Social Question

erichw1504's avatar

Do you have your window's blinds/curtains open or closed during the day?

Asked by erichw1504 (26453points) January 19th, 2010

During the day do you open your blinds and/or curtains to let natural light in or do you leave them closed? I’ve noticed some of my neighbors always have theirs closed. Personally, I find that odd because I have to have natural light whenever possible coming into my home. Otherwise, it feels dark and gloomy; dampening my mood.

If you always leave your windows covered, why?

If you like to have them uncovered during the day, why? Do you open your blinds/curtains right when you wake up or later on?

On a side note: do you always have to close your blinds/curtains when it becomes dark? I do, because I feel exposed to people who go by my home.

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56 Answers

rangerr's avatar

Closed. So I can be nakey.

jeffgoldblumsprivatefacilities's avatar

The windows with a pleasant view are open, the ones with with a view of a parking lot are closed.

mowens's avatar

Closed. Unless I have guests over. I hate the light.

janbb's avatar

Open; I’m with you, I love the light.

Michael_Huntington's avatar

I am a vampire
But seriously, yes I do close them, because I am paranoid that someone outside can catch me masturbating.

Snarp's avatar

It depends. If I’m not home, they are closed. If I want to have sex on the couch, they are closed. If the sun is coming in at an annoying angle or if it is terribly hot, they are closed. Otherwise usually open.

tinyfaery's avatar

The blinds in most of the house are always open. The only blinds I shut are my bedroom blinds, and those are closed 90% of the time.

erichw1504's avatar

@mowens Why do you hate the light?

Austinlad's avatar

At work, usually closed, because the sun overwhelms my monitor; at home, open upstairs so my cat can look out.

jonsblond's avatar

It is funny that you asked this. I was just thinking the other day how odd it was that my neighbor leaves all their curtains open in the evening when it is dark. I guess he’s not concerned about people looking into his house (he’s a cop).

I open them first thing in the morning and close them as soon as it gets dark.

lucillelucillelucille's avatar

Wide open during the day,closed at night.

curosity_killed_the_cat's avatar

i only open it on the weekends when im cleaning up

Sarcasm's avatar

I always have them open at night. That way the sunlight (if nothing else) wakes me in the morning.
During the day, it depends on how sunny it is, and what I’m doing. If it’s a rainy, cloudy day, the blinds stay open, period.
If I’m playing computer games, and it’s sunny out, I close the blinds. Otherwise, the light gets a glare on the monitor and I can’t see anything well. But if it’s sunny out and I’m just browsing, chatting, doing homework, then I may leave the blinds open.

I’m on the second floor so I don’t worry about passersby seeing my willy.

wonderingwhy's avatar

We leave them open most of the time because we want the natural light. In the summer though, we tend to close them on the side of the house facing the sun to keep it cooler. They pretty much stay open at night as well, though we’ll close the ones in the front if one of us thinks about it. I always keep them open in the bedroom to get the morning sun though, helps wake us up.

Dr_Lawrence's avatar

Open in kitchen during the day and closed at night. I don’t tolerate glare well but I like filtered daylight.

fireinthepriory's avatar

I have sheer curtains in my bedroom that let the light in in the morning, but block people from seeing me at night. Best of both world!

In the living room I have valences but no real curtains and no curtains in the kitchen. It sounds weird, but I live on the third floor of a house so it’s pretty private anyway.

jbfletcherfan's avatar

@Sarcasm getting a ladder…..........

Ghost_in_the_system's avatar

Open. It brightens the room and I can see what is going on outside.

borderline_blonde's avatar

Open during the day – I love natural sunlight and get very cranky without it.

Closed at night – too many horror movies with the ax murderer peeking in through the windows at night.

Val123's avatar

Open. And whenever possible I open windows too.

liminal's avatar

I prefer them open but I have an annoying neighbor who seems to be looking at my windows to see if the blinds are open or closed…hmmmm, i wonder…

RAWRxRandy's avatar

Im in my room most of the time and I leave them open, but there’s a house behind me and my window is at level with people who walk by to go to that house. Now that house has a lot of people coming over, so it can get awkward with random people walking across, so I close them at times…

forestGeek's avatar

I definitely prefer them open. Being in an apartment on the second floor, I have no neighbors who can look in, so any chance I can have either or both the windows and shades open, I do so.

SABOTEUR's avatar

Closed.

My wife fears someone looking through the windows.

Jude's avatar

During the day, they’re always open (with many windows and a few skylights, we get a lot of natural light). In the evening, they’re closed because I’m usually chillin’, wearing only my skivvies. No one needs to see that.

Cruiser's avatar

Wide open during the day and night downstairs…BR I need dark-dark so I close the BR shades and curtains.

ultimateego's avatar

yeah. the light bothers me deeply.

faye's avatar

Wide open most of the time. I close the living room curtains if I’m watching tv in there and open them when I leave the room. I close my bedroom blinds to sleep and open in the morning. Kitchen face my backyard so always open.

marinelife's avatar

Wide open all the time (almost).

daemonelson's avatar

I usually have them closed.

dani6119's avatar

I keep them open during the day to let the light in and close them at night. I don’t like the feeling of being “on view” at night with them open. And in all the scary movies, the dummies always leave them open so the bad guys can see in. Duh!
The darker the better when I’m trying to sleep. When it’s super hot outside, I keep them closed during the hottest par of the day.

mowens's avatar

@erichw1504 Well, if I am watching TV, it makes the TV harder to see. It’s weird. I like the light only for certain things. In my office, I would love to have windows and blinds open. At home, they dont make blinds think enough for me. :)

godswill92's avatar

depends but usually it’s open because the natural light IS better. and i usually open my windows a little after i get up from bed..but there’re moments like when i’m watching tv that i’ll get up and close it because there’s a glare…but yeah i love my windows open in the daylight but at night, no i close them back up cause much like you, i feel like someone might be peeping or something and i don’t want to expose myself to the world outside

downtide's avatar

Open in daylight, closed at night, except for the bedroom which is closed all the time because the curtain rail is broken.

wilma's avatar

Open during the day closed at night.
Except….
Shades pulled where the hot sun shines in in the summer and open there during the winter. I change my drapes and curtains with the seasons and have light and airy during the summer and insulated during the winter. In winter, if I am going to be gone most of the day then I don’t bother to open the insulated drapes unless the sun could shine in.

augustlan's avatar

I should open them during the day, because sunlight always makes me feel better. However, I rarely think to do it unless it’s raining or gloomy outside. Then I’ll open them all, turn on just about every light, and even light candles to dispel the gloom.

faye's avatar

@wilma I admire your energy, In Alberta in the summer it is light out so late in the evening that we often don’t need lights so don’t close curtains. But I think having light weight curtains would be lovely.

Michael_Huntington's avatar

I do open the windows because I eat too many burritos with beans inside them and it funks up the room

life_after_2012's avatar

it all depends on my mood. if i feel gloomy then i keep the blinds closed. if i feel good then i will open the blinds shortly after i wake up. i never noticed that i do that till now.

Simone_De_Beauvoir's avatar

I fight my husband to keep ‘em all closed – I am uber grumpy in the morning and I don’t need light bothering my eyes.

babaji's avatar

Open em up around 6 in the morning
close em up around dark

ItalianPrincess1217's avatar

I like my privacy. All mine are usually closed most of the time.

YARNLADY's avatar

I leave mine open day and night. I have bushes growing all around my yard and no one can see in.

ETpro's avatar

We’re on the third floor of a condo building and our north-facing wall has eleven 7’ high x 3’ wide windows, some side by side, and some interspersed with exposed brick columns. The ceilings are over 10 feet high with wood beams. . Because our only windows face North, it can be fairly dark through most of the day. I’d leave all but the bedroom windows wide open if it were up to me, but my wife cannot stand the thought of anyone ever seeing into where she lives. So she has made windo coverings that cover all of the bedroom and my offcie windows, and leave only a small space near the top of the windows open in the living, dining and kitchen areas.

rooeytoo's avatar

I don’t even have curtains and the windows are open 24/7. I too have vines and bushes growing everywhere so it is not likely anyone will see in.

Sophief's avatar

I open them, though I don’t always open the bedroom ones.

mcbealer's avatar

I work weird hours and sometimes sleep during the day. So in my bedroom, it’s like Fort Knox as far as sunrays go!!

For the rest of the house it’s seasonally-dictated. In the wintertime I utilize the sunlight to help warm up the rooms. This saves on heating costs and helps keep the winter blues away. In the summertime I adjust the blinds, allowing filtered sunlight only into the rooms (to save on cooling costs).

There’s nothing like being able to have the windows open and fresh air circulating through the house… oh how I long for those low humidity, breezy days!!

I do miss the freedom of not living on the first floor, because as @forestGeek said, there are less privacy concerns. Plus I find the view and being elevated very relaxing.

susanc's avatar

Even in summer, I close everything at night because I don’t like the looks of the blackness out there. No neighbors, but what if there were some horrible non-human entity out there?
I don’t want to see it.

augustlan's avatar

@susanc I feel exactly the same way about open blinds at night. I actually found a horrible human entity on the other side of my patio door in the middle of the night once. He was trying to break in. :/

Still makes me shudder!

dani6119's avatar

@augustlan – That would have scared me totally!!
I would shudder too!!!

ETpro's avatar

@augustlan That’s one of the great things about living 40 feet above the street. A little push of the ladder,and goodbye!

LoneRanger's avatar

Every morning I open mine up before I leave for work. I love natural light!

ducky_dnl's avatar

Welcome and I have them closed.

BARMADE's avatar

closed as i sleep days.i leave them open all night however

Coloma's avatar

Always open, I’m a light kinda person! Sometimes closed in my bedroom if I want to sleep in a little as the sunrise is in my eyes.

I live on a secluded piece of property so no one to peep in my windows unless you count the horse and sheep! hahahaha

I can’t stand older people that keep their homes dark and closed up all the time, like living in a mortuary..I need SUNSHINE and fresh air!

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