ᐅ Are windows that don’t reach the floor in the living room outdated? What types of curtains work best?

Hello,

we have basically finalized the floor plan and, after much consideration, decided against floor-to-ceiling windows in the dining area of the open kitchen-dining-living space. The location of the house is somewhat complex; the south side faces the street and the property is on a slope. This means people could easily look up from the street into the dining and living areas, and we don’t really like floor-to-ceiling windows that then need to be shaded with pleated blinds or similar. On the exterior, we have venetian blinds (raffstores). So, in the end, we removed the floor-to-ceiling windows on the south side and instead planned half-height windows with window sills (in the dining area a double window, in the living area a triple casement window). On the east side, we want to open the house with a large sliding door because there is an unobstructed view of the fields and nature.

Yesterday, my husband raised the question of whether these “normal” windows might look outdated and what (modern) options there are to decorate them with side curtains or something similar, as he worries the south-facing windows might look bare. Now I’m quite uncertain. Would you stick with the non-floor-to-ceiling windows? Do they appear too bare without curtains? What decorating ideas do you have? At the moment, you simply cannot find examples of non-floor-to-ceiling windows being used in modern living spaces, which makes me doubt our choice. Thank you very much for your help.

Whether modern or not. You don’t feel comfortable when people can see your feet from outside. Although your feet are of no interest to passersby.

What is outdated is this pseudo pantry with a slanted wall.

There is no space in the living-dining area for a book, a game, or a glass vase. Do you really live that minimally?

Hmm, yes, the pantry is definitely a recurring topic. We no longer have young children, so we don’t need space for playing, etc., in that area. The question was whether to leave out the pantry entirely and instead put cabinets there. Since the kids’ bedrooms are in the basement and we therefore have little cellar space, we don’t have much storage. We thought the pantry would be useful for beverage crates, toilet paper, and so on. We angled the wall so that when entering the living-dining area, you don’t walk through a kind of "hallway," but the room opens up a bit more. However, I’m still not completely happy with it.

Windows with a knee wall are absolutely fine in my opinion, but the floor plan and the indicated usage, such as the TV area, are definitely worth reconsidering.

Whether the windows look bare without curtains also depends on other wall decorations and similar elements. My windows with knee walls in the living area have been without curtains for years.

In general, I am also a fan of having the kitchen facing the terrace. I don’t like the pantry either, and the kitchen is very small and designed for only one person.

The piano is planned to be placed under the three-panel window facing south. Alternatively, the TV could go there instead; it’s possible to swap them. However, something will likely be positioned in front of the large sliding window. The sliding panel could of course be made smaller again to create more wall space for furniture, but we wanted to make the most of the nice view of the field. This can still be reconsidered. The pantry—yes, I think it is suboptimal.

The kitchen is actually a room where usually not many cooks are crowding together. However, the detailed planning of the kitchen is still pending.