Sheer curtains in Dubai, soft light and privacy by day
A sheer curtain is a curtain in a light, open weave that lets the daylight through and softens it on the way in.
By day you see out and the building opposite doesn't see in. Ours are made to measure in voile, linen, chiffon or organza, on their own or behind a blackout curtain on a double track, so the room has one layer for the day and one for the night.
AED 35 per m²
with a standard track and the fitting included.
Curtains Express measures, makes and fits every sheer, usually within about a week of your go-ahead, and every one carries a two-year warranty on stitching and fitting.
Free measuring visit
There's no walk-in counter. Someone brings the sheer book to your home or office, so you can hold a voile and a linen against your own glass in the afternoon light before anything is cut.
Track and fitting included
The price per m² includes a standard track and the fitting. Hang a blackout in front and the two share a double track, and that is included too.
Two-year warranty
Usually fitted within about a week of your go-ahead, and covered for two years on stitching and fitting. We made it, so a repair later comes back to the same people.
Sheer curtains, in short
- A sheer curtain is a curtain in a light, open weave: it lets the daylight through, takes the glare off it, and leaves you the view.
- A sheer curtain keeps a room private by day, while it is brighter outside than in. After dark, with the lamps on, it shows the room, so a bedroom needs a second layer.
- Curtains Express makes sheer curtains to measure in plain voile, linen and linen-look weaves, chiffon, organza, and embroidered or printed sheers.
- Many of our sheer fabrics come on rolls 280 to 340 cm wide, turned on their side, so a wide window gets a sheer with no joins as long as its drop fits the roll.
- A sheer curtain usually hangs behind a blackout curtain on a double track, or in front of a blackout roller blind fitted in the window recess.
- A sheer curtain in pinch pleat or ripple fold can be motorized with Somfy or Dooya, on its own track with its own motor.
- Sheer curtains cost from AED 35 per m² with a standard track and the fitting included, are usually fitted within about a week, and are covered for two years on stitching and fitting.
Want the glare gone on a window too small for a curtain? A zebra blind, which some shops sell as a duplex or sheer blind, runs sheer and solid stripes on one roller.
What sheer curtains cost in Dubai
Sheer curtains start at AED 35 per m² in a plain voile, and that price includes a standard track and the fitting. Linen, chiffon, organza and embroidered or printed sheers cost more.
A sheer is priced on the cloth it takes: the window's width times the heading's fullness, times the drop. A 200 × 300 cm window takes 12 m² in pinch pleat, AED 420, or 15 m² in ripple fold, AED 525. With a blackout in front, the two hang on a double track that is included too: AED 960 in pinch pleat, or AED 1,200 in ripple fold.
Price your sheer
- Fabric
- 200 cm × 2 (fullness) × 300 cm = 12 m²
- Rate
- AED 35 per m²
AED 420
Plain voile, with a standard track (a regular pole for eyelet) and the fitting included. The final figure follows the free measuring visit.
What moves the figure:
- The sheer
- Plain voile starts at AED 35 per m². Linen and linen-look weaves, chiffon, organza and embroidered or printed sheers cost more.
- Heading
- Pinch pleat, pencil pleat and rod pocket are gathered to twice the window's width. Ripple fold and eyelet take two and a half times, so the same window takes a quarter more cloth.
- A blackout in front
- A second curtain at AED 45 per m², with our four-pass blackout lining. The double track it shares with the sheer is included.
- A motor
- A motorized track per metre and a motor for each layer, priced on top. There is a worked example under motorized.
Curtains already up on a single track? We fit a second track beside it for the sheer. Send a photo and the sizes on WhatsApp for a price.
Measuring is free. Send rough sizes on WhatsApp for a first figure, and nothing is cut before you have seen the final one. Pay by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay, or in instalments with Tabby or Tamara.
Sheers, blackouts and every blind are priced side by side on our curtain and blind prices page.
Ready-made or made-to-measure sheers?
For one small window in a standard size, a ready-made sheer panel from a homeware store is the cheaper answer, and a good one. Made to measure starts closer than most people expect: a 200 × 300 cm window is AED 420 in pinch pleat, with the track and the fitting included.
Ready-made falls short in three places:
Drop
Stock panels come in a few fixed lengths, and floor-to-ceiling glass in a Dubai tower rarely matches one. A sheer shows a short hem, or a long one heaped on the floor, more than a heavy curtain does.
Width
Two stock panels across 4 m of glass hang almost flat, and a sheer without its fullness looks thin. Ours are gathered to two or two and a half times the width of the window.
The track
A track inside a curtain pocket, or a double track with a blackout in front, is fixed and fitted to the window. The rod in the box does neither.
Private by day, not after dark
A sheer works on the difference in light. By day the street, the sea or the tower opposite is far brighter than your room, so from outside the sheer reads as a pale, lit surface, while from inside you look through it at the view.
After dark that reverses. With your lamps on, the room is the bright side, and anyone outside sees shapes and movement through the weave, and more than shapes through a fine voile. Towers here often face each other across a narrow gap, so it is worth knowing before you choose.
The test takes a minute. After dark, with the room lights on and the sheer drawn, step onto the balcony or into the garden and look back in. What you see is what the building opposite sees. If it is too much, the room needs a second layer for the night, and the pairings below are the options.
Voile, linen, chiffon or organza?
Voile is one kind of sheer, not a different thing. Sheer is any curtain light enough to see through, and voile, linen, chiffon and organza are the weaves it comes in. Net curtains, see-through curtains and transparent curtains are the same family under other names.
One piece of sheer across the whole window
Many of our sheer collections come on rolls 280 to 340 cm wide, and we turn the roll on its side. The roll's width becomes the curtain's drop and its length runs across the window, so even a long wall of glass gets a sheer with no seams down it.
That holds while the drop fits the roll, and the collection you choose sets the limit: 280 cm on some, up to 340 cm on others. Taller glass, like a double-height villa window, is made with the fabric upright and joined down its length. On a sheer a join shows against the light, so the collection is chosen with the height in mind, at the visit.
The hem is a plain folded hem. Some collections are woven with a lead band along the edge, a fine weighted cord, and on those the lead band becomes the hem: it pulls the folds straight and steadies the sheer when the air conditioning moves it.
What to pair a sheer curtain with
A sheer looks after the day. What goes with it decides the night, and there are four usual answers.
Which way round
The sheer usually goes behind, nearest the glass, so the blackout closes over it at night. If you want the sheer to be what the room shows, it can hang in front instead.
Curtains already up? We fit a second track beside your existing one and make the sheer to hang on it.
Which heading suits a sheer
The heading is how the top of a curtain is made and hung. On a sheer it shapes every fold, because there is no lining to hide them. We also make sheers in pencil pleat and rod pocket, both gathered to 2×; a rod pocket slides onto its rod and suits a sheer that stays drawn.
Sheer, dimout or blackout?
Three curtains that do three different jobs at the same window. Here is how they compare in a Dubai room, by day and after dark.
| Sheer | Dimout | Blackout | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light through the cloth | Soft and filtered | Heavily cut; the cloth glows | None |
| See out by day | Yes | No | No |
| Private by day | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Private after dark | No, with lamps on | Yes | Yes |
| Glare on a screen | Softened | Mostly gone | Gone |
| Suits | Living rooms, offices, glass you keep open | Living and guest rooms | Bedrooms, nurseries, TV rooms |
Blackout here is our standard build, a face fabric with a four-pass silicone blackout lining. A dimout, sometimes sold as room-darkening, is a dense fabric without that lining, which is why it still glows.
Motorized sheer curtains, with Somfy or Dooya
Any pinch pleat or ripple fold sheer we make can run on a motorized track. An eyelet sheer can't: its rings slide on a pole, and a motor pulls gliders inside a track.
The sheer on its own motor
On a double track each layer has its own track and its own motor, so the sheer can stay drawn through the day while the blackout opens and closes. One remote or app runs both, and the blinds too if they are the same brand.
A timer for west-facing glass
Set the sheer to close before the afternoon sun reaches the floor and to open again around sunset, from the Somfy TaHoma app or Dooya's Smart Life app. The glare stays off the room whether anyone is home or not.
What it costs
The sheer at AED 35 per m², the motorized track per metre, and the motor. A 200 × 300 cm sheer in pinch pleat on a wired Dooya motor comes to AED 1,340: sheer AED 420, track AED 220, motor AED 700, fitted and programmed, before the remote. Every motor and price is on our motorized curtains page.
Power, and curved glass
A wired motor needs a power point inside the curtain pocket, at the end where the motor sits, which is simplest to arrange before a ceiling is closed up. A battery motor needs no wiring. A curved track round a bay or a corner window can be motorized with Somfy only.
Book a free measuring visit
Tell us which rooms, roughly how wide the glass is, which way it faces, and whether the sheer hangs on its own or with a blackout. Someone brings the sheer book to you, anywhere in Dubai.
Sheer curtains for living rooms, bedrooms and offices
Where a sheer earns its place in a Dubai home or office, and where it needs help.
Living rooms with a wall of glass
Apartment living rooms here often face a whole wall of sliding glass. A sheer across it keeps the view and the daylight and takes the glare off the floor and the television; a heavier curtain in front covers the evening. There is more on the room in living room curtains.
Bedrooms
A sheer alone is rarely enough in a bedroom: the room is lit after dark, and in June the sun is up in Dubai before half past five. Here the sheer is the day layer, behind a blackout pair or in front of a blackout blind. See bedroom curtains.
Offices and meeting rooms
Wide office glass fills with glare by mid-afternoon. A sheer takes it off the screens without darkening the floor or closing the view. If your building asks for fire-rated curtain fabric, we source fire-rated sheers on request, so ask when you send the sizes. More on office curtains.
Villas and double-height glass
A villa's tall windows suit a sheer that runs from the ceiling to the floor. Glass taller than the sheer's roll is made with joins down its length, and a curtain that high is worth motorizing, because the top of it is out of reach.
Balcony and garden doors
A door has to open through the curtain. Run the track 15 to 20 cm past the frame on each side, so the open sheer stacks on the wall, clear of the door, and covers the frame when it's drawn.
Glare, heat, fading and dust in a Dubai summer
A sheer is often bought for the heat and does most for the glare. What it does, and what it doesn't:
Glare
The job a sheer does best. The weave scatters direct sun into soft, even light, so a west-facing living room stays usable at four in the afternoon and a screen stays readable.
Heat
A little. A white or pale sheer turns back some of the sun before it reaches the room, but an open weave lets most of the heat through: it is glare control, not insulation. For heat, close a blackout curtain over it through the hottest hours, or fit a honeycomb blind, which traps still air against the glass.
Fading
A sheer slows the fading of sofas, rugs and wooden floors in direct sun, but it doesn't stop it, because the light that gets through still carries ultraviolet. A room with textiles you care about wants a heavier layer drawn through the sunniest hours.
Dust and washing
A sheer is the layer that catches the dust, from the air conditioning and from a sandy day with the balcony door open. Most polyester voiles take a cool, gentle wash and go back up slightly damp, so their own weight drops the creases out; linen and the finer weaves follow their care label.
Sheer curtains in towers and villas
What people ask about sheer curtains
How much do sheer curtains cost in Dubai?
Ours start at AED 35 per m² in a plain voile, with a standard track and the fitting included. A sheer is gathered, so a 200 × 300 cm window takes 12 m² in pinch pleat, AED 420, or 15 m² in ripple fold, AED 525.
With a blackout curtain in front, the pair shares a double track that is included too: AED 960 in pinch pleat or AED 1,200 in ripple fold. Linen, organza and embroidered sheers cost more. Measuring is free, and the final figure follows the visit.
Can you see through sheer curtains at night?
Yes, with the lights on inside. After dark the room is brighter than outside, so anyone looking in sees shapes and movement through the weave, and more than shapes through a fine voile or chiffon. By day it works the other way round, and the sheer keeps the room private.
For a room you use after dark, pair the sheer with a blackout or dimout curtain on a double track, or with a blackout roller blind.
What is the difference between sheer and voile curtains?
Voile is a kind of sheer. Sheer is any curtain light enough to see through, and voile is one fine, flat weave of it, usually polyester. Linen, chiffon and organza sheers are the others, and they differ in texture, in how they hang and in how much of the room they show.
Is there a curtain between sheer and blackout?
Yes: dimout. A dimout curtain cuts the light heavily but still glows when the sun is on it, and it stays private after dark. We make dimout curtains, priced by the fabric. A sheer and a blackout on one double track is the other answer, with both ends of the range on one window.
Is there such a thing as a sheer blackout curtain?
No. A curtain that lets light through can't also stop it. What people usually mean is a sheer and a blackout on one double track: the sheer drawn for the day, the blackout closed over it at night.
A zebra blind does something similar in a single blind, with sheer and solid stripes that slide over each other. Closed, it dims the room rather than making it dark.
Do sheer curtains go in front of or behind blackout curtains?
Usually behind, on the track nearest the glass, so the blackout closes over the sheer at night and stacks at the sides by day. If you want the sheer to be what the room shows, it can hang in front instead, with the blackout working out of sight behind it.
Do sheer curtains keep a room cool?
Not much. A pale sheer turns back some of the sun, but an open weave lets most of the heat through, so it controls glare rather than insulating. For heat, close a blackout curtain over it through the hottest hours, or fit a honeycomb blind.
What are the disadvantages of sheer curtains?
Three that matter: they aren't private after dark with the lights on, they do little about heat, and they show dust sooner than a heavy curtain. A fine sheer also moves with the air conditioning. A second layer answers the first two, and a polyester voile washes easily.
Can sheer curtains be motorized?
Yes, in pinch pleat or ripple fold, with Somfy or Dooya. On a double track the sheer gets its own track and motor, so it can stay drawn while the blackout moves. A 200 × 300 cm pinch pleat sheer on a wired Dooya motor is AED 1,340, fitted and programmed, before the remote. An eyelet sheer can't be motorized.
How do you clean sheer curtains?
Most polyester voiles take a cool, gentle machine wash; linen and the finer weaves follow their care label. Hang the sheer back up slightly damp and its own weight drops the creases out, with no iron. Between washes, a vacuum on a low setting with a brush attachment keeps most of the dust off.
Can you add a sheer to my existing curtains?
Yes. Where your curtains hang on a single track, we fit a second track beside it and make a sheer to hang on it. Send a photo of the window and the sizes on WhatsApp for a price.
How long does it take, and is there a warranty?
Usually about a week from your go-ahead to fitted sheers, after a free measuring visit. Every sheer carries a two-year warranty on stitching and fitting, and because we made it, an alteration or a repair later comes back to the same people.
Tell us about the window
Send the room, the rough width and which way the glass faces, and we will tell you what a sheer will and won't do there, and what to pair it with.