Just like anything else, picking curtains can be overwhelming. Where do you start? There are many fabrics, colors, and pleats to chose from, which is best? I hope that this blog post will help you find out which material, color, length, pleat, hanging options, and the best place to get your curtains. As you can probably already tell, the options and possibilities are endless, making these decisions hard.
Material
There are many things that go into picking the best material for your curtains. You can of course go with different materials for various rooms in your home, they don’t all have to be the same. If you have a room that brings in a lot of light it may be a good idea to pick thicker material to block out some of that light, especially when it is blinding. For these types of rooms my favorite fabric to go with would be one that is “black out” such as ones that are tightly woven made of polyester or cotton.
This goes vise-versa for a room that doesn’t get much light.
I highly recommend ordering swatches so you can get the look and feel of different materials as well as colors.
Length and Width
When it comes to hanging curtains I like to have the as close to the ceiling as possible without touching the ceiling. I like to leave about an inch or two of space between the curtain and ceiling and then have them kissing the floor, close enough where they are almost touching but not quite. This will give your windows more of a high end look and it will make your ceilings look higher if you have lower ceilings.
The width is always something that is commonly done wrong. When you buy the curtain two panels for your windows make sure that the width of then add up to the width of the window and add a few more inches. This is because you should be hanging your curtains a little wider than your window. The idea is to not cover the trim and leave the whole window exposed. This will give your windows a cleaner look. The extra inched in width will allow you to pull those curtains closed without having leaving empty space between the ends of the rod and curtain, which will cheapen the look.
To summarize:
- The width of the panels should be 2 – 2.5x the window width.
- Hang the curtain rods 1/2 of the way between the top of the window and the ceiling.
- The curtains should just barely hit the floor.
I have always been a visual learner, and I know I’m not alone so I have added pictures below so you can see what I’m talking about.
This is the ideal way to hang curtains. They are wide enough that none of the window in covered when they are opened, hung close to the ceiling and the bottom of the curtains just kiss the floor. This rule of thumb goes for hanging curtains over doors as well.
Pleats
There are many pleats to chose from and in my opinion, you can’t go wrong with any of them. It is definitely a personal preference. Some are give off more of a traditional and classic feel while others are more modern.
Below you’ll find some different pleat styles.
Different Ways to Hang Your Curtains
There are many ways to hang your curtains. You can hang them on tracks or good ole rods. Tracks are perfect for a window space that is curved. You really can’t go wrong with either!
I hope this guide makes it a little easier for you to pick the perfect curtains.
Until next time.
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