If you've been in an old or drafty house, you may have seen a curtain mounted over a door. But what does it do exactly?
If you’ve spent any amount of time in a drafty house, you know that getting and staying warm is a chore that can run up your energy bill and leave you frustrated. Old “As Seen On TV” products sometimes tried to address this, like breeze blockers or other similar items designed to seal up the gaps under your door. But there’s an even older solution out there, one that might leave you puzzled if you’ve never seen it used before. And it’s as simple as hanging a curtain over a door.
What Is That Curtain Over the Door?
A portiere is simply a curtain mounted over a door in order to help regulate temperature. In a reel that garnered a lot of traction, Instagram user @jamie_athome showed off her gorgeous dark green one and happily explained that it “keeps the drafts out and the warmth in!”
View this post on Instagram
The Origin of Portieres
The concept of keeping a home warm is as old as time. Over the millennia, we humans have come up with different solutions depending on what resources we had on hand and what temperature issues we were trying to solve.
For the word portiere, Merriam-Webster traces it back to 1638. According to the dictionary, portiere comes from the French word portière, which is the feminine version of the Old French word portier, meaning porter or doorkeeper.
Do I Need a Portiere?
If you struggle to keep your home warm in winter and know you have drafty doors, you might very well need a portiere. This is especially common in really old houses, where the building has had decades to settle, and some of the wood has warped over time.
How Can I Install a Portiere?
Jamie’s reel makes installation look fairly straightforward. She’s mounted her curtain on a rod that sits directly over her door. When it’s not in use, Jaime simply pushes it as far against the wall as it can go.
The key to making it work for your space is that you need this curtain to be a heavy fabric. Beautiful light gauzy panels won’t work here. You need a fabric that can stand up to those drafts you’re trying to block out.
Pick something in a color or print that you like, so that you’ll actually want to see it in it’s full glory. There’s no reason practical objects can’t be pretty. If your tastes run similar to Jaime’s, then a dark green velvet might be the way to go. It’s gorgeous and it’s a color that works really well for the colder seasons.
Source
Portiere, Merriam-Webster.
