How To Measure For Ready Made Curtains

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Many homeowners enjoy the luxurious appearance that curtains can lend to their home. Fabric draperies soften a room's appearance and enhance an otherwise plain and unsightly window. Many retailers sell ready made curtains as part of their in-store inventory. Customers can choose their preferred style and then take the curtains home to hang them.

However, before a person can hang these decorative elements, he or she must know how to measure the home's window for ready made curtains. Some people wrongly believe that they can simply measure the width and length of a window and then purchase curtains that match these measurements. In fact, measuring for draperies tends to be a bit more involved than that. Depending on what style of curtain a person chooses to hang, measuring the window may entail adding or subtracting several inches to the window's measurements.

When measuring a window, people would do well to use a steel measuring tape. Using cloth or plastic tape measures may prevent the person from getting accurate figures for the length and width. Cloth and plastic stretch and warp, which may alter the accuracy of the measurements by small, but crucial amounts. A steel tape measure can better hold its position. It does not stretch or warp and therefore can guarantee the precise measurements for the window.

Using the steel tape, people can measure for the width by holding the tip on the tape's beginning in place at one side of the window's frame and then sliding the tape to the other side of the frame. Some people prefer to work in pairs so that one person can hold tightly to the end of the tape. Measuring from the outside frame on one side to the outside frame on the other side gives the person the basic width. However, depending on what kind of ready made curtains a homeowner plans to hang, he or she may need to add several inches to accommodate the draperies' fit. For example, if people want to hang pleated curtains, they are advised to add twelve inches to the width to allow both the curtain rod and the curtains enough width and depth to hang from the window's frame.

To obtain the length of a window, a person can measure much the same as he or she did for the width. Holding the tape's end to the top of the window frame, the measurer can then slide the tape to either the window's bottom frame or to the floor, depending on how long he or she would like the curtains to hang. If homeowners want the curtains to hang to the bottom frame, they can add six inches to the length to allow for the curtain to clear the top of the curtain rod and to fall two to three inches below the window's frame. If they want the curtains to hang to the floor, they can add six inches to clear the curtain rod, yet hang two to three inches off the floor.


About the Author:
Pleae visit Custom Curtains for more information on Ready Made Curtains



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