How High Should You Hang Curtains? Here Are Our Expert's Tips For The Best Results

When decorating your home, there is a surprisingly long list of decor tips and tricks that you'll find yourself searching for. Even the act of selecting and hanging curtains can make a huge difference in the final look of your space. Whether you're stuck on figuring out how to decorate with curtains or how to choose the perfect curtain rod, it's imperative to research expert advice before investing too much in curtains that might end up being the wrong length or color for your home. Luckily, we've got excellent advice on the classic dilemma of how high to hang your curtains. The short answer: aim to put your curtain rod 4 to 6 inches from the ceiling (with some exceptions).

In search for the perfect rules of thumb for curtain-hanging, House Digest spoke with Erika Dale, interior designer and the founder of Erika Dale Interior Design. In an exclusive interview, Dale revealed all of her typical tips and tricks for finding the right height for a curtain rod. She also noted the importance of thinking about height, and why the height of curtains can impact a room's shape and appearance in big ways. Read on to hear all of her expert advice. 

To put it simply: height matters. Going too high or too low with your curtain rod placement can make the rest of the room look off, the same way that having furniture that's too big or small can skew the spatial look and feel of a space. In an exclusive interview with House Digest, Dale said to prioritize going upward. "By hanging the rod as high as possible, the floor-to-ceiling drapery effect draws the eye up and makes the space look taller," she said. 

Doing the opposite of this — choosing to hang your rod on your window trim, far beneath the ceiling, for example — means your space will appear smaller. And that's a common mistake: "People often hang their drapes right above the window trim, which makes the room look shorter," Dale said. "So unless it is the only option based on architectural features, it is always more lengthening to stretch them as close to full-height as you can." 

So, how high is good enough? It depends on the place you're hanging your curtains. Some windows come up nearly to the ceiling of a room, while others end multiple feet before the line of the ceiling. In an exclusive interview with House Digest, Dale shared a simple rule of thumb. "While all rooms will have slightly different requirements based on characteristics, the general rule is to hang the drapery rod high (and wide) to make the ceiling height and window look as expansive as possible," she said. "My favorite drapery rod height is about 4 to 6 inches from the ceiling as a default, but adjustments are absolutely made on a case-by-case basis."

Among the exceptions to the rule are palatial sized rooms that have super high ceilings. Of course, if your room's walls are 20 feet tall, you don't need to go out and buy 20-foot curtains that will take up the entire wall just to go with the typical rule of thumb. Dale added some advice for these extreme cases. "For rooms with super tall ceilings or ornate crown moldings, sometimes it calls for a slightly lower drape around two-thirds of the way up between the top of the window molding and the ceiling for a little more breathing room," she told House Digest. "I would never go lower than halfway between the window and the ceiling if possible, as it truncates the room."