Draperies and Top Treatments - Bedroom drapes

I was wondering if their are any rules/guide lines regarding the length of drapes on a wide, narrow window that starts about 4 feet from the floor. I have panels from a previous house that I would like to use, they are floor length. Am I committing a decorating sin by doing this? What other blinds etc. should I use? Thanks for any ideas!

a wide narrow window?? :p i'm assuming you mean wide but short, right? like in a 30 year old ranch style house? those windows can either have drapes that go just to the sill, or to the bottom of the apron, or all the way to the floor. your choice. by using floor length, you'll create a nicer, more elegant well-dressed treatment. i don't care for short draperies, personally. when you pull the floor length ones closed, you'll create the illusion that there's a nice big tall window behind them. short ones closed will accentuate that horizontal window, which i think would be bad.

if you need more light control, you can use any kind of blind or shade underneath the draperies. they just need to go to the sill. inside mount.

Yes, that is exactly right, only it's a 45 year old ranch style house! I will go with floor length for sure. How high should the curtain rod be over the window? Thank you.

These windows are very old and strange and have no frames, so inside mount isn't possible. Should I just forget a blind all together (I was thinking about bamboo or faux wood) or is outside mount ok?

so, there's no wood trim around the windows? just drywall? if that's the case, you can still do an inside mount for blinds. just use drywall anchors before you screw into them. i prefer blinds underneath drapes to be inside mounted - that way they're completely out of the way of the drapes and you won't need rod extenders for the drapery rod.

how high above the window? whatever it takes for the drapes to end up about an inch above the floor (not touching, but not too high). they're probably standard 84" drapes, right? get your rod & put the drapes on the rod (sheer them on or use clips or whatever you're doing) and hold them up (get a helper!) and mark where you need to mound the rod. it'll probably be about 3" or so above the opening.