I’m a little late to the party, but I just recently started watching the first season of Queer Eye on Netflix. The ladies of the OGT Team (who I lovingly refer to as “my girls”) have been telling me to watch it for months. But life tends to get in the way, as you know, so I just hadn’t gotten around to it. But I finally sat down and started it, and I’m so glad that I did! I had been warned that Queer Eye would probably make me cry (I’m a notorious crybaby), but I had no idea just how positive and uplifting the show would be as a whole! I’m head-over-heels for the Fab Five, and I feel like I’ve already picked up some useful tips and tricks from them!
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Speaking of which, the Fab Five’s resident design guru Bobby Berk has a great decor tip that I think is so smart. It addresses what must be one of the most common decor mistakes that people make! And when I talk about “decor mistakes,” I’m not talking about questionable color schemes or about having an odd taste in wall art. I’m talking about those small decor choices that end up having an unintended and negative effect on the room as a whole. These sorts of mistakes are so easy to make, because you may not even know what the issue is in the first place! And the decor mistake I want to talk about today fits that description perfectly.
The Problem
So what is this common decor faux pas? It’s when people hang their curtains right at the top of a window frame. Bobby says, “Putting the curtains right at the top of your window makes your window look smaller and your ceiling look shorter.” It’s all about the visual effect your curtains are creating, and no one wants their room to scream small windows and short ceilings, right? Of course not! So what’s the right way to hang your curtains?
The Solution
The good news is that this “mistake” is very easy to fix! In terms of your curtain rod placement, you just need to think up and out. Bobby says, “If you hang your curtain rod six inches to a foot above your window, it actually makes your ceiling seem taller and your windows feel bigger.”
Aren’t these Before & After photos AMAZING?! Simply raising the curtain rod and extending it out to the sides a little bit completely transforms the space! Say goodbye to dark and cramped, and hello to light and airy!
Troubleshooting Tips
It’s relatively easy to change the placement of your curtain rod, but you may run into an issue with curtain length. If your curtains are the perfect length now, they may end up being too short once you raise your curtain rod. But there are a few easy ways to get around that issue.
Related: Make Your Own Grommet Curtains In An Afternoon
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The first solution would be to buy a longer set of curtains. Curtains typically come in a few different lengths, so choose the next longer length than your current curtains. You can either let the extra length “pool” on the floor for a flow-y look, or you can hem them to the correct length. (If you’re not much of a seamstress, you could use a fusible bonding material to “hem” them without needing to sew anything.)
Here’s another quick fix you can try if you end up with curtains that are just one or two inches too short. Simply add curtain clips to the tops of your curtains! The clips will give your curtains the couple extra inches they need, and they’ll hang at just the right length!
I think the curtains r stunning
Hard to evaluate a decorating idea when the example shown looks like a dog’s breakfast.
Wow
Right on.
No! The biggest decor mistake is parking the doggone couch right smack in front of the picture window!
Think about it. The window is unusuable. The couch gets faded. And people who sit other places in the room can’t see the people on the couch because the sun’s shining in their eyes.
Let window be window and couch be couch somewhere else!
I made curtains for a long time and the curtain length had to be half to one inch above the carpet and the curtains fell and looked great once the materiel settled in. I do not like them sweeping the dust off the floor, they then become daggy
That’s a great tip, too!
Absolutely! Huge decorating mistake! Although, I do realize that some people’s living rooms or bedrooms don’t have enough wall space for staple furniture due to their size… :( Nevertheless, for those rooms that do have enough wall space, couches and/or TV’s, entertainment centers etc, should never be placed directly in front of a window, as it looks awful & for the various reasons you stated, infmom.
I disagree – but have no business doing so because I only have shutters. So I will tell you what I think the biggest problem – and one that I want to change in other people’s homes every time I see it is…….hang your pictures correctly! You know when they are right if standing up you are looking at the CENTER of the picture. And BTW there is no reason you can’t hang a picture below the window casing…..looks great in a bedroom.
LOL! That would be great if we were all the same height.
Your house – your height.
I really like this idea, and am going to be moving my curtain rods. :)
My question is: how far “out” do the rod brackets need to be from the window frame?
I usually extend them out about two to three inches on each side. I make light pencil marks and eyeball it, though, especially with decorative finials that extend out.
Thank you, Danette!
Mine are 3-4 inches out from the window frame on each side :-)
Thank you, Jillee!
I don’t suppose the curtains in your pictures are available? Would be perfect for my log home.
i saw those same curtains at Pier 1
Thanks.
They are from World Market, I bought them a few years ago :-)
I understand the reasoning behind this decorating idea, but I have concerns about hanging very long curtains past the bottom window frames in my bedroom. Underneath our window is a heating unit that fits the width of the window (6 to 7 feet) and goes all the way down to the floor. Our home is 90 years old and has radiators, a heat pump, and whatever this thing is. Two other rooms have this heat apparatus in them as well. I don’t want the curtains to cover the heat source of the room, nor do I want them to catch… Read more »
Still looks excellent if even with the bottom of your window sill
U could also make or purchase “false Panels” that go from above window to floor on either side of window that don’t touch the radiator. Put up mini blinds or choose a type of shade to actually cover the window for privacy or block light.
Color & window covers !
Thank you for these great tips–guilty as charged!
For me, that tips sounds like a laugh because my ceilings are so low, my windows are only six to eight inches (depending on room, and some not even that much ) below my ceiling. If I put them up that high, they will be against the ceiling…so what do I do instead?
How about just going out a bit and then maybe just above the window frame, like an inch or 2?
I have the same problem.
I think it would make the ceiling feel even lower, how about you, Pat?
I,too, have very low ceilings and a eight inch drop to the windows. I put the curtain rods centered between the two, and think that looks perfect.
I used to have low ceilings. I bought track-style rods that hung from the ceiling and my curtains were on the clips she mentions in the article, making the curtains a couple inches off the ceiling. I also extended the track maybe 4 inches to each side to give the curtains a place to bunch up when I wanted to have a full window view/light. I had two tracks with sheers in back and heavier curtains in front. The extra space on the sides gave a place for all that fabric bulk to go. I may have even extended further… Read more »
Hi Chrissie! My ceilings are pretty low as well, but as you can see from the photos, I still used this tip! The curtains start very close to the ceiling, but it’s no problem!
So, what about hanging shower curtains? We just remodelled a small bathroom and the new tub/shower has 8 ft tile to the ceiling. Where do we put the shower rod??
I always put the shower rod high enough for my outer curtain to be very close to the floor. I have an ugly tub. If it were a pretty tub, I might put it higher. The shower curtain liner just lands in the tub against the tub wall. Cutting it shorter might be an option though if the liner curtain is very long.
I made my own long “custom” shower curtains out of soft, clear vinyl, and hung the rod at the very top of the wall. Everyone thinks the bathroom looks so great, but most folks can’t figure out exactly why. I used a hole punch for the rings.
Bonnie: What a GREAT Idea!!! I’m going to snag this idea. :-)
I may do that in the future too. Thanks for the great idea. Do you put an outer privacy curtain on too or just the vinyl?
Great idea Bonnie!
Hang the rod so that the shower curtain hangs at the perfect length – just one or two inches from the bottom of the tub :-)