A curtain can be practical w/re. to insulation, but a heavy insulated curtain would also block off a lot of natural light. In the picture you show, the window and transom let in an abundance of natural light to brighten an otherwise narrow, windowless foyer and staircase. Is this a consequence you are willing to live with? How about installing a storm door instead?

I like it. Lots of cafes here in Montreal have velvet-curtain "entry ways" to keep the cold out. I've always thought it would be nice to do at home.

In a warm climate, though, a curtain could just look fussy.

Love it!

We have curtains over both our entry doors. You could immediately tell the difference in heat retention...and since we live in southern California, keeping the blistering heat out.

Both our entry doors are glass (one french, one regular glass paned) and I feel like it gave us privacy also, without fussy little door curtains.

I love the idea of curtaining off a door. I had never seen it done before, but strongly considered it for our back door after seeing the way it turned out for Emily @ Merrypad.

Not liking this for my own house, but I can see it working in a super eclectic, cozy, bohemian space. Otherwise it looks a little silly.

Love, love, love this picture!

That little half door is cute as well.

I have been trying to problem solve a solution for a similar cold problem. Living in North East Ohio, we don't get a lot of natural light in the winter anyway, so when it would be in use it wouldn't really detract too much from other considerations such as light. I think I will do this at both my front and back doors. LOVE this execution. The tie back is an excellent idea to keep it chic.

Actually this is quite common in the UK especially in older homes with glass inset front doors. Houses aren't heated so completely as they are in the US so every little bit of insulation helps. My aunt's curtain was a heavy velvet brocade that was closed in the evenings and swagged back during the day - very effective as there was a noticeable increase in temperature in the hallway when the curtain was closed!

I like the idea. Its functional and will keep the cold out. Many restaurants in NY do this for just this reason. I could look elegant for a winter evening party. In the warmer months you could switch it out for a lighter maybe sheer fabric.

Ehh, to me the best part of the picture are the floors. I would just get tired of the hassle of moving the curtain every time I enter or leave the house. Honestly, after a while, it would just end up tied up in the corner. And as for looks, I don't know. I'd rather just improve the draftiness of the door.

Love it. I've always liked the idea of glass front doors but didn't want people looking in. I know I could do frosted, but I'd rather not. Specifically, I want a French front door with a curtain drawn across the back of it at night or when we're not home, with a big monogram in the middle. That would be awesome.

My gran always had a curtain over both her front and back door to keep the cold and draught out. Iinfact, she always thought it was odd that not everyone else did it - she was one smart lady!

It's practical from a privacy standpoint, too.

I've seen many homes where the front windows have adequate coverings to ensure privacy, but you can see the family sitting down tot dinner or watching TV straight through the front door's windows.

Beauty meets function: I love this pic, this idea, and the feng shui of it is great, too. I bet it keeps the hallway from being too drafty in winter?

I've been thinking about doing this because my front door is down a flight of stairs inside our apartment, and there is no vent down there. It looks pretty good.

It feels kind of Victorian to me, so I think it would depend a lot on your architecture and decor to look "right". (Not that it couldn't be implemented in a contemporary way, just that you'd want to consider that.) The layout of my foyer wouldn't work for this, but my door is pretty well weather proofed, so not an issue.

We have a full wall of floor-to-ceiling windows that ends with our front door. The windows don't offer much by way of insulation, and the door? Please. So we hung fleece curtains this year all the way across, installing curtain tiebacks in strategic places to hold the curtain open when the door was in use. :) Go for it - Victorian Era FTW.

Great solution, i've been bothering my landlord to fix the horrible door in my new place for a month now with no result. I mean, all it needs is a good weather strip around the edges, but this solution should do fine...

Now, to stop the bugs from coming in the crevices!

We hung a curtain on our front door a couple of years ago and we've loved it since. Originally it was sort of a "joke" because there was so much air coming through even after using weather striping (read...old door) that you could not sit in the living room, specially during windy days. Anyways, I had some curtain panels left over from a previous home and one of the thinner Ikea comforters so I used it to make a super thick "door blanket". I sandwiched the comforter with the curtain panels and it turned out to be the perfect size for the door (also, a quite comfortable couch blanket, because it was long so it would not drape down to the floor) It did a great job at keeping the cold air out in the winter and keeping the cool air in during the summer. It started out sort of as a quick solution and it ended up staying because we liked the way it looked. Eventually we added some nicer hardware and some curtain tie-backs to make it look more permanent.

I love this idea for cutting off the noise pollution that floats through our apt's front door.

Anyone have any ideas for a good, thick material that would fit into a minimalistic/ white/urban rustic decor? Something like burlap (would that be thick enough)?

Thanks!

I saw this in the HBO film John Adams and I thought it was a brilliant idea and wondered why we weren't implementing it in drafty homes today. I had no idea people were doing it in the UK.

Looks great, and I could see this working well in my house (an old victorian). I saw velvet drapes over doors everywhere in Europe in the winter.

Now I just need something to stop the flow of cold air coming from the hole for our pocket doors....

I have door curtains over both the front and back doors in my house. It helps with drafts, privacy and noise.

I have one in the door opening between my back entry/mudroom and the kitchen. In my case it's for looks. I love it.
The downside is that in such a high traffic area, it's a HUGE pet hair/dusty gunk collector.

A portiere is very sensible. I love this British portiere rod in bronze:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Door-Curtain-Portiere-Rod-Brass-4-Colours-Extra-Rings-/400074348947

I have never seen this before but it makes perfect sense. I love the weight of a velvet curtain. I hope my next place has more architectural interest so this looks appropriate. I play piano and after putting up velvet curtains there is a huge reduction in noise so if you live on a busy street this might be a good solution.

This is a first for me, looks ok but it not my style.

We just moved to Budapest and a lot of the homes I have been to (including our rental) have this feature.
It keeps the cold out and blocks light from the courtyard outside our front door. I had never seen it before, but I think it is a great idea for some styles of homes.

I remember seeing this in John Adams, too. I thought it was a great idea at the time, and that I should do it in my place. Sometime between now and next winter for sure.

IMO, it looks cluttered and it will be very impractical when coming and going - even more so if you are carrying in groceries or your sleeping kid or whatnot.

Is anyone else worried about the curtain being in the way of a fire exit? I'd like to do this in our house, but worry about being blocked.

Great idea! I have a narrow-but-tall window right next to my front door that I've been wanting to subtly cover up. I hate those window films, so this will be perfect! I'll just keep it pulled to the side all the time.

Thanks!

Thinking of something very like this for privacy/insulation on my balcony door. I might use a swing-out curtain rod to make it more functionally door-like.
(Like this: http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/productdetail.jsp?id=18904243&pushId=A_DECORATE&popId=APARTMENT&navCount=45&navAction=push&itemCount=80&itemdescription=true&parentid=A_DECORATE&startValue=1&sortProperties=+subCategoryPosition,+product.marketingPriority)

@ThisPieceIsMine: "...a good, thick material that would fit into a minimalistic/ white/urban rustic decor?"
Burlap would probably not be thick enough for anything more than an insect/privacy screen.

My first thought was Army Surplus blankets - good thick wool for cheap, if Olive drabber-than-Drab is a color that works with your aesthetic. Other ideas:
- Moving blankets (like movers wrap around your furniture)
- Pieces of curtain or proscenium from a theatre that's replacing their old one.
- Cardboard, accordion-folded into and out of the way.
- Maybe even lightweight cotton rugs from the thrift store?

I can, would and should do this! I'd mulled it for some time, but thought it might be pretentious? I think though, that seeing it done here so very boldly, I'm just going to have to go forward and do it myself!