Decorating Ideas: Dining Room Curtains

These curtains with their heavy fabric add a more formal look to this room.

Whether you're remodeling your entire dining room or your windows are just looking a little drab or bare, the curtains you choose for your dining room can make or break the room's look. Choose curtains that fit the feel you're trying to achieve. Heavy drapes tend to look out of place in an informal dining room, and sheer, short curtains rarely work in a formal room.

Keep It Simple

For a more informal look, keep it simple. Use roman shades in a single color or simple pattern, such as vertical stripes, in a small, informal dining room or dining nook. Try woven blinds in a light color to brighten up a small space, or stick with simple sheer curtain panels with a touch of trim for a clean look. If you don't feel the need to open and close your window treatments, hang a basic curtain panel from a one-by-one piece of wood nailed inside the top of the window to keep the fabric in place.

Touch the Floor

If you want a more formal look in your dining room, make your curtains touch the floor. You can hang the curtains starting right above the window, or to make your room look taller, place your curtain rods as close to the ceiling as possible so that your curtain panels touch the ceiling and the floor. For a romantic, formal look, let the end of each panel puddle elegantly on the floor.

Add a Swag

To keep from blocking the natural light from your windows, omit the longer, traditional window treatments and just add a swag. You can create a swag from any piece of material. Loop the material around your curtain rod multiple times to create a number of mini swags or simply place an end of the material over each end of the rod and let the middle of the material hang down to make a single swag. If the swag alone seems too sparse, add a sheer curtain panel or two to finish the look.

Layer It

For a more elaborate look to your dining room windows, layer your window treatment. Place a swag of material over a sheer curtain panel, or use curtain panels or drapes over a pair of roman or woven shades. If letting light in isn't an issue, hang multiple panels on top of one another, with the shortest on the outside, to create a window treatment with triple color. Double up rods to do the same thing vertically.

References

• Country Living: Window Treatment Ideas
• Bob Vila: Window Treatments for the Dining Room
• HGTV: $100 Half-Day Designs--Colonial Dining Room Makeover
• Better Homes and Gardens: Simply Super Window Treatments
• HGTV: Festive, Elegant Formal Dining Room