What Are Tab Top Curtains?
Window treatments can be a focal point of any room. The fabric, texture, color and style of the curtains you choose help set the tone and mood of the room. Use neutral curtains as a muted backdrop for busy, eclectic furnishings or let your window treatment make a bold statement that ties together a mundane collection of furniture. Tab top curtains are easy to install on a simple curtain rod. They are available in a range of colors and fabrics for any room of the house. Does this Spark an idea?
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Tabs
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The tabs on tab top curtains are fabric tubes or strips, folded and attached at the top of the curtains to make loops. Simply run a curtain rod through the loops to hang these curtains effortlessly. No clips, rings or hooks are necessary. Tabs may be straightforward, unadorned and made from the same fabric as the curtains, or tabs can be imaginative and decorative, with buttons, fancy stitching or other embellishments.
Decorative Uses
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Tab top curtains offer a casual flair in your decorating scheme. Tab tops make ideal café curtains -- the shorter length means that the curtains weigh less, so they move across the rod more easily than floor length curtains. Tie-top curtains are similar to tab tops, except you tie two strips together to create the decorative loop for hanging the curtain. Another style of tab tops has the hanging tabs hidden on the back of the curtain panel.
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Fabrics
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The casual style of tab top curtains calls for casual fabrics. You'll find a wide selection of easy-care, washable tab top curtains in colors and designs for any window. Heavier fabrics will hang straight with a slightly refined look, or create a relaxed look with a lightweight fabric and longer length, allowing the curtains to puddle on the floor. Tab tops are made in lined and unlined versions, as well as with insulating and blackout linings. Some interior designers recommend that you limit opening and closing your tab tops, because the sliding can wear out the fabric tabs and the curtains look messy if you don't take time to realign the hanging fabric.
Light
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There is space between the tabs, so some light can peek through the top, even if the curtains are made of heavy fabric and are closed across the window. Use a room-darkening roller blind or other type of light-blocking window shade under tab tops if you want to block light completely. A valance may also help reduce light infiltration.
Rods
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A decorative curtain rod dresses up plain tab top curtains. If you need to open and close your curtains frequently, select a rod with a slick finish that allows the fabric to slide smoothly across the rod. Tab top curtains have a simplicity of design that makes them ideal for use with rods with highly decorative finials. To open or close tab top curtains, pull them manually; no cords and pulleys necessary.
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