4 Tips For Great Curtains – Curtains have formed part of the fabric of our homes for a very long time, the first curtains were animal hides hung from hooks in ancient Egypt. Fast forward 4000 years and they are still an essential component of a stylish comfortable home.
4 Tips For Great Curtains
Curtains help block out unwanted light, improve privacy, improve insulation and keep our houses at a comfortable temperature. All this by virtue of design before we have even chosen the fabric, colour or texture of the window drapes. Here are a few tips to ensure these essentials of home living fulfil their duties and add a plush feel to your home.
Ample Width
Curtains that are too narrow just never look right, so to avoid this ensure you provide a curtain track, pole or rod that is wider than your window. Doing so will help ensure the curtains always have sufficient width to cover the window whilst looking relaxed. A little extra width can fool your eyes into thinking the window is wider than it is. With standard drop curtains a good rule of thumb is to make the curtain pole 200 to 300mm wider than your window.
When it comes to the fabric width it may surprise you to discover that curtains should actually be between 2 and 2.5 times the width of the window. This is to give ample material for relaxed pleats and a smooth drop from ceiling to floor.
Hanging Height
When you are looking at a window to curtain, often the window will start a distance from the ceiling. Choosing curtains that have an overlap at the top of 100 to 200mm will give your windows the appearance of being taller. This extra height helps maintain the spacious feel of a room. Drapes should in general drop to the floor, stopping a few inches short of the floor can look very odd. Exceptions would be valances or tearoom-style curtains, but in general, curtains that fall to the floor look best.
Fabric Choice
The choice of fabric for a curtain tends to be dictated by the room’s style and mood. For an enhanced feeling of privacy, go for heavier, darker fabrics. While rooms that are desired to feel bright and airy should tend towards lighter colours in lightweight fabrics. Curtain backings can be used to improve the thermal qualities of a pair of curtains without detracting from the light and airy feel of thinner curtain fabric.
Ensuring Accuracy
Nothing looks worse than crooked curtain poles. The heights of curtains within a room should be the same. The easiest way to ensure this is to use a very basic template which can be held against the ceiling and the position of the brackets for the pole or track marked. This template can then be used for all curtains within the room, ensuring an even balanced look. When hanging curtains in different rooms it is less important that they remain at the same heights, but uniformity does tend to work best.
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