Window treatments in general are always a tricky state of affairs. There are so many options and so many different styles. It wasn’t until we moved into our last cottage and I started to hang sheer blinds and curtains at most of the windows that I realised there’s a definite knack to hanging them. I spent a long time battling with wonderweb and developed some very strong arm muscles lifting curtain poles repeatedly on and off the walls. In our current house I finally feel I’ve cracked it. I feel curtains sometimes get a bad rep for being fussy and old-fashioned but in my house I love a pair or two; they add cosiness, warmth and I feel they really finish off the room.
We’re really excited to be teaming up with Laura Ashley to give you the low-down on curtain hanging and hope to share a tip or two along the way.
Go Wide
Now this is a tip I learned from Sherry at Young House Love and it’s one I always advocate. Don’t buy a pole the width of your window – go longer. The reason being ideally you’d like your open curtains to only very slightly cover the window frame. If you just go the width of the window you’ll find you’re covering a lot of the glass with fabric from the open curtains blocking out the light. Let the light in!
I usually aim for my pole to be about 60cm longer than the actual window (hanging the pole with around 30cm overlap on each side).
Hang High
The trick above makes your window appear wider than it actually it is. Therefore it makes sense that to make it look taller it’s a good plan to hang your pole high, drawing the eye up towards the ceiling. I tend to aim to put mine around 15cm above the window edge and adjust the length of my curtains accordingly.
Use A Template
The first time we hung the curtains in our bedroom it was about midnight. When we stepped back we realised the pole was neither straight or in the middle of the french doors. Blame decorating delirium or tiredness but if we’d have had a template this would never have happened. Once you’ve selected the width and height of your pole on one side make a simple paper template so you can replicate on the other side of the window. Becky has illustrated this with the handy pin below.
How Long
I always prefer a floor skimmer when it comes to length. Even on my standard windows I prefer to go full length rather than to the sill. In our bedroom (where all these images were shot with the gorgeous Laura Ashley Lynton Pencil Pleat curtains) we have french doors on one side and a standard window with a radiator underneath on the other side. We only close these curtains when we go to bed and the radiator is off so there’s plenty of ventilation.
You might want yours with more dramatic and luxurious pooling or easier to vacuum shorter lengths. This comes down to your preference in the end.
All the Fabric
Curtains can be expensive and it can be tempting to buy the minimum width but this can mean that when closed the curtains look a bit skimpy. I’d suggest going for a width around double the size of your curtain rod so your curtains are full and flowing.
{PIN FOR LATER}
Do you have any handy tips when it comes to hanging curtains? Any tips I’ve missed here that you’d love to share?
This is a sponsored post in association with Laura Ashley. The curtains featured are the Lynton Dove Grey Plain Pencil Pleat Ready Made Curtains in size W223cm x L229cm. Laura Ashley also have an extensive range of other curtain and fabric options for you to browse too.
If you have the money, interlined curtains (with bump) make them look more luxurious. With any curtains, once hung, I always leave them open to “set”, like this, stand facing the curtains with your right or left side next to the window, make even folds from top to bottom, tie scraps of material top, middle and bottom (not too tightly) and leave for a few days. Once the curtains are “set” they will always, when opened, fall into the same pleats. Here is a link which helps, go to the How to train drapes section. https://www.blinds.com/blog/1-curtain-mistake-most-people-make/
Oh, and a pet hate, never have short curtains on a flat wall, always go full length, unless they are sitting on a cill, obviously.
Loving the tips on how to ‘set’ Eileen. Thanks for this x
Are the lovely curtains shown from Laura Ashley?
They are indeed Heidi. There’s a couple of links to them in the post but here’s the direct link -http://www.lauraashley.com/invt/lyntondgrmc. The ones we’ve featured are the Dove Grey version and they have an almost linen type feel to them.
Great tips – we have two windows on the same wall in our bedroom and I eye-balled while my husband drilled resulting in two different heights of pole! I still say ‘it’s fine you hardly notice’ every time I walk into the room!
In our first house we hung some picture ledges up and despite using a spirit level they were completely on the wonk. No idea how it happened! Must have been a dodgy spirit level… 😉
I think that the most grown up I’ve ever felt was when buying made to measure curtains (and I own a home and have a son, haha!). My tip from my lovely curtain lady is, when buying new curtains, try to match the lining colour (if there are options!) to other existing curtains in other rooms/windows so that it all looks coherent from outside when all the curtains are closed! Possibly slightly anal but not even something I’d vaguely considered beforehand!
Katie, I had never thought of that but it makes so much sense!
Lauren, can you please share where the curtain pole is from? I need one with small finials and can’t find one I like, but that one is lovely! 🙂
Thanks Tracey, I bought it ages and ages ago from Dunelm so hopefully they still have them x
It’s no secret I’m not a huge fan of curtains in general, but perhaps that’s because I’ve only really ever seen naff ones, or ones that don’t fit the window properly. These look lovely, and really suit the room Lauren x
I’m totally thick when it comes to stuff like this but these look beautiful. Are these pencil pleat curtains with an eyelet curtain pole? How do you attach the curtain to the pole?? Feel like I’m going to get this all so wrong. Eeeeek! Help!
Hi Cassie,
It’s just a standard curtain pole with the usual curtain rings. Curtain header tapes usually have three rows of strings which you can thread curtain hooks to and attach the rings which slide on to the pole. In this instance you can’t really see the curtain rings as we hung them on the lowest row of the curtain header. Hope this helps x
I know this is a curtain post but could I ask what colour white your bedroom walls are painted – the room looks lovely!
Thanks Lisa! It’s Dulux Supermatt in white (rather than brilliant white).
I love your breakfast tray thing. Please can you tell me where its from? Thanks
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