What to Look for in a Shower Curtain
Like a well-chosen area rug in the living room, the right shower curtain can tie a bathroom's design together. Come up with a set of criteria, such as length, color and material before you start shopping to minimize your chances of buying an attractive but inappropriate shower curtain for your bathroom. Does this Spark an idea?
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Choosing Shower Curtain Color and Pattern
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Work with the elements in your bathroom to decide what color curtain to buy. For example, if your floor is composed of 1-inch teal and white tiles, you have two elements to drive your search: an already busy focal-point-type feature and a color scheme. Look for a solid-colored shower curtain in white or a slightly darker or paler version of your tile's teal. You can also try to match the color exactly. If you already have fabric in the bathroom, such as towels, rugs or curtains, match a color from those fabrics. If the other fabrics and surfaces in the room are plain or solid-colored, add visual interest with your shower curtain. Choose a curtain with a large, graphic pattern.
Shower Curtain Design Tricks
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You can also use your shower curtain to improve one of your bathroom's design weaknesses. For example, a small bathroom becomes even smaller when you add a shower curtain; to counteract this, use a solid color that matches your walls, which will cause the curtain to recede visually. You could also use a single clear shower curtain liner to open up the space. Draw the eye upward with a vertically patterned shower curtain to add height to a bathroom with a low ceiling. If you want to make a cold, cavernous bathroom cozier, select a busily patterned shower curtain in bold, warm colors.
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Shower Curtain Length and Width
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While standard-length shower curtains work well for bathrooms with standard ceilings, the curtains look out of proportion in high-ceiling bathrooms. Purchase a longer shower curtain to match the extra height in the space. Shop online to find curtains longer than the standard 72-inch length, such as 84-inch and 96-inch lengths. If you find the perfect shower curtain, but it's too short, add a strip of fabric at the bottom to extend it. An extra-large shower or a freestanding tub and shower require additional curtain width; buy two of the same shower curtain to solve this problem.
Shower Curtain Materials
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Shower curtains encounter a lot of steamy air and direct moisture, so select curtains made of water-repellent, machine-washable fabrics, such as nylon blends; mildew-resistant hemp is another option. If you use a vinyl liner, you can buy curtains that aren't water repellent, although you should still select machine washable shower curtains. If you don't find anything you like in the shower curtain section, wander over to the window treatments section or even bedding. As long as you have a liner, you can use full-length curtains, a thin blanket or a bed sheet; hang the latter two with clip-on curtain rings.
Shower curtains, like other products made with PVC, can release chemicals into the air in a process called off-gassing, according to Annie Bond's book "Home Enlightenment." Bond recommends airing out new plastic curtains and liners in direct sunlight before bringing them into your bathroom.
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