sunlight inside, but also giving your window that picture postcard look.
Black curtains are used where sunlight is undesirable. Places which have centralized air conditioning will go for black because it cuts out all the sunlight meaning that the cooling is much more efficient. This will also result in a lot of savings on energy bills in the long run.
How you set up your curtains depends on you. You can go with a simple pole held by two rings to hang your curtains from, or can go for a more elaborate set up. You even get twin curtain rods if you want to go with twin curtains. With regards to the color, pattern, and material, it is best to get a few samples from your local store and come home to compare them. You will find that sometimes even really good patterns will not look so great when looked at against the interior theme of your home.
Curtains are also great space dividers in places like studio apartments. Thick heavy curtains are the best for this, and are almost as good as a wall, even in preserving temperature differences in different “rooms”. Poles are the only option here, although; if you want to give it a classy look you can always suspend them from the ceiling. Just make sure that you like the color or pattern on both sides of the curtains.
Shower curtains as all of us know are curtains that we use in showers. While the pattern on these curtains does play a very important role, it is the cleaning that most people will spend more time thinking of. Different materials have different cleaning requirements with some of the more expensive ones requiring to be dry cleaned, so be careful to check that too.
Before you run them through the washer, ensure that all the hooks are removed. Not only can they damage your washing machine’s drum, they can rip apart your curtain in the washer. If your curtain is the thin delicate sort, don’t trust them to any delicate wash cycle in the machine, hand wash them. Do not wash them with your clothes; curtains will carry more dirt than clothes because they are generally not washed as often, so they will require a longer cycle.
Whenever you wash them make sure that they are fully clean. Often stains do not come off in just one wash and you may have to run them through another cycle. You may also want to use a stronger detergent that will damage your clothes, but will ensure that any stains in your curtains will come off.
Once they are done washing, you can hang them up immediately if they are dry enough. If you want to make them completely dry and hang them on a line, you will end up with creases on them that will not look nice. Of course this is assuming that they are dry enough so that you don’t get puddles inside your home. If you cannot get them dry enough, you will have to hang them up just as you would if they were hung on the curtain rod itself so that they will get a natural fall.
One good way to ensure that you don’t have to go through the trouble of washing your curtains every week is make sure that you remove any stains on them as and when they form. Most often anything that will leave a stain, like spilled coffee etc. is much easier to clean immediately. This will ensure that your curtain does not get as dirty quickly meaning that you can go for that little longer without the hassle of going through the whole washing rigmarole.