wooden blinds with curtains question

[honeepie]

I am planning on hanging curtains in my family room, but I don't know where to hang the curtain rod. I already have wooden blinds in each window, and at the top of each is a wooden valance. Do I hang the rod directly above the valance, or do I go higher? Will it look weird having wooden blinds with curtains?

Thanks so much for your help!
Denise

[Annette]

will it look wierd having wooden blinds with curtains?? :eek: i hope not! that's what i have!! ;) you can have curtains over just about anything - sheers, mini blinds, wooden blinds, pleated shades, roller shades, etc etc etc!

i hope your blinds are mounted inside the window frame, and not outside. that'll help your drapes hang nicer and closer to the wall. if they're an outside mount, you'll need brackets that project out more so your curtain will clear the blind.

do you have the curtains yet? if not, i'd wait to mount the rod until you have the curtains in hand. then, here's a fool proof way to make sure you hang them right: get a helper or two and have them hold the rod up with the [ironed - not wrinkled] curtains hanging from them & only allow an inch between the floor & the bottom the curtain. make sure that when someone is standing at the far opposite end of the room, they can't see the wooden valance peeking over the top of the curtain. that will determine the minimum height of your rod. (you can go as high as you want - even all the way to the ceiling - as long as the drapery is just 1" above the floor & no more.) then, to determine the horizontal placement of the rod brackets, decide how much of the window opening (or blind) you want exposed when the drapery is pulled back to the sides. i usually like as much as possible to show, so i use a really wide rod & mount it a foot or more to the sides of the window, so that most of my stackback is covering the wall and not my window. this also makes your window look twice as big as it is! but, if you don't have the wall space for that, the norm is to mount the brackets about 3" out on either side of the window, just enough to cover the trimwork around the window, or the edge of the window.

i've never had luck with trying to measure everything. physically holding them up is the best way i know of. maybe someone else knows a better way.

good luck!