What you choose for material and color of curtains is a matter of personal taste! But hanging curtains to make the room look bigger and taller works for any home. There are also many people who hang their curtains completely wrong, so that it looks like a pair of trousers that are too short, which is not at all pretty! It is also about starting from the room and the type of window you have at home. Then ignore trends when it comes to the choice of materials, choose curtains that you like and not someone else’s.
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There are clear curtains guidelines and here are now 6 tips for hanging curtains and the mistakes to be avoided at all costs!
Hang curtains – 6 tips
1. Sufficient textiles
Hanging a small flimsy length of curtain next to a large window looks totally out of place and stingy. No, choosing the right fabric is essential in the hanging curtains category. Choose twice as much fabric as the width of the window is a good rule of thumb. If you buy ready-made curtain lengths, two lengths on each side of the window are usually fine.
AVOID: thin flimsy fabrics with ugly patterns, this will make any room look like something out of the movie The Shining. No use ist. plain thick fabrics such as Egyptian cotton and velvet for a luxurious exclusive look.
2. The right curtain material for the right room
Think about what the rest of the room should feel like! Is it e.g. a summer house suits a lighter feel on fabrics such as beige linen or sheer white cotton curtains. If it is a parade floor in Vasastan, then more exclusive fabrics such as velvet and silk are better suited. If you have really nice windows, consider neutral lift curtains instead, which put full focus on the windows
Fabric stores often give good advice on which fabrics fit in every room, and you get fabric samples to test at home on site. A great online curtain shop with sun protection and lift curtains is the VELUX shop, I can recommend it to you.
TIP: Use long-striped curtains if you have very low ceilings and fasten the lengths to the ceiling on a curtain rail. This makes the room look taller, both because of the fabric stripes and also of the long length of the curtains.
3. Hang the curtains high!
If you have a low ceiling, you should put the curtains on the ceiling! It’s my own little curtain rule that works just as well with high ceilings as I have myself. Above you see my own curtains in the living room and how I hung them from a ceiling rail. If you don’t want a curtain rail like I have above, you can put the curtain rod right between the wall and the ceiling instead.
BIG curtain hang no no: To put the curtain rod right along the upper window ledge and also have short curtains at the same time. This gives the room an ugly shrinking and outdated look.
4. The right curtain length matters BIG TIME!
They say that the size of the pants matters a lot! Just as much, the length of a curtain plays a big role in the room. Imagine a luxurious hotel room with short curtains that only go to the window frame. It kind of doesn’t work, because hotels have that right luxurious feeling with long, thick curtains right down to the floor.If you don’t like having the curtain fabric lying on the floor, then leave it anyway. go right to the floor. If you, like me, have close to three meter ceilings, it can sometimes be difficult to get hold of such long curtain lengths. I then recommend sewing yourself, buying fabric in such a long length is also cheaper than buying ready-made.
Curtains are one of the easiest things to sew. Buy a curtain rod band and sew it to the top of the fabric, then measure how long the curtain should be minus what you put up at the bottom and mark on the fabric. Then fold up fabric approx. 15 cm at the bottom, pin and sew the fabric. VOILA! a completely custom-made curtain has seen its first window light.
5. Put the curtain rod in the right place!
A curtain rod that is too short gives windows a cramped, cramped feeling. A guideline is to set up the curtain rod at least 30 cm from each side of the window. If you then hang several curtain lengths outside the window frame, it gives the illusion of a much larger and wider window.
BUYING TIP: you can buy curtains for a luxurious hotel feel HERE
The longer the curtain rod, the more you need extra support in the middle, as there is nothing uglier than a curtain rod that sways like a withered banana. Also keep in mind that the heavier the fabric you choose for the curtain, the more stable the curtain rod you should buy. Ikea’s rods simply do not work for heavy velvet curtains.
Choose the color and shape of the curtain rod that matches the rest of the decor in the room!
6. Layer upon layer of luxury!
How do hotels get that luxurious curtain feeling? Well, because they almost always use the so-called layer upon layer set on the curtains. That is, you set up double curtain rods and then hang one curtain behind the other. Most often, a thin white fabric is used behind the thick front fabric.
It is also nice to have a lift or roller blind in white behind two luxurious curtain lengths. If you have extremely low ceilings, it can be neat to only have lift curtains and attach them right up to the ceiling above the windows.
In the summer, you can also hang blackout curtain lengths, behind your usual stylish curtains.