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).



Curtain Pole

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.

Curtain Header

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.

Curtain Length

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.

Open curtains

{PIN FOR LATER}

The Rock My Style Guide to Hanging Curtains with Laura Ashley

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.