In the mood to give your bathroom a shot of luxury and some dramatic height? Here’s another simple and speedy mini-makeover that anyone can do. Just upgrade from the average 72″ shower curtain to a super tall version (we snagged a 95″ curtain from here, and it works perfectly with our 98″ ceilings).
While we were at it, we also picked up an 84″ fabric shower curtain liner (the liner didn’t need to be as long as the actual curtain since it just needed to hit the top of the tub and not go all the way to the floor like the curtain). And we didn’t even have to order the liner online since good ol’ Bed Bath & Beyond carried ’em. Now, you might be asking yourself why we went for a fabric liner over one of those clear plastic ones. Well, our inspirational new friend Lesley (who let us crash her house a few weeks ago) mentioned that she picked one up because they last forever and can be thrown in the wash if they get any sort of mildew-esque issues instead of tossed into the garbage after a year or so. We’re always down with snagging things for the long haul, and it was about time that we switched out our old plastic liner anyway, so the fabric liner really does seem just as practical as it does luxurious and hotel-chic.
And since we know you guys love a good before and after, here’s the old 72″ shower curtain:
And the high-society 95″ version:
The room looks taller, and somehow seems to have better architecture, like those old homes with extra tall ceilings. And since tiling a tub from floor to ceiling is a new trend (and our tile stops a few feet from the ceiling) it somehow makes up for the vertically challenged tile and feels super luxe and special.
Note: To further spiff up your shower, you can add some shiny new brushed nickel rings along with a gleaming new rod to totally update an old plastic shower rod (we made that change a few months ago, and they were just crying out for an ooh-la-la curtain to match). Check.
So go ahead, swankify up your shower and send us the pics (no shots of you sudsing up in your new shower necessary).
love it. LOVE IT!
we have sliding doors on our bathtub, but it’s a rental. when we buy a house next year, i will be all about this.
I just wanted to let you know that I actually saw a bathroom where they just put a pressure rode in front of the glass sliding door to give the room more style without the major construction of taking the glass doors down. With small kids I don’t know if I would try it, but I thought I would pass it along, it does look nice with the curtain in front of the door.
i love the idea, but doesn’t the high curtain now block quite a bit of light coming into your shower? have you noticed a difference? i’m quite curious.
Hey guys,
Glad you’re liking our new “upgrade” in the bathroom. Liz, as for your light blocking question- this was also our biggest concern when we hung the new curtain. However we actually have noticed not one bit if difference in light since hanging the taller version. The fabric curtain and liner are both delicate enough to let lots of light through (it almost looks like the liner and curtain are glowing from inside the shower since so much light passes through ’em) so we can honestly say that it’s just as cheery and bright in the shower, and a little more ambient thanks to the floor to ceiling glow that we get off the new curtain and liner combo.
Our advice would be definitely to go for a curtain and liner that are white (or very pale in color) and not anything dark and moody since that would definitely make the shower seem cave-esque. And sticking to a curtain that’s not thick or dense (our cotton waffle weave really allows a lot of light to shine through) will also keep things feeling open and airy. Hope that helps!
xoxo,
Sherry
I’ve been thinking about this for our tiny shower stall, but wondered about the light issue, as well. Good to know that you can find them off-the-rack, too!
Only one left in stock now! You two need to start getting a comission for design suggestions, stuff always flies off the shelf after you mention it. ;)
Maya, My shower had doors too (the sliding ones), but because they were not so attractive I hung a curtain in front of them. It didn’t seem to get in the way much & made it look so much better! Just in case you want to add a curtain, it can be done.
Little change, big impact. Very nice!
Where did you get your beautiful light fixture?
Oh, I wish I had read this earlier today. This is exactly what I drove around all weekend looking for and it’s sold out on Amazon. Looks great.
I have high ceilings and already have a longer length curtain in my guest bathroom, but want to get white to brighten it up.
Liz, I have to say in my experience it does filter the light a bit more with the taller curtain, but my bathroom has no window or natural light, only a light fixture so that makes a difference.
Wow, that is a big difference. I might try this out the next time we buy a new shower curtain. We have a very similar tile pattern in our bathroom as yours, so hopefully the transformation will be similar as well.
Christy – thanks for the tip on just putting a curtian in front of your shower doors.
Amy – the light fixture is from Home Depot. We got it there last fall and I don’t see it on their website now, but I would check their stores before we rule it out. It was a great Restoration Hardware style find for a Home Depot price!
Tiffany – sorry Amazon’s sold out now. Hopefully they’ll get more in stock soon. We hunted for quite a while too so we feel your pain.
And to echo the other comments on it blocking light: that was my only hang up with Sherry first brought up the idea. But I can honestly say that I haven’t noticed any change in lighting. If anything, the whole glow in the shower is now softer and therefore a smidge more spa-like.
Glad you all like it!
-John
Hey, FYI, it is possible to clean a plastic shower curtain when it gets all mildewy and gross instead of having to throw it away… Just toss it into your washing machine on a cold wash, gentle cycle. I have washed mine without detergent, but I suppose you could throw a little bit of bleach or whatever in there to kill germs. We’ve been using the same plastic shower liner curtain for over three years now and it’s still going strong!
Your bathroom looks really nice..love the tall curtain and the vintage tile.
I am ready to steal this idea but have run into another dilemma. My ceilings in our old home are 108″ high. I have already found the perfect white waffle weave shower curtain in that length but I cannot seem to find a fabric shower liner that is of adequate length. It seems as if I will need 95″ and I know BB&B doesn not carry them. Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Holly – I know you posted this on YHL website years ago – but was wondering where you found your waffle weave shower curtain for the 108″ ceilings? we have the same height and would love to do this – but can’t find a curtain that long! Would love your input! Thanks!! ~Christina
Hope she drops in with that info for ya!
xo
s
I hope so too – thanks! BTW – just recently foudn your blog… My husband and I just bought a 1925 colonial fixer upper and we have NEVER fixed up anything – this one has been vacant for 4 years and last updated in the 70’s! BUT it is in the neighborhood we love and has a ton of potential… so I have been literally falling asleep studying your blog for tips and ideas… we are attempting as much of it ourselves as we can to save $$… we joke that I’m the GC on the project and my two little ones are the assistants (5 years and 2 years)! Reading your painting info is helping me come around to POSSIBLY painting ourselves… my husband says we can save the $4500 we’ve been quoted and do it ourselves – I say no way … too much to do and too little knowledge – until I read your blog – I might be coming around, you make it look easy! Thanks for sharing all you do! ~cts
Aw, good luck Christina!
xo
s
Sarah, thanks for mentioning you can wash plastic shower curtains. I would have never thought that was possible! Especially since our old one had magnets in the bottom of it (I pictured them banging around the washer and smashing right through our front loader!) but the gentle cycle makes perfect sense. Thanks so much for the tip. You know what they say: waste not, want not!
Holly, I’d suggest getting two of the 72 inch fabric kinds from BB&B (sooo much nicer than the plastic ones) and sewing them together to make ’em the perfect length (since they’re 100% polyester they can be easily sewn). Oh and remember to wash ’em first (per their instructions) to account for any shrinkage before you do all that sewing so you don’t end up with something that still falls a little short after one wash. Hope that helps… and good luck!!!
xoxo,
Sherry
If anyone can locate the 84″ or 95″ waffle weave shower curtains on-line, let me know! I’ve been searching all morning and Amazon is out (still), and not sure if there’s another distributor for those lengths (not exactly sure which we need yet)?
We’re refinishing the bath and would love to hang the curtain high!
We use this idea too- I think it’s a great one. We used a curved shower curtain though, for extra space while showering, so not only did we need an extra long curtain, but standard curtains and liners were also too short width wise to account for the curved rod- they barely came to the wall and didn’t stop the water splashes. We thought about sewing liners/curtains together to get them extra wide, but instead we decided to use two shower curtains and liners that meet in the middle- we call them our “theater” curtains. Plus, it’s a neat looking way that we can keep our curtains open, as they frame the tub area and our tile work surround is the highlight of our bathroom. We also use crystal clear plastic liners, and thanks to Martha Stewart’s suggestion in her Homekeeping Handbook, we’ve been washing it every few weeks with a little detergent, hot water and the gentle cycle and allow to drip dry. Looks brand new every time.
For Holly.. Or anyone else who may know.. Where can I purchase a waffle weave shower curtain that is 108 inches long?
Any help is appreciated! Thanks in advanced.
Just within the last 2 weeks they were available (again) on Target/Amazon. 95″ and 108″- they had been sold out/unavailable for awhile. Good luck!
Jen- I just realized that Amazon/Target may only have the 84″ & 95″- not sure if they had the 108″, sorry about that!
Hi Amanda,
Target/Bed Bath and Beyond/Amazon were the first places I checked.
I don’t think I’ll be about to find a 108″ long shower curtain. I’ve scoured the internet all weekend. I just posted an ad on craigslist to see if I can have one custom made.
Thanks for the help!
Beautiful bathroom!
Do you know if that shower curtain is available in a soft cream, off white, or khaki color?
Hey Grace,
Not sure what’s available these days (they used to just have white and maybe off white) but definitely search “extra long shower curtain” or “waffle curtain xl” to see what they have now. Good luck!
xo,
s
I love the long curtain look. We’ve just remodeled one of our bathrooms but made the mistake of not doing the travertine tile up to the ceiling in the shower. Would it look good to do the curved shower rod up that high as well or should I stick to the straight rod? Also, does having your curtain that high up make the tiling look unfinished, like you ran out or something? Thanks for your help!
Hey Seindi,
We love our higher shower curtain even though the tile stops about a foot or so below. It still has a finished edge (the tile) and I assume yours does too, so as long as it looks like it was meant to stop and you mount the curtain rod higher the whole thing looks intentional and lovely. And a curved rod would work just as well, so feel free to go that route instead! Hope it helps.
xo,
s
Hey Youngsters! After seeing this amazing transformation, I snatched one of the extra-long curtains and have been LOVING it for a few months now.
However, just the other day, we noticed that the curtain rod (which used to be on our tile but is now on our wall, up high, like yours) is starting to wear off the paint on the walls underneath the ends of each side of the rods. We don’t make a habit of moving the rod at all pushing/pulling the curtain each morning so I’m not sure how this happened – do you have any tips, however? We’ll take down the curtain, of course, and sand and repair the paint/wall, but I’m afraid this might happen again. Is there some kind of extra coating (over and above the regular primer and semi-gloss paint) we can apply to that part of the wall to make sure any moisture from the shower won’t have this affect again? Thanks for any tips!
Hey Kara,
Good question! Unfortunately we have no idea. Perhaps asking people at your local home improvement store might turn up an answer. We haven’t experienced this so we don’t really have any suggestions. So sorry to plead the fifth!
xo,
s
install a permanent shower curtain rod…not spring loaded…screws in place.
Our first Labor Day weekend project was to remove our glass shower doors on our tub (a real hazard with 3 small children pulling and knocking them around in the tub) and install a new curved rod. Thanks for the inspiration–we hung the rod up near the ceiling and it makes the bathroom ceiling look soooo much higher. I got an 84″ fabric liner, and I already have a white waffle weave curtain left over from our previous house. It’s the shorter length–but I have a great idea to recycle it to fit. I plan to sew a strip of coordinating fabric to the bottom, which should inject a little color into the bath. But first I need to strip wallpaper, replace a light fixture, and paint, paint, paint! Thanks again for all your great ideas!
Sounds so great! Congrats on your DIY success this weekend!
xo,
s
Hey Youngsters,
Just a question: wouldn’t raising the shower curtain cut off a means of escape for the steam and condensation from your showers? And wouldn’t this also cause a build-up of mildew on the ceiling?
Just wondering, because while I like the look of the raised shower curtain, I’d be afraid maintenance issues that might arise as a result.
Good question! Actually since the shower curtain isn’t at all air-tight (steam still escapes on either side and across the top because the rod isn’t flush with the ceiling by any means) we have experienced no issues with mildew or steam build-up in over a year of use. The ceiling and walls around the curtain still look as good as the day we painted them so we hope that helps!
xo,
s
I’ve always made my own floor to ceiling shower curtains. You can put them on a rod with rings so you can pull it back to let more light in and to air out the tub. I’d post a picture of one I made from velvet but I don’t know how to post it here. I’ve always done this treatment to make a full bath look cozy when it’s mostly used as a powder room. For the person whose shower rod is leaving marks on the wall…have you tried unscrewing the rod to make it a tighter fit so it doesn’t slip as much?
Great suggestion Robert! As for how to share photos in the comments, just upload them to a site like Flickr or Shutterfly and share the link for all to see. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
So here’s my curtain. I hope this link works. I’m just in the process of making another floor to ceiling shower curtain for a bathroom I added off the guestroom downstairs. I’m hoping to find a king sized sheet I can use so I won’t have a seam down the middle of it. I’ll keep you posted.
Robert
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24588967@N02/3931731119/#preview
No way you made that? Awesome. Thanks so much for sharing the link!
xo,
s (& j)
hi j&s!
quick question – any tips on painting windows? we are redoing our bathroom next week (yay!) and the windows need a face-lift. any tips and tricks would be mighty helpful :)
thanks much!
betsy
Hey Betsy,
Our only tips would be that this brush will really help you stay in control and using a straight razor to scrape any paint off the window panes will clean things up once the paint dries (it’s much easier to scrape after a day or so when it has fully cured so it flakes right off). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Hi, I love the website and I saw your living room as I am a Canadian House & Home Subscriber. Thanks for the inspiration. Recently we’ve redone our bathroom. We ripped it down to studs and put in a soaker tub and everything new. We’re just adding the finishings. I bought a curved shower rod and now I’ll hang it at ceiling height. Amazon.com will not deliver that shower curtain you used to Canada. So I found another online and they do ship to the US as well. I thought I would share the link. http://www.bedbathstore.com/exloshcu.html
There are coupon codes for the website at http://www.savings-center.com/store/BedBathStore
The BedBathStore will let you pay through PayPal so it is a secure site. Please share the links for other poor Canadians and the folks who are frustrated when Amazon is sold out. Hopefully these links help someone out.
I purchased the Carlton Diamond Weave 96″ Extra Long Fabric Shower Curtain and the 96″ Extra Long Solid Hotel Quality Nylon Fabric Shower Curtain – Liner.
-Briony
Thanks so much for the tip and the link! Great find!
xo,
s
What was the color used in this bathroom before the great transformation? I caught this blog one day before it changed! I love both bathrooms but will have to stick to updating by paint alone for now- which color was this?
The color in this picture (before we redid everything and painted it a soft taupey-green) was Glidden’s Sand White. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Going with a floor to ceiling shower curtain also presents the opportunity to use a ceiling mounted track system to hang the shower curtain instead of a rod. Some of the tracks available also allow users to create arcs, angles for corner showers or ovals around claw foot tubs.
I like to the look you achieved with the taller curtain. It certainly makes the bathroom more dramatic.
Among other inspirations from your website, I was hoping to buy a long curtain (for my newly striped bathroom)! My question is this: the bathroom has a potlight over the tub/shower (situated at the end of the small bathroom), and the only other light in the room is the wall fixture over the sink. My walls are 108 inches. If I put a curtain right to the ceiling, it will block half my light in the room – I’m worried I’ll make it into a cave. But would it look silly to have an extra-long curtain that DOESN’T go to the ceiling – say, 96 inches? I love the look, but I don’t want to put the room in the dark! What’s your opinion?
96″ would look great. We say go for it! You’ll still get lots of height without sacrificing light.
xo,
s
Hello,
This may be a silly question but we have those sliding glass doors in our shower tub. They look clean and nice, but they dont give any color to the bathroom. Do you think putting a colorful tall shower curtain on the outside, while still keeping the glass door is a cute/good idea?
Oh yeah! We’ve seen that done a bunch and we love it!
xo,
s
I raised my shower curtain a while ago, and it looks GREAT… but am I the only one who’s using a tension-mounted curtain rod? My luxe long shower curtain has brought it crashing down twice now (once on my husband – not amused) and I’m thinking I need to figure out something to screw it into the wall, or abort and accept my lower curtain destiny. Any advice?
We use a tension rod too! Just be sure to twist it so it’s really tight (and make sure it’s level and straight which helps it grip better than a slight angle does). You might also want to invest in another rod if yours has just seen better days and isn’t strong and steady like it should be. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
We are hopefully remodeling our bathroom soon and I would love to raise the curtain to make the small room appear bigger. However, I did recently purchase a regular-length shower curtain (see link), which I love. Any ideas on adding length to the bottom of it with fabric? I love the simple, bold graphic and don’t want to take away from that.
Oops, no link! Let me try again..
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=16193470
Yes! We’d just band it with one of the solid colors found in the curtain (or something complementary like a neutral tone that you’ll be tying in somewhere else). We’d recommend going to the fabric store with the curtain to see what goes with it and then just sewing on a thick band of fabric on the bottom so it’s extra tall. Good luck!
xo,
s
I recently moved into my apartment, and I definitely want to try having a higher shower curtain. However, I’m having problems finding a curtain that’s big enough (at least 60″ wide by 84″ tall), especially in brick-and-mortar stores. Do you have any suggestions of where we should look?
Thanks for any help you can give, and thanks for all the inspiration you always provide! I’ve definitely gotten a TON of cute ideas from this site.
We haven’t had luck finding anything extra long except for on amazon.com (we search the length we want, ex “95 inch curtain”). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Hi YHL!
I just love all of your projects. Thank you!
I recently (on a whim) decided to remove my shower doors from the tub. (Landlord said we can customize our apts.) I already had a shower curtain covering the doors, but now that it’s only a shower curtain, I almost went out and bought one of those plastic liners. I had no idea there were fabric ones. So, thank you for bringing them to your readers attention (well, my attention anyway.) I’m sooo happy with a fabric one. It’s like being in a hotel. I smile each and every day I use the bathroom.
Thanks again! Keep up the good work on the new place!
Cheers!
Kelly :-)
Ran across your site while looking up DIY for a house I’m purchasing. I like this idea for the shower. Not sure how it would work for ours though. The bathroom is set up with the window in the shower/tub area, so maybe too much light would be blocked? We were thinking of using the curved out shower rods for more room after we remove the shower doors since we don’t like shower doors on bath tubs.
Maybe just pick a thin or sheer fabric so light will shine through? Good luck.
xo,
s
Ikea sells 2 panels to a pkg for $14.99. Each panel is 10ft 3/8″ wide and 14ft 5/8″. Vivan is the curtain style name and they are perfect for floor to ceiling shower curtain. You cannot get this much fabric at the store to make your own for this price.
Wow- that’s amazing! We love Vivan curtains (we had them all over our first house)!
xo,
s
So, I’m tempted to try this in my bathroom with the same tile on the wall situtation. But my current curtain rod is attached to top of the last (or rather second to last) tile, immediately followed by wall space. As an inexpierenced DIY-er, how could I cover/seal those holes up if I do move the rod higher? Any thoughts?
Hmm, never tackled that. Maybe take a picture of it and bring it to your local home improvement store and ask what they recommend? Good luck!
xo,
s
Hey Sherry! How did you guys hang both the curtain and the liner? Did you just use curtain clips?
Yup, we use ring clips and both the curtain and liner have little grommited holes so it goes through both of them to hold them both up. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Thanks for the inspiration. I just completed this project! I had to recover from other house projects (and I have three little boys), but I finally got out the sewing machine and made a new longer curtain out of a fun fabric. It takes a lot of fabric (5-6 yards) since you have to double the width of standard fabric (54/56″). Also I made it like a drape but not quite as much gathering since I don’t have much room before the toilet and my sons treats the toilet as merely a suggestion. I have before/after photos if you’re curious. Thanks again! Megan
SO doing this when we update our bathroom!!! :) wonderful idea!!!
Was randomly googling around for a long shower curtain and this post came up. I talked to you guys on fb not too long ago about not being able to find one, and I finally did! Love seeing one of your old posts pop up :)
Sherry, is this the curtain you have?
http://www.amazon.com/InterDesign-96-Inch-Carlton-Shower-Curtain/dp/B002EVOAOA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1364181970&sr=8-2&keywords=96+inch+shower+curtain
I ordered it but ended up sending it back to Amazon because I wasn’t happy with the quality. The pictures and description made it sound like it was cotton and waffle textured but when it arrived it was kind of nylonish and had this shinier/not shiny tiny little pattern to make it look like it had waffle dimension but not really when it’s close up.
I just ordered this one because a quality waffle fabric curtain this length doesn’t seem to exist..
http://www.amazon.com/Interdesign-Tuxedo-X-Long-Shower-Curtain/dp/B00494DTJW/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1364181970&sr=8-4&keywords=96+inch+shower+curtain
Hope it will work out, I don’t know why more places aren’t selling these by now..
It looks like they might not sell what I have anymore (it was made by Target actually, just not sold on target.com – only on amazon.com). So the maker wasn’t InterDesign. So sorry I don’t have more leads for you!
xo
s
Actually I’m pretty sure that did it..
http://m.target.com/p/shower-curtain-x-long-waffle-white-72×96/-/A-12109419
Thanks so much!
So glad!
xo
s
Hello! I’ve been pouring over your blog for the past week and absolutely l-o-v-e it. I was wondering if you have ever had any success spray painting a sink faucet, just as you would your door hardware, etc? I don’t feel comfortable replacing ours (it is in perfectly good shape), but would love it to be ORB rather than chrome. Any advice is greatly appreciated!
I’ve seen that done (there are tutorials on Pinterest I think) but the key is to tape off the inside of the faucet so no spray paint blows in there since it’s not food-safe, so you just want to coat the outside but leave the inside nice and unpainted!
xo
s
I would love to know where you got the super tall shower curtain? What a difference it made.
Ohhhhhh!!! Ignore my last question. I just saw it in your first paragraph!!!!