Dining Room Curtains: Top Tips & Ideas to Style Window Drapes

More than a place for sharing meals — dining rooms are where conversations linger, celebrations unfold, and everyday moments become flavorful. The curtains here do their part to set the stage—softening the sun glare for afternoon luncheons, cocooning the room for candlelit dinners, and adding a layer of softness and luxury that makes the dining room feel considered. If that’s exactly what’s on your mind today, this blog is for you. Come along as we share our top tips for adding pizzazz to your home with elegant dining room curtains that also meet the functional needs of this space.

Fabric: Craft the Ambiance with Texture and Lustre

Think of your dining room curtains as your windows’ outfit for the occasion. A cozy sun-kissed dining nook looks charming in a light, fluttery linen or cotton. A moody, candlelit dinner scene, meant for long, lingering conversations, is best dressed up in sumptuous, dramatic silk or velvet. The versatile dining area that hosts both daily family dinners and lavish Christmas parties looks chic in a polished cotton blend or a richly textured poly that’s perfectly at ease with both casual and formal moments.  Just as you’d choose between a sundress, evening gown and tailored midi depending on whether it’s a summer picnic, weekend bash or wedding ball, pick a fabric that speaks to the decor style and ambiance of your dining room.

HAUL 'EM HOME: Cotton Curtains | Velvet Curtains | Silk Curtains

Sheerness: Tailor the Light to the Mood

Light shapes the dining room’s final look—defining silhouettes, enriching tones, and casting shadows that layer in depth and texture. When deciding on the drapery’s opacity, consider how much light you want your dining room to let in—whether you prefer a softly golden wash, a deeply caramelized warmth, or a slow-simmered glow. 

Also, consider whether you require a high level of privacy or a low level of screening. Sheer curtains are ideal for windows facing a garden or a quiet street, where there is no concern about peeping strangers, and the soft daylight makes every dish on the table look even more inviting. Non-sheer curtains give complete privacy from a busy street, and are perfect for those window-wrapped tables that get beaten with hot noon glare. And, if you want a go-between, opt for semi-sheers or unlined curtains that lend both softness and partial privacy.

Aesthetic: Bring Personality with Color and Pattern

There’s no close match to custom drapes when it comes to injecting personality into a space. Not at least at Sewn, where your choice range traverses 2000+ curated fabrics featuring a variety of tones and prints. So, personalize your dining room curtains to your taste and aesthetic vision. If you wish them to be a delicate seasoning - enriching but not imposing - think textured neutrals or solid pastels. If they are the main course - the bold focal points that anchor the space - opt for bold hues and riveting prints that serve up a visual feast. 

Remember this is your golden opportunity to emphasise your decor language—summery gingham reads unmistakably rustic, lustrous damask is classical eclat, abstract print is contemporary, and plain neutrals lean towards minimalist simplicity. Treat your curtains as your canvas, and pick colors and patterns that creatively express your style.

HAUL 'EM HOME: Check Curtains | Plain Curtains | Damask Curtains

Headers: Balance Style and Function

Besides fabric, the heading style of the curtains also has a say in setting the tone of your dining room. It shapes the drapery’s pleat silhouette, dictates its hardware compatibility, and affects its ease of movement on the pole. Therefore, balancing aesthetics and everyday functionality is key to choosing the heading style. 

Pick the heading style that speaks to the overall decor and mood of the space. Pinch pleat headers feature highly tailored ‘fixed’ pleats - that serve as the perfect finishing touch for a traditional formal dinescape, poised to host a sumptuous three-course gourmet meal. Flat panel tops and grommet tops, conversely, feature hand-gathered folds perfectly in step with cosy dining nooks where sunlit breakfasts and everyday gatherings happen alongside daily chatter.

Secondly, pay attention to how the headers glide and operate. In dining rooms where curtains will be drawn frequently, ensure a fuss-free glide with heading styles that use rings, grommets or pins. Headers with fabric tabs, loops and pockets, in contrast, are perfect for sheer curtains that must stay put on the pole, and hold steady even on a breezy day.

Sewn offers over a dozen heading styles, each offering a unique combination of appeal and functionality. Explore our Drapery Headings Style Guide before you finalize what’s best for your dining room curtains.

Sizing: Consider the Drop and Fullness

Curtains ascend to a polished finery in the dining room when they fit like couture—precisely measured, with not a slip in sight. Therefore, sizing the drapery correctly is important, and bearing these points in mind will help you when you get to the stage of measuring:

LENGTH: Sill-length ruffled curtains lend easy, storybook charm to a quiet dinette tucked in a cozy alcove with window seats. But nothing dresses up a large dining area quite like long curtains that span stately heights and drape like a dream. Pay special attention to their exact drop point, though, because it is here that their practical efficiency gets tested. If your dining space sees high footfall but has low square footage, ‘floating’ and ‘grazing’ panels are perfect as they won’t get under your chairs or passing feet. In a more spacious setting, or where curtains are decorative accents, ‘puddling’ delivers the unmistakable note of grandeur. For a detailed guide on curtain lengths and drop point options, our blog on How Long Should My Curtains Be? will be of great help.

WIDTH: The sumptuousness of a dining room comes full circle when its curtains gather with the same abundance as its lavishly laid table. For a lush gather of dense, deep pleats, ensure that your curtains are stitched with a generous width. So opt for at least 2x fullness for the non-pinch pleat styles, and rest assured that our pinch pleat styles come with 2-2.5x fullness built in. If you’re unfamiliar with the concept of ‘fullness’, don’t worry, it’s just a short math recipe that we have detailed in our Drapery Measurement Guide.

Layering: Make it Sumptuous, Tasteful & Versatile

Curtains can be the sole showstopper, but they’re just as brilliant at teaming up. So, your dining room window decor does not have to stop with drapes alone, especially if you love a luxuriously layered look with a well-considered mix of colors, prints, and textures. Here are three popular ways you can try layering your dining room curtains:

  • Drapes Flanking Roman Shades: Dressing the windows with custom roman shades framed by decorative curtain panels, is a popular style of layering preferred for banquettes and bay window dining set-ups, where windows have built-in seating underneath. The visual contrast of juxtaposing the structured beauty of shades with the flowy contours of drapes adds depth to the design.

  • Sheer Panels Framed by Non-Sheer Panels: Pairing sheer curtains with non-sheer drapes is another classic approach, which ensures soft diffused light during the day and complete privacy during dinner. The key is to choose fabrics, colors, and patterns that complement each other so the layers feel intentional, not cluttered, and enable you to shift the mood from open and sunny to cocooned and private.

  • Curtains Topped with Valances: Valances are petite accessories with a huge design potential, and when paired with curtains, they add elegance upon elegance. They crown the window with a subtle refinement, ensuring it looks dressed even when the curtains are drawn aside. They optically elongate the window by drawing the eye upward. And, if you wish to keep the drapery hardware or the header out of sight for not matching your decor style or simply as a matter of preference, valances provide the most stylish cover.

Shop Dining Room Curtains at Sewn

Be it Sunday brunches, Christmas gatherings, or romantic dinner dates, dining room curtains are the sous-chefs prepping the mood, balancing the flavors of light and shadow, and plating the perfect backdrop for every occasion. They’re not mere functional essentials; they are aesthetic statements that unfold pleat by pleat. That’s why we have a thoughtfully curated collection of fabrics where every aesthetic can find its voice.  Stroll through our virtual aisle of ravishing silks and velvets, homely linens and cottons, and breezy sheers—and pick the dining room curtains that will make every mealtime a savory celebration. Start your journey of draping your dining room windows today—with Sewn!

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