Curtains are the crowning touch in home decorating projects. Floors are sanded, walls and trim painted, rugs shampooed, furniture chosen, and windows washed before the curtains are hung.
Although window treatments definitely shouldn't be installed until all the messy work is done, you need to decide early in the planning stages what you want to accomplish by dressing your windows. You may want to make a room look larger or cozier or maybe you need to disguise some awful architectural feature or a wall-mounted air conditioner. Many of us simply want to let in light and minimize the neighbors' view. A well-chosen, properly installed window treatment is the answer!
Window treatments define a room's style. Formal windows often include a combination of elements like pleated headers, sheers layered with heavier lined drapery, swags and jabots or valences. Complicated hardware can require professional installation and demanding fabrics may need dry cleaning.
In contrast, country windows tend to be simpler. Curtains may have casings or tab tops for the rods to slip through. With casings, you might have fancy finials on the ends of the rod, or the mount might include a narrow plate shelf above it. With tab tops, you generally see the entire length of the rod (even when the curtains are drawn), so consider the choices in metal, painted, and natural rods - they can recede into the woodwork or steal the show.
Be sure to note the cleaning instructions for any curtains or drapery you buy, especially those for bathrooms or kitchens, which usually require more frequent cleaning. Look for easy-care fabrics that can be laundered at home, even if you want lined or insulated styles. After all, just because you want to stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer, you don't need to sacrifice washability!
Proper measuring is essential for a good fit. Use our chart as a guide for the measurements you need. Remember, the total area needs to be considered in terms of open and closed coverage. Measure the length from the rod, but keep in mind that a casing may be several inches from the actual top of a ruffled curtain, and tab tops hang directly from the rod.
If you intend to pull curtains back with ties of some kind, you need to plan on more length so that the inner edge of the curtain still falls gracefully.
If you want to make a window look wider, attach wood blocks to the wall outside the upper corners of the molding, paint to match the walls, and mount the hardware on these blocks. You might gain as much as 6 inches on each side of a window, allowing more light to enter the room if the open curtains expose the entire glass area when they are entirely open.
For more height, mount the blocks above the corners of the molding and consider curtain styles with wide, ruffled rod casings to hide them. Also consider mounting rods inside the frame if you want to show off interesting antique woodwork or a specialty paint job.
Lengths are a matter of taste, fashion, and lifestyle. Sill and apron lengths are less formal than floor length - current fashion has them just skimming the floor (by about 1.5 - 2"). Probably not a practical choice if you have crawling babies, rambunctious pets, or baseboard heating at floor level!
Caught between the desire for more privacy and more light? Café' curtains are often the solution, with lots of possibilities in top valance treatments. You can raise the rod above the window to increase glass space or use two rods to hang a second valance in the same or a contrasting fabric.
Whatever style or length you chose, my best advice is to have an assistant hold the rod and curtain in place or tap in a few temporary nails to be sure the length is right. It is always easier to raise the rod an inch than it is to re-hem curtains!
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