Easy drapery tricks

I've learned a few drapery tricks in the "biz" that I thought I would share with you. The "biz" is veeeeery slow right now, by the way. I mean WAY. SLOW. Darn it -- more time to blog!! Drats.

So here we go! If you love the look of the look of pleated drapes -- something like this:

You can "train" your drapes to do the same thing! Now this depends on the fabric, and it helps if they are lined and a little heavier, but it works on most. Just take a piece of fabric, a ribbon, etc. and loosely tie it around around the drapes, after you have the pleats the way you want them:

Make sure it's loose enough it doesn't leave a dent. It's best to leave them as long as possible -- a couple weeks even. When you take it off, the pleats should hold. (This is ruling out dogs/cats/two-year-olds messing with them of course.)

It even looks pretty cute, eh? (Hmmmm. Mental note...) I just redid these drapes for the toy room so I'll show you the final project next week.

Next is an oldie but goodie. Hang 'em high!! You may remember when I retreated the bathroom drapes here:

I've had these hanging at this height for five years. For some reason, they seem way too low to me lately. I wanted more light to shine in the bathroom, so I just raised them six inches:

ALWAYS hang your drapes higher than the window. Even in our rooms with soaring ceilings, I hang them at least four inches from the top of the window. This is especially helpful in rooms with eight foot ceilings -- it draws the eyes up and gives the illusion of taller windows and walls.

My final and favorite (oooh I love it!!) trick for you is one that will make your drapes look like custom, pleated drapes, even if they are not.

Instead of hanging your drapes from the clips and letting them hang down -- grab the fabric and pinch about two to four inches down from the top, and clip the fabric from the back:

Your drapes have to be long enough, obviously, for you to raise them up a few inches. In our bedroom, the drapes are super long, and I wanted a really luxurious look, so I clipped them about four inches from the top:

Same for the living room. I love that you can't even see the rings. (That I spent a lot of money on. Huh...)

In our family room, I didn't make the drapes quite as long because of the pee cat. She used to like to pee on drapes. ARGH! She's cured now though, so I will be adding some length to these soon. For now, I only clipped them about an inch or so from the top:

The dining room drapes I just made too short. (Dang. Fist shaking in the air!) So I did the same here:

Here's another view from the back to show you how to do it:

After you get them clipped, poof them from the front to get them the way you want them. This trick also works best with thicker fabric, or drapes with lining. If you have silky drapes or lightweight drapes, it may not work. If you have the length, try this one out for sure. You will LOVE it!



Have a great weekend!