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Curtains serve plenty of practical purposes: they block light, provide privacy and deflect drafts. But the right treatments also can enhance a window and room proportions and tie a look together. To find the best drapes for you, pick the style you like, adapt it for your needs and measure carefully before hanging anything. Follow these tips to make the whole process a breeze.

Find Your Style
Pick curtains that reflect your personality and that are appropriate for the room they’ll be hanging in.

Try Country
Do you like cheery prints, like florals and checks, and pretty, feminine flourishes, such as ruffles, ribbons and lace? Country-style curtains will be your best choice. These can be any length, but the effect is always breezy and informal, with a simple, gathered heading that takes around 1½ times the window width in material. Look for sheers or curtains in lightweight fabrics, like cotton, and leave them unlined for a casual look.

Be Contemporary
Sometimes a single, unfussy panel is all a window needs. If you prefer clean lines and simple shapes, shop for contemporary curtains. These treatments can be a neutral shade or a vibrant color, but they’re generally made of appealing textures instead of patterns. They have minimal gathering and heading details — like grommets — and look best hanging almost flat, or, at most, 1½ times the window width.

Go for Formal
Luxurious fabrics (like velvet, silk and linen), fancy adornments (like valances and trim) and generous folds characterize formal window treatments—ask for those when you’re shopping around. Formal curtains have a fancier heading style, which usually requires two or more times the width of the window in fabric. Formal panels extend to the floor and are sometimes lined with cotton, which makes them very full.

Know the Lingo 
Understand curtain and hardware terminology, and zero in on the right look.

• Café curtains: short curtains that hang in the lower half of a window, usually from a tension rod, and are often matched with short curtains or a valance at the top of the window
• Casing: a hem that a rod goes through at the top of a curtain; also called a rod pocket
• Finial: an ornamental fixture on each end of a decorative curtain rod
• Holdback: hardware mounted to the side of a window and used to hold back a curtain panel
• Jabots: separate vertical pieces of fabric that hang on either side of a swag; also called tails
• Rod: a pole — typically made of metal or wood — that curtains hang on; often held in place with brackets mounted on the wall or window frame
• Swag: a swath of fabric draped in a curve at the top of a window
• Tension rod: a rod that fits inside a window frame and is used to hang inside-mount curtains; most are adjustable
• Tieback: a cord, ribbon or band of fabric used to pull back a curtain panel from the window
• Valance: a fabric skirt that hangs from the top of a window and is sometimes used to conceal curtain hardware

Maximize the Impact
Get the most bang for your buck from your curtains. Make sure they’re functional and that they complement the look and scale of the room.

• Show off an attractive window frame or molding. Mount your treatments from a tension rod inside the window frame.
• Hide less-than-perfect windows. Install a decorative rod or other window hardware outside, or on, the frame; then hang your curtains so that they cover the frame.
• Keep a room well-lit. Hang treatments that are unlined or made from sheer fabric that filter light. 
• Make small windows look grander. Hang your curtains several inches higher or wider than the window frame. Or, for a cozier look, position the treatments so they’re a little lower or not set as wide.
• Choose patterns and embellishments carefully. Large rooms need curtains in bold patterns, such as wide stripes; tiny prints complement a smaller space. Elaborate valances and other frills look stunning against tall windows or high ceilings, but they’ll seem out of place in cramped quarters. Stick to simple treatments in small rooms.

Measure for the Perfect Fit
Once you’ve decided how you’ll hang your curtains, take precise measurements. Do this twice to ensure that you’ve measured accurately.

• Determine the width. For full curtains, use twice the width of the window in fabric; for more casual curtains, use one and a half times the width. If you can’t find the right width, sew two panels together.
• Check that you’ll have room for the hardware. Rods normally extend four inches beyond each side of the window. And install the hardware about five inches above the window frame.
• Figure out the height you want. Curtains should hang (A) four inches below the windowsill, (B) a half inch from the floor (or just skimming the floor) or (C) in a “puddle” on the floor (in this case, add 6 to 10 inches to the distance from the rod to the floor). Shorter treatments, like café curtains, may graze the top of the windowsill or fall a few inches below it.

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