Hang Curtains High and Wide or They'll Shrink Your Windows

The Problem

The default curtain install — rod resting on the window trim, panels stopping short of the floor — makes the room worse. Eyes follow lines: a rod at frame height draws a ceiling line down to the top of the window, and floating hems chop the wall's height. The window reads smaller and the ceiling lower, and most people sense something's off without knowing the curtains did it.

The Technique

An interior decorator's proportions, all of them measurable:

1. Mount high. Put the rod as near the ceiling as practical — at least 12 inches above the window frame. The curtain's vertical line now runs ceiling to floor, and the window borrows that height.
2. Mount wide. Extend the rod 8 to 12 inches past the frame on each side, so the open panels stack against wall, not glass. The full window shows, and the fabric mass reads as extra window width.
3. Go long. Panels should reach the floor — either "kissing" it or softly puddling. Never floating a few inches above it.
4. Buy fullness. Total panel width should be at least 2.5 times the window's width, so closed curtains hang in full folds instead of stretching flat like a bedsheet. The same logic applies to Roman shades on small windows: size them bigger, mounted higher and wider than the glass.

Her hardware rules ride along: a rod at least an inch thick (skinny rods bow and look flimsy at these spans), a French-return rod if you want blackout (it curves into the wall, so no light leaks past the ends), and natural-fiber fabrics over shiny synthetics.