Do you close the curtains...

[Workingman]

...when it gets dark?

I do, but it is not a privacy thing as I am in an upstairs flat; I find that it keeps the heat in. I don't know how or why it work but it works even on dull days or when the temperature outside remains the same.

My original thinking was that it could be psychological but the room thermometer says differently. It really does stay warmer for longer before the CH kicks in again.

[JoM]

We haven’t got curtains, but John always closes the shutters. I don’t if I’m on my own like earlier in the week when he was away from Mon-Thurs. I don’t even close the bedroom ones if I’m on my own, I like to see the sky.

We usually sit in the first floor living room at night and his reasons for closing them are to keep the room warmer rather than for privacy as no one can see in as we’ve no one directly opposite.

[Gal2]

We have blinds and always close them as it gets darker but unless it’s VERY cold I don’t draw the living room curtains, but I always draw the bedroom ones, plus blinds. They’re blackout ones and really heavy.

[Workingman]

This all started in summer.

The side of my flat with the living room, bedroom and office faces almost due south. In summer it can get exceedingly hot so I open the transoms in each room and close the curtains, which are lined to stop the heat / cold. If that is not enough, I open all the windows on the north side. Ahh, that's better.

I have now found that it works in reverse in winter.

[Kaz]

Yes, we close our living room shutters, and our bedroom curtains, but leave the rest. We are very private here - very few people walk past the front, which faces a large field, and nobody can see in at the back because of the way the houses behind us face.

[TheOstrich]

We are not so private here, quite a few walkers in the day-time, so we do tend to keep our blinds closed or only partially open at the front of the house during the day.

It's also quite a cold house; there can be a marked difference in temperature from the front rooms (north facing) to the back rooms (south facing), especially when it's windy. The thermostat's on 19.5, but the thermometer in the front bedroom rarely gets above 15 in the winter. We have thick, lined curtains, including across the front door, and this time of the year they're drawn across from around tea-time.

[Osc]

We have blinds upstairs, no curtains, except on our gable end window which has neither. Blinds drawn when it gets dark. When we are in a hotel, we never draw the curtains.

[Workingman]

My OP was mainly about keeping the heat in.

Today it is fairly sunny and the weather site says that it is 10 °C outside yet the room thermostat says 19.5 °C so there is no CH on. When the sun goes down that could drop to 16 °C in just a few minutes but if I close the curtains it will take over an hour for it to get down to 18 °C and that's when the CH kicks in.

It is quite a saving during the cold months.

[Kaz]

It's 16°C outside here today

[meriad]

late to this discussion ... with my flat remodelling, I now have my bedroom at the front of the house with the kitchen, lounge and dining room being at the back and all open plan (just to put it into context, previously the front room was the lounge, and my bedroom was the bit that is now the lounge - I removed the wall between the then bedroom and dining room to make it all open plan). In said open plan I have a window and also a set of sliding doors - both south facing. Last year for the first time I bought curtains for the sliding door, not for privacy, but to keep the heat in and I do think it's made a big difference; and I also have a set of voile curtains behind them that I keep closed during the day when the main curtains are open - on colder days, they're just enough to stop the cold from the panes radiating into the room but I can still see out.
In the summer I only have the voiles to keep the temperature in the house down a bit as the sun shines right in and it can get very warm

The lounge currently has louvre blinds, but I'm saving up to replace the window and once that is done I'll have thermal conservatory style blinds fitted that clip into the actual window frames.

My bedroom is a very constant temperature throughout the year - cool in summer and warm in winter. I've not needed my electric blanket at all this year and hardly used the additional blankets - and curtains are never closed.