Curtains are an essential home decor item which can totally change the look and feel of a room, they're often decor that can be easily forgotten or pushed off to the side for later because it's not the focal point of a room. But when done right, it can bring a cohesive feel to the whole entire room and bring it all together. However, hanging curtains can be tricky and many people could make mistakes in the curtains hanging process, including choosing the wrong length, color, mounting curtains too high (or too low) and more. In this guide, we present 6 curtain hanging mistakes people commonly make, by avoiding these 6 mistakes you can hang curtains that look great and expertly decorated in your home.

6 Don’t’s Of Hanging Curtains - Curtain Hanging Mistakes People Commonly Make

Learn these tips to hang curtains to transform your windows interior and achieve a polished look!

1. Hanging curtains right above the window

It's a common misconception that you should hang your curtain rod right at the top of your window frame. You should actually hang your curtain rod well above your window frame. By doing this, you will draw your eye up past the window and it gives the illusion that your ceiling is higher than it actually is. A general rule of thumb is that you should hang your curtain rod about two-thirds of the way between the top of your window frame and your ceiling, or about 6 to 8 inches above the window frame. When determining the length of curtain panels that you need, instead of measuring from the floor to the top of your window frame, you need to take into account the amount of space above your window frame that you will be hanging the curtain rod as well or you will have to hang it shorter.

2.Not leaving space on the sides of the windows

To hang your curtain rod well above your window frame, make sure that your curtain rod extends past your window frame as well. You want your curtains to be hanging in front of the wall not actually in front of your window. So to do this, leave about 5 to 10 inches on each side of the window frame to hang your curtain rod given that you have enough space on the wall. If you don't have enough space, you can always make it a little bit shorter, but adding more space to the sides of the window for your curtain to hang is also going to give the illusion of a bigger window. It makes it look wider when you do this, leave most of the curtain panel hanging in front of the wall and just a little bit of the panel, overlapping the window frame to give you the widest vantage point possible mistake.

3.Being cheap with hardware

Purchasing quality curtain hardware can be a hard pill to swallow when most of it is hidden by the curtains anyway. Luckily, You can save some money with these clever curtain rod hacks. These are some common pitfalls to avoid when considering curtain hardware:

• Flimsy rod: Do not get a rod that is not sturdy enough to support the weight of your curtains, resulting in a sag in the middle.
• Short rod: Do not use a rod that is not long enough, which results in curtains that cover most of your window. When the rod is the exact width of your window, your curtains will cover most of it, which blocks a lot of sunlight and creates a too-dark room. Instead, make sure to measure your window and buy a rod that can extend well beyond the window's width so you will be able to open your curtains nice and wide.
• Thin rod: Do not use a rod that is too skinny for grommeted panels. If you are hanging curtains with large grommets at the top or even tab-top panels where a lot of the rod will be showing, make sure to get a rod that is substantial-looking and attractive.

4.Selecting the wrong style and wrong color

• Curtains are finished at the top in a variety of ways that are directly related to how they function. For example, you would not want to pick panels with tight-fitting rod pockets if you want to open and close them often. Think about how you want your curtains to operate and choose accordingly.
• When done right, the curtains can bring your whole room together for a cohesive look, but if you choose the wrong color or pattern it can clash with your room or bring way too much of one color into the space.

5.Not considering the support needed for your curtains

Make sure that your curtain rod can support the weight of the curtains that you choose. So this means that you need to choose a curtain rod that is wide enough in diameter to support whatever curtains that you are going to hang on it. And if you choose heavier lined curtains or putting multiple panels on a curtain rod, you also might want to consider using molle bolts or drywall anchors to keep it supported in the wall. If you don't do this and you have heavier curtains and not enough support, there are a couple of things that can happen.

Your curtain rod can shift because your screws in the drywall or your wall can't support the actual weight causing your curtain rod to become unlevel or in even worse cases. If there's not enough support and too much pressure is applied to the curtains by maybe a kid or a pet pulling on them, they can come right out of the wall.

6.Hanging wrinkled curtains

This is a problem for a couple of different reasons. First of all, when you're hanging your curtain rod, if your curtains are wrinkled when you're hanging them you're not gonna quite get them at the right height as they settle and gravity is pulling on them, they will lengthen just a tad which might cause your measurements on the wall to be a little bit off and the curtains to not be hung where you want them to.

The other reason this is a mistake is that wrinkled curtains just don't look as good as not wrinkled curtains, it makes a huge difference if your curtains are nice and wrinkle-free whenever you put them up. There are a couple of ways that you can fix this. The first is that you can steam your curtains if you have a handheld steamer. Just work the steamer along with the curtains in order to get out all the wrinkles, and if you don't have a steamer you can just use an iron and an ironing board to iron out all the wrinkles before you hang them on the wall. It'll make a huge difference in the look and feel of your room.