I always recommend going as high as you can with curtains, so for you, just under the cornice. I suggest a white rod/track to blend in with the ceiling. Steer clear of a black track as it will stand out all the time, I think the curtains (the bigger expense) should be the thing that catches your eye. I would hang linen, or linen look curtains in this space in a soft dove grey.

Curtains, high up, single colour a few shades darker than the walls so that they catch the eye a tiny bit but are not a dominant new feature. Since they are a lot of fabric when you shut out the view you have to be careful that they don't swamp the look of the room. Not sure of the rod colour (dark to match the window frame, white to match the ceiling or grey to complement the other greys in the house) but I would go with wooden rods so that the curtains are threaded through them like the last two examples.

You can get longer length ready mades at pottery barn and west elm. The longer length allows you to hang higher as suggested above, which is the key to the looks you've posted. Most of the other ready mades eg Spotlight look like shrunken pants.

I would definitely go with shutters to match the frame of the windows.
Another thing to consider is tinted windows with curtains for privacy and sun protection during the day.
I always tint windows for privacy, I have always used tint a car.

@Tilly, what colour tint do you use for windows and how much light do you loose with tinting? Would it be equivalent to having shear curtains or more? I am thinking of doing it on our front window it’s huge and facing the street and I don’t want to loose the view. Thanks.

I would consider block out roller blinds in a neutral or very pale grey. When pulled up they disappear. You only have to have them fitted to the window frames. Over those I would have white sheers taken up to ceiling height and made quite full. About 3 widths and right to the floor so they puddle slightly. I think a pewter rod would tie in beautifully with your greys and whites.
Have fun.

I forgot to mention that the sheers can be easily knotted to keep little hands and the cat from doing any damage. I would invest in quality fabric. Good luck.

Not sure of the colour I chose for our last house, it was called city something.
It was a grey colour and fairly light.
Nobody could see in during the day at all, I would describe it as looking through sunglasses.
Definitely not darker than sheer curtains, just a better view.

When you get people out and explain what you would like to achieve they have all the samples so you feel comfortable with your decision.
The mirror one is 100% privacy but me personally, I’m just not a fan.
I do like minimal design and have just moved into a minimal designed house, I did get tinted windows all along the front again.
Both my daughters have done it to the fronts of there houses.
We are all super happy and wouldn’t want anything else.
Hope this helps.

Thanks everyone, so many suggestions!!

For those that suggested a white or pewter rod/pole for the curtains near the ceiling, we like that suggestion, where do you recommend buying? not really wanting a standard one with the big ball on the end. We are from Melbourne :)

For the one that recommend the roller blinds within the window with sheers over the top from the ceiling, do you have any photos of this style? thanks.

@Tilly , thanks do you remember name of the company that you used.

I actually used tint a car. They do Home and offices as well.

Roller blind and sheers

Do you think roller blinds and sheers would look okay or funny considering the window frames are dark colour and quite chunky?

Hi Katrina, unfortunately I haven’t a photo but you should be able to access on Houzz or Pintrest.
A friend of mine had the roller blinds with the white sheers which I purchased as a gift. I also bought the pewter rod from Spotlight. You can get the plain rod and match with whatever end you like.
In hindsight I would not have purchased the sheers from Spotlight because they were not full enough.

I would use double roller blings in charcole one translucent. Other block out

Katrina, I think you will probably get used to seeing the dark frames behind sheers and it won't bother you. After all, the dark frames are attractive in their own right, so why hide them? Unless you really don't want to see them?

Annb1997 I like sheers, I need to decide between sheets with curtains or sheets with blinds! (Then what height and colour)

Don’t worry with curtains makes room smaller make sure if u get the double roller blinds Bunnings have them you can get free quote pick ur colours as they have samples hold toowindow my mum made her mistake by buying them in winter pickin bone they when summer came it was so glares & hot

Hi, although the sheers look lovely, consider your cat. We moved into our house which had sheers and within a few months they were shredded. (and our cat is well behaved) There is only so much you can do to avoid this. I'll probably replace mine with shutters! I would be heartbroken if I put in new sheers only for them to be ruined!

I agree with michelle69388, steer clear of sheers with cats, it only takes one disaster and then you have to start from scratch. But I would suggest sunfilter roller blinds to fit inside your window frames, which give just enough block to prevent furniture and carpet damage and also give privacy. And I would also use with these full length eyelet curtains with the rod hung as high as you could go so that the top of the curtains still sat nicely beneath the trim. Eyelet curtains have the advantage of folding back nicely and not creating as much volume at the sides of the windows and looking at the photos you have posted, this will achieve the simple elegant look you are wanting. I helped my brother do this at his house a couple of years ago and it looked fantastic. Nice colour choices! Good luck!

We are still indecisive about which way to go here..

We have decided to go with CURTAINS with no sheers or blinds.

Do we bother with thermal curtains/blockout? We just want them to be private for if we go on holidays you cannot see in at all! The large window frame is 260W x 210H. The ceiling is 270H. The smaller window is 180W x 210H and this curtain will most likely stay drawn all the time as the view is off our bins and the neighbours clothesline.

The carpet colour will have to stay for now.

Are we thinking a shade of grey for the curtains?

The room at the moment it's a toddlers play area but in future it will be sitting room. It has an open brick fireplace and a view to the street. There is a lot of wall around the windows. It's been freshly painted so we want to attach something to the wall that will definitely be a permanent fixture!

I think it's better to have lined drapes as they will hang better, last longer while exposed to sunlight, and provide more privacy. Blockout is a good idea if you are wanting complete privacy for both windows. Otherwise, you leave curtains open for light?

As your walls are white, white drapes will blend in well. Otherwise, if you want to make a feature out of the drapes, a light grey would be lovely.

The pewter rods will look good with either.

Our walls aren’t actually white, they are Limed White Half (a light beige grey)

Would be good to borrow fabric sample books from your local suppliers to try out at home.

I like that colour.

Some close colour matches:

your paint colour

Curtain fabric close-up

And made up

Do you think either of these shades for the curtain??

Possibly last slightly pink one / have you tried a swatch against your carpet and walls? I think lighter colour with blockout (essential in oz summer) would look best as darker may close in room making it seem smaller

Katrina, if you want the drapes to blend in with wall colour, then the Iight shade will. If you want the drapes to be more of a feature, then the grey one will accomplish that. Girlguides makes a good point about darker possibly shrinking the room somewhat. What have you decided about length of drapes? Will you take them to the ceilingor o lay just beyond the window frame? This may affect your decision about colour.

yes, I agree about need for blockout as you mentioned this room gets a lot of sunshine.

We've just installed roller blinds. We're on acreage so privacy is not an issue. However, we did put block-out blinds in the bedrooms (for sleep purposes) and sunscreen mesh fabric blinds in all other rooms. Re the latter, you can see through them whilst still retaining privacy. They stop 85% of the sun's heat and up to 99% UV. We moved to the northern rivers area of NSW earlier this year so we'll see how we fare in the summer. I suspect the see-through blinds will be down most of the time but because they're almost transparent they don't block the light.

Cat business...we have an indoor cat, I purchase an scratch deterrent from pet store, spray it on soft furnishings...stops her, every now and then I have to respray..it has a scent that cats don't like..I can smell it a bit but in a few hours I can't smell it at all

Ps...I have sheers I had installed when she was a kitten....no holes and I don't think I have sprayed them for a year or two and they have been washed and not resprayed..I need to do my upholstered chairs more often .. she hates the spray

The magic spray

A big thank you for your input everyone! Here is the finished result. We went for metal rods and a grey eyelet curtain. My husband wouldn’t let me hang the curtains high and wide, so they are wide and a little above the window. Will give them a light iron in a few days if the creases don’t hang out :)

I always put semi-transparent cellular blinds in my places, both for the insulating properties, the look and also the fact that they are great with my 3 kids, 2 cats and a dog!

Some examples of cellular blinds.