Guide to measuring your window curtains

Choose a style

Choosing a style can be difficult given the variety of choices in the market these days, you can pick the style according to the theme and factors influencing the design of your space or simply pick a one that you find easy to maintain. A few options of styles you can choose from are ripple fold, grommet, tailored pleat, French pleat, inverted box pleat, rod pocket, rod pocket-fold over etc.

Install a rod

Before installing the rod determine its placement, there are 3 options you can install it on the frame, above the frame or below the frame depending on the length of the curtain if you curtain is long, install the rod above the frame anywhere between 6 inches to 12 inches range. You can make a faint mark on the wall and determine where the rod will fall.

width of the window

when placing the rod above the frame measure the width and the window and add 3-4 inches to both the sides this will help you determine the average length of the rod holding the curtain if the width of the window is 30 inches add another 6 inches. if the rod is been place below the frame find the exact measurement of the frame and fix the rod.

Length of the window

Once you have your rod placement in place you can determine the overall length, let say the length of your window is 60 inches and you are placing the rod 6 inches above the frame the total length will be 66 inches considering the rod placement. You can make adjustments to the length according to the curtain fabric and the style you choose Rod pocket or Soft top style later.

Length of the curtain

the length can be tweaked according to the fall of the curtain, if you are going for a sill length it will be 0.5 inches above the window sill similarly for below sill it will be 6 inches below the window sill whereas for floor length curtains measure it just 0.5 inches above the floor in a way that the curtain doesn’t drag on the floor.

width of curtain

there are rules for determining the width of the curtain depend upon the type of material you choose for your curtain. Measure the width and remember to exclude the finials or cap. The width can be calculated as follows for pencil pleated windows and eyelet windows multiply the width by two and for tap top windows multiply the width by 1.5.

Add fullness to your curtains

While determining the width of the curtain you can enhance the fullness of the curtains by multiplying the actual width by two. A layered curtain will give fullness for which you will need to install a double rod creating a space to layer two curtains that will overlap. Layering does look aesthetically pleasing and adds to the overall look and feel of the window.