i have solved the door problem without a velvet curtain. i had a purple sheer cambric panel left from my perkins days when my decor was mostly purple, and it fits exactly over the door. that, layered with the cotton curtain, creates the necessary opacity and solves the privacy problem, but also solves the problem of how to indicate if i'm home, and how, with only an opaque curtain, someone is to knock or even to know if i were here. a door is either closed, ajar or open. if it is closed, you knock, and there is answer, or no answer. with two panels, i can leave the sheer panel down, so that my roommate can see that i'm in/out, and if she wants to speak to me she can call out to me directly, without knocking. that is ajar. if i need privacy i draw the opaque curtains and that is equivalent to a shut door. there we go.