Beaded Curtains

Use them on your windows, doors, or as a room divider, whether to create a retro look or a contemporary style statement, beaded curtains can add color, élan, and a unique look to any room. In fact, they have been used for centuries in Asian countries, which the flower children of the 1960s saw, fell in love with, and took back with them to the West, popularizing them there during their heyday. Nowadays, beaded curtains are coming back into vogue in a big way, in even more beautiful and intricately designs, which can be used in a versatile manner.

The increased following of Feng Shui has also been one of the reasons for beaded curtains making their way into people’s homes these days, because, according to this philosophy, when a person passes through a beaded curtain, it creates calming effects. Also, it is thought that positive energy is created when air flows through the beaded strands.

However, most of all, it is the sheer variety of designs and the unique effects they create that give beaded curtains their allure. One of the unique features of beaded curtains, especially when glass beads are used or semi transparent acrylic, is the effect they create by allowing some of the light from outside filter through, scattering the beautiful colors of the beads all across the room.

Apart from acrylic and glass, beaded curtains are also made of plastic, wood, and bamboo. And there are so many patterns they are available in, which you can use to create unique designs in your room. For example, you have beaded curtains with floral patterns, climbing vines, dancing dolphins, rainbow patterns, snowflake patterns, butterfly patterns, or beaded curtains that form into stripes, or arches, or scattered with the sun, moon, and the stars, which glow in the dark… you name it.

My particular favorites are the acrylic black teardrop curtains which have an iridescent sheen, then, there are the tiny rainbow-hued glass beaded strands loosely strung across the window which creates a really stunning effect. I also love the solid painted pattern a painted bamboo beaded curtain creates. In the daytime, it allows the natural light to filter in through the chinks between the strands, and at night, the artificial light highlights the painting on it, which could be a fire breathing dragon, a smiley face (great for a kid’s room), a landscape, or whirls, created by the painted bamboo beads.

As is quite apparent, there are innumerable styles and patterns that beaded curtains are available in. Irrespective of which room you use them in, you can hang them along with regular curtains as well as window treatments to create dramatic effects. However, beaded curtains are at their best when you open up the drapes and let the sun filter in through the beautifully colored beads.

You can also have great fun making your own beaded curtains, if you have the time and are artistically inclined. Check out the type of beads you want, check out some patterns, choose the patterns you want to create, measure the place you want to hang it in, thread them together accordingly, and hang them on rods. Although time consuming, it can be a relaxing hobby, and who knows, you could even turn it into a thriving business, given the popularity of beaded curtains these days.