Next up: how can I, at 5' tall, put up wallpaper without suffering a nervous breakdown?

March 28, 2012 2:50 PM

Bought a house, hence the DecorateMyBedroomFilter! DYI: how do I put up a curtain rod for a window whose corner meets a slanted ceiling? Décor: what kind of wallpaper should I put up on a single accent wall of my otherwise very white and neutrally furnished bedroom?

What is the best way to put up curtains on the big window in this picture? There is no room for a rod bracket on the left side (plenty of room to the right, including enough room to pull the curtains out of the way). There will be cream roller shades mounted on the inside of the frame – I just want to add an extra layer of white/ombre/gray? curtains to soften up the room and add texture, but I don’t see a way to put up a bracket on the left other than drilling a hole in the ceiling and letting a curtain rod rest in it on the left side. Is that a terrible idea?

Regarding wallpaper: the walls are textured and painted a very bright white (hard to make out in the photo) which I like. I do, however, want to put wallpaper on a single wall, the one behind the headboard. The staging furniture and art will be gone, the reading lights will stay; this is my bedroom furniture. I don’t like bright colors in bedrooms and will most likely repaint the balcony that can be seen on the outside in a blue shade (indigo? go bold with cobalt?).

So far, my favorite wallpaper is Spiro by Kreme, but (a) it is very expensive and (b) it might not look that great with the very white walls, which I do not want to repaint. Since the floors are so dark, I should probably stay away from dark wallpapers, right? On the other hand, the space is not small at 15x15’ with vaulted ceilings and there is additional daylight on the other side of the room, so I probably shouldn’t worry about making it look cramped or busy? But would anything but a subtle-ish design that incorporates bright white (Curves Ahead by York) look good there? Any suggestions at what I should be looking for?

Thanks!

posted by halogen to home & garden (9 answers total)

put in a hanger hook from the cieling (like you use for hanging lamps or plants) and hang the rod from that. It will need to be a few inches back from the end of the rod and you might need to cut a slit in the curtain for it all to hang correctly. Install a hook on the wall to hold the curtain back since you won't be able to slide the curtain all the way to the end of the rod.
posted by bartonlong at 3:25 PM on March 28, 2012

I forgot to say

use a chain from the hook to the rod.
posted by bartonlong at 3:25 PM on March 28, 2012

Hang your curtains from a tension wire instead of a curtain rod.
posted by pickypicky at 3:30 PM on March 28, 2012 [1 favorite]

What a beautiful room! I'm green with envy!

About the curtain rod issue: how about hanging curtains or window treatments below the long, horizontal window part above the sliders? That would eliminate crowding a curtain rod or valance or anything. It would also allow a good amount of light into the room all the time. Personally, I would love that--the more light the better--but some people want to be able to darken the room more effectively. I think it could look really cool to have a beautiful window treatment on the lower part, but a large expanse of uncovered glass over the top.

Can't give you any suggestions about hanging or choosing wallpaper. To me, the space is large and airy and spacious enough that you can go quite cozy with lots of textures and colors (darker or more saturated) and still have a spacious feeling to the room. In fact, I would probably go really heavy on the texture--deep pile area rugs, curtains out of some yummy textured stuff, great colored/textured bed linens, pillows, etc. Maybe even some kind of fabric for that end wall, either fabric mounted to the wall or a large rug or "tapestry" of some kind.
posted by primate moon at 3:36 PM on March 28, 2012

Echoing pickypicky, IKEA sells curtain wire kits.
posted by Iris Gambol at 4:37 PM on March 28, 2012

i don't think a tension wire will work so well across such a large span, unless you use very lightweight curtains (which won't give full privacy). I think the idea of hanging the curtains at the horizontal bar in the windows is a great idea, although I'm not so sure it would work if you are also putting blinds on the top section of the window. The idea of drilling a hole in the ceiling is a good one, provided you can get it drilled accurately so that the rod fits neatly (hard to do with such a shallow angle). You can just put the hanger part-way along the rod (have to slit the curtain) as long as you don;t need to pull the curtain all the way back on that side.

With a room that size, I think you can be quite bold without making it look small. Rather than wallpaper, what about using a colour on that wall and continuing the same colour onto the inside of the balcony? This will tie the two spaces together and, if you use minimal window dressing, will actually make the space look even bigger. A bold treatment will fit well with your bedroom furniture as well.

An awesome room, BTW!
posted by dg at 4:38 PM on March 28, 2012

In similar situations I've simply mounted the rod bracket an inch or so below the top of the window. It looks like you have that much room. It looks fine. It'll even be less noticeable with those high windows.
posted by RikiTikiTavi at 5:40 PM on March 28, 2012

Oh god, having made a big curtain mistake myself recently, I come here to warn you!

It sounds like you are thinking of having the curtains all pushed to the right when open. With a window that size, your rod will need a middle bracket. This makes it next to impossible to have one sided curtains, as the rings won't be able to slide across it (unless you get rings with a cut-out, which are super super expensive and hard to find). And you MIGHT be able to find a curtain rod sturdy enough that it won't droop without a middle bracket, but I was not able to.

So you will either need to plan to have the curtains hanging on both sides when open, in which case your left corner is a problem, or you need to look for a track system instead of rod/rings, OR a rod that has a track or wire cleverly hidden inside it. (Can't remember what that's called right now, but your curtain shop will know.)
posted by lollusc at 6:40 PM on March 28, 2012

Lollusc: traverse rods
posted by primate moon at 7:39 PM on March 28, 2012