How’s It Hangin’?
When it comes to hanging curtains we’re not shy about encouraging people to hang them high and wide to visually enlarge the window and add height and drama to any space. Just as influential as paint on the walls, nothing makes a room look more finished than a few floor to ceiling curtain panels. And we’re here to break down a few fast and easy curtain-hanging steps for your convenience. Of course there’s more than one way to skin a cat (that expression is gross, sorry) so here’s a method that works for us (although there are about a million other approaches out there).
Here’s our favorite eight year old’s window sans curtains. You can see how harsh the rectangular frame of the window is, and how naked the entire wall looks. Nothin’ some Ikea curtains can’t fix.
The first step is to determine how high and wide you can go. In this case (where the ceilings are 9 feet tall) we didn’t go all the way to the ceiling (as we do with our 8 foot ones) but we did decide to place the curtains 12″ higher than the top of the window, and 12″ wider on each side. A good way to check that the curtain rod can extend far enough (which is definitely something to figure out before installing the rod hooks) is to lay it on the floor in front of the window and measure your targeted width (in this case adding 12 inches to either side of the window) to ensure that the rod is long enough.
Once we determined that the rod was long enough, we simply used a level to measure 12″ higher than the window frame and another 12″ to the right of the window (and to the left on the other side). Marking the spot with a small penciled “x” was all it took. Then we predrilled a small hole for a plastic anchor, hammered it into place, and drilled the screw right into the anchor to secure the rod hook. No sweat.
In this case we also hung a hook in the middle of the rod for added support (to counteract the dreaded “sagging rod”) which was easily added by measuring 12″ above the center of the window and again using a plastic anchor and a screw to keep the rod hook securely in place.
Here’s the finished product: billowy floor length curtains that can be easily hemmed to just skim the floor (although Princess Olivia loves the pooled look so much that she prefers them as is). Of course colored and even patterned curtains would add even more punch to this space, but Olivia’s minimalist mommy adores the white on white look. And it’s actually a huge trend to hang curtains that closely match the hue of the wall for a seamless and uninterrupted look that draws your eye right out the window. Mission accomplished.
And while many people fear the space between the top of the rod and the window, you can easily see here that it looks perfectly balanced (in fact, we think the window looks choked and crowded when the rod is mounted right on top of the window frame). And you can always cheat things even more by adding some bamboo shades like we did in our living room to hide the 15″ gap above ours. Oh window treatments: how did people ever live without you?!
We hope our lil’ curtain tutorial has been helpful and empowering. John wasn’t even around when I hung the curtains above (his sister Emily and I grabbed the drill and went to town). So if you have a ruler, a level, and a drill you can get ‘er done in about a half hour for a totally polished result. And of course we’d love any and all curtain hanging tips that you guys have picked up over the years. Dish the curtain hanging dirt…
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Comments
I was wondering what your thoughts are on hanging drapes in an old house. Our house is 120 yrs old and has thick (6 inch) moulding around the windows. Also we have a 6 inch crown moulding and 10 inch base moulding. The ceilings are 8ft. We tried hanging the drapes on the outside like you suggested but it looked weird. It was obvious the window was not that big because of the moulding. So we wound up hanging them traditionally. They look fine to us but it seems to break the current decorating rules. What do you suggest. Also installing curtain rods into old plaster is a disaster!
Thanks for the tutorial. I love the look of your bedroom drapes by the way. I saw them featured on the Holly Mathis blog.
My curtains always get snagged where the rod is extended. Right now I have clip on rings. I think a better way is to switch to a drape with large grommets so maybe they wouldn’t catch so much. Do you think that would work?
I want to echo the concerns of hanging curtains in an old house. Our problem is that the windows but up against some oddly placed wall so we can not hang a typical rod. Does anyone have a suggestion about either hanging a rod from the ceiling? or a nicer way of hanging a curtain on the inside of a frame?
I would love to see more tutorials on other window sizes and trim widths. We recently replaced our house’s trim with wide trim and now I’m arguing with hubby about not mounting our old drapery rods onto the new trim but instead putting them above. I can’t find any justification for not mounting onto the trim though!
Stacy,
We love hanging rods high and wide to create the illusion of a bigger window while letting in more light (and keeping your window trim hole-free). These days most designers agree that hanging curtains at least 6″ above the top of a window lets them breathe a bit. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Hi Sherry,
I recently discovered your blog/website and let me just say, I’ve been inspired to revamp our apartment! Since we do not own our place, there’s limitations as to what we can do (install cabinets, paint, etc.). . . however a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do! This week my husband and I will be hanging up curtains in our living room and I just snagged a console from craigslist for an unbeatable price. Thanks for the curtain-hanging advice. Gotta love those low prices at Target & Ikea! :]
Sophia
What is your take on double rods? I’ve never hung curtains before, but the idea of having 2 white panels (like Ikea’s Vivian) accented by 2 darker panels in front (like Ikea’s Merete in brown) seems appealing to me. But it’s hard to visualize. We have 10ft ceilings and the window is about 7ft wide. What do you think?
Hey Valerie,
That sounds lovely and we think a double rod is the perfect answer! Hope it helps.
xo,
s
Hi Sherry,
Congrats on your new little one! I have a 10 month old boy at home and it is SO MUCH FUN to be a parent and to watch your baby grow and develop. I really like babycenter.com. You can put in your due date and it will send you weekly updates on what is growing and developing in your baby. I still get them in regards to how my baby should be developing. It’s fun.
I have a question for you. We are putting up new blinds in our house and we are trying to decide on the right ones. I noticed that in a lot of your house you have either roman shades or the bamboo style shades. Do you think this provides enough privacy for you? Is there a reason you did not use plantation blinds?
Thanks so much!
Jessica
Hey Jessica,
Hmm, for the blinds question I think it’s just personal preference. We love the texture that bamboo blinds bring to a space when they’re paired with breezy white curtains and we especially love that they’re super cheap from stores like Walmart and Target (compared to plantation blinds, etc). We’re lucky enough to live far enough away from the street and our neighbors that we don’t actually have to close them for privacy so they’re usually just for looks (we hung them super high and wide so they make our windows look twice as big). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Hi Sherry,
Just wanted to say that I went high and wide today and could not be happier! I never would have thought to do that myself. It looks amazing in the room. My son’s teensie little bedroom suddenly looks grand. Thanks so much for the suggestion.
:)
Woo hoo! So happy you’re happy Carla. Welcome to the high and wide club.
Congrats!
xo,
s
Hi,
Thanks for all of your wonderful advice. i love your home! I have a question about hanging curtains. We have a slight bay window(three walls, with a window on each) The window are all relatively closer to each other. Would you recommend hanging three sets of curtains, or just one side on the outer 2 windows? Also, typically, do curtains go on the outside of the moldings? In my case there is hardly any room from the molding to the end of the wall.
thanks again!
Anna
Hey Anna,
There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to those things, so you can try hanging just two curtains on the outside of your windows to see if you like that look (you’ll add even more softness if you hang more panels between the windows as well- but it’s really your call). Just see what tickles your fancy. And as for where to hang curtains in relation to window moldings, we looove hanging them much higher and wider so they entire window area feels taller and more airy (it won’t block as much light while making your windows appear even larger) so we would go ceiling-height with the rod if you can (well above window moldings) but again it’s your call. Just have someone hold the rod up and take a step back to see how you like it at different heights. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Great post! I’ve been having the hardest time installing the drapery hardware as our walls are WEAK SAUCE! First I started with plastic drywall anchors, but they don’t support the weight of a large, heavy rod like I need them to. Then I went to Molly bolts, but these have only pushed into the wall (like I said, the sheet rock is crappy crappy). I don’t have studs where I need them and wonder if I dare hang curtains from the stud at the ceiling. Wouldn’t this be too high? On the other hand, do I dare go 18 inches out from the window box to find another stud to mount the hardware to? Would that be too wide? Surely I cannot be the only one who is having this problem. My poor house is only 10 years old but as ‘starter’ home it was apparently made with very poor quality material.
Help!!!
Hey Sarah,
We actually don’t think hanging the curtains from the ceiling would be too high or too strange at all. If you flip through the after photos on our House Tour page (check out that tab under the header) you’ll see that in many rooms we hang the curtains about an inch from the ceiling or right under the crown molding so an inch or two higher definitely wouldn’t hurt! You have to work with what you’ve got! Hope it helps.
xo,
s
If you had to choose to hang curtains an inch above the window and a few inches off the floor or the rod a little below the top of the window and the curtains barely touching the floor, which would you choose? I can only afford pre-made curtains right now and my windows seem to be a little higher than normal. I chose to have the curtain touch the floor and the rod is slightly below the top of the window. Now it’s bugging me, but I know if I had the curtians a few inches above the floor that would bug me too.
We’re with you! We honestly think both options would bug us. But the good news is that many retailers like Target, Ikea, Bed Bath & Beyond, and JC Penney sell stock curtains on a budget that are extra long (95+ inches!). We think just returning the standard ones you have and snatching up some longer ones will make you so much happier in the long run… and Ikea’s 95 inch extra long curtains are $15 for two panels! Hope it helps.
xo,
s
I need a solution for a wide window that goes all the way up to the ceiling. Is there an extra long type of curtain rod I can use that won’t sag in the middle with the weight of the curtains? There is no way to put an extra support mount in the middle unless I hang the curtains from the ceiling. I would actually prefer to do that but I can’t find any mounts with a short drop. In other words, the 3″ mounts I’ve found (measuring from the ceiling downwards) would create a gap between the top of the window and the curtain if I used them. Any suggestions? Thanks
JC Penney sells extra long rods (as does Lowe’s) and we have even heard of people using metal hardware store pipes to create long strong rods that don’t sag. As for ceiling mounted curtains without a big drop, Ikea might be the answer. They have great “rods” that can be mounted close to the ceiling but they’re actually wire, so your curtains zip along them and can be quite close to the ceiling. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Hello! I’ve read your blog for the past two years, every day religiously and its my first time to ask a question (not my last I can promise you that:)). We are moving into a new house and the big living room window has a half circle (like loop) window above it, and its much smaller. Where would I place the rod? There are two more windows in the room on the adjecent wall, but these windows are not as wide as the big window. All three windows are same height.
Thank you in advance,
V
Hey Vea,
Good question! We’d put the rod right below the demi window (the half-circle one) and mount it extra wide on either side of the window below it so it softens the rectangular window below and allows light to shine in the upper window (since a rod above the semi-circle window would look a bit off). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
I was wondering if someone could give me some advice on hanging drapes on windows that have very wide crown moulding. Would I hang the drapes above the crown moulding or below it. The type of crown moulding is basically like a shelf at the top it.
Any help would be appreciated.
We hate marring gorgeous moldings with rods so we never suggesting hanging them on or below ‘em. We like curtain rods high and wide as many of the photos in this post show, so just hang yours a few inches below the ceiling to let that lovely molding (and your window) breathe a little and add height to the whole room.
xo,
s
Love your blog! Very Inspiring! We have a situation in our guest room which has three arched doors that open to an outside patio. The crown molding coming down from the ceiling touches our door trim molding. This doesn’t leave us any room above the door to mount curtain rods. We don’t really like the look of the ceiling hung curtain rods. Is there a bracket that lifts the rod above the door trim, or is there another option we’re missing? Thanks so much!
We like your idea of a bracket that lifts the rod above the door trim so we would suggest googling around or visiting a window treatment store (like JC Penney or even a specialty store) to see what they recommend. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
I certainly can use your advice. I have a wall of windows – 25 ft long. Essentially it is 7 door size windows, actually 2 of them are the french doors to the deck. On top of the french doors is a half loop window. Not only are all the windows surrounded by molding, the ceilings has it as well. I would like some advice on where to hang a rod as I would like the ability to pull the curtain panels off the window as completely as possible. It is a beautiful view but heating and cooling is tricky. I am making my own curtains so height is not an issue. Should I hang across the molding between the loop window and the doors? Or go floor to ceiling in the gap between the crown molding and the top of the loop window?
Thank you for your help!
Definitely hang them across the molding between the loop window and the doors. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Your blog is wonderful! So glad to have found it! I’m trying to work with the existing hardware that the previous owners of our apartment left behind. (Our walls are incredibly hard to drill into–something about them being cement/plaster because they’re an exterior fireproof wall…) The current hardware is mounted rather narrowly, with no extra width on either side of the windows (the height is OK though). So I’d like to ‘fudge’ the width by extending the curtain rod beyond the hardware… is this a terrible idea? I’m thinking I can hide the evidence if I use some of the Ikea curtains that have the tabs on the back side (like the Vivan style). Then the hardware won’t show, right? Eventually I’ll get it together and find a better solution, but for now I’m just so tired of looking at bare windows, so this is a first step… any advice is much appreciated!
That’s absolutely a great idea, Hope. We use those curtain tabs to fudge the width / cover the hardware on our windows all the time. Just be sure the rod doesn’t extend so far past the hardware that it starts to sag or bow. But definitely go for it – and good luck with those hard-to-drill-into walls!
xo,
s
Thanks so much for the feedback– and CONGRATULATIONS on your new baby!!! I just saw the photos on your home page and she’s beautiful! (And I can’t believe you’re finding time to write me back… I’m very appreciative). How exciting :-)
I just found your blog and it’s my new favorite!! I fell in love with your drapery treatment in your living room and am going to copy it.
I have a question about rod height. My ceilings are 10′ (I live in a newer house.) My window is 86″ wide and I am planning to use two 4′ bamboo shades like you did. The top of the window is about 16″ from the ceiling. Should I hang the drapes at the ceiling or a little lower? The Ikea drapes actually come long enough for me to hang floor to ceiling.
Thanks so much!!
Thanks Robin!
We’d suggest giving them a little bit of breathing room (with such high ceilings), so try hanging the drapes about 4 to 6 inches from the ceiling. Good luck!
xo,
s
S,
I have a 16 foot wall with three windows. They all have varying spaces between them (9″, 25″ and 29″) but the problem is that the trim on my right window butts up against the wall. Any idea on how to hang a curtain rod on this window? My only other thought is to hang a giant rod across the whole room that attaches to the adjacent walls.
Any thoughts?
Yes, that’s exactly what we would recommend. Then you can hang a number of panels on that same rod and just flank each window with them so it feels almost like a wall of glass- lovely!
xo,
s
Hoping you can help…we just had new window and door mouldings installed in our home. they are beautiful, but have a “shelf like” top as the header. How do I install curtain rods…I believe the piece holding the rod will not come out far enough to give clearance to these new headers..can I still put my curtains up somehow? thanks for any help with this…
An easy fix would be to visit your local home improvement store and check out the wood aisles. You should be able to find simple 3″ x 3″ x 3″ cubes of wood (or get a 3″ x 3″ plank cut down into cubes) which can then be mounted on your wall above the molding (we’d go as close to the ceiling as possible) and painted the wall color to blend them in. Then mount rods to those cubes so they have the right overhang.
Or you can simply mount a rod high enough to the ceiling and let the curtains hang down. They might bump out slightly over the molding but it shouldn’t look too bad. Good luck either way!
xo,
s
I love your blog! You have such wonderful suggestions and tutorials. I’m hoping you can help with my current dilemma. My house is about 150 years old with 12′ ceilings and plaster walls. In the living room, I have four windows that are 95″ long (from the top of the molding to the bottom below the sill) and 44″ wide (measurement outside the molding). The crown molding is 21″ below the ceiling and the top of the window molding is 4″ below the crown molding. From the top of the window molding to the floor is 117″. With plaster walls, I cannot put up curtain rods in the wall. Right now I have sheers on tension rods (inside the window) at the top and bottom for a temporary fix. I need curtains, but I am lost! Any help will be greatly appreciated!!
Just use anchors in your plaster walls! We have them too and we hang rods all the time! Just visit your local home improvement and ask which anchors work best to hold rods up in plaster. Good luck!
xo,
s
Great – haven’t tried the anchors, so I’ll make a trip this afternoon and see what I can find. So should I hang the rods in the 4″ space between the crown molding and the top of the window? And thanks SO much for the info about the Vivan curtains – I’m going to get the long ones for my bedroom today. Yea…bedroom problem solved too!
awesome tutorial. I’m actually hanging curtains this week, so thanks for this.