How to fit a curtain rod with a very low ceiling

by Kelly
(Canada)

Hello

I have a South facing sliding patio door that has only 1 inch above it to the ceiling. I need to hang draperies to keep out the blazing hot summer sunlight. We use this door all the time to access the backyard. I would like your opinion on our plans to cover the area.

I was thinking about pleated drapes on a decorative traversing rod that I could pull across to the left side to allow us to use the door. I don't believe I would need a center support on the rod if I stick to lightweight fabrics since the span is only 62.5 inches.

I think tab tops or draperies on rings would hang too low into the door glass itself and I don't think would be durable enough to open and close alot. A regular curtain track would look ugly when the drapes are open since there isn't enough height there to mount a valance in front of the drapery to hide the track.

I know that there are panel tracks/ vertical blinds for patio doors but I am not a fan of those treatments. I was also thinking of putting roman blinds on the smaller windows (17.5 inches W X 53 inches long) that flank either side of the door (inside mount).

Would I mount the rod onto the door trim itself or onto the wall on either side of the door to allow some room for the drapes to stack back off the glass although it would block off the light switch beside the door?

What are new home builders thinking when they do things like this ???? So many times they don't think about practical things like hanging curtains ! I never thought about any of this until we started measuring things and noticed how weird it was.

Best regards,

Kelly Joyce


Hi Kelly

I think you are right to put roman shades on the smaller side windows this would look neat and tidy.

Right to the door probelem, my solution would be to use grommet top curtains (or eyelet as we call them in the UK). This would solve the problem of the curtains sitting to low. You could fit the rod to the door frame either. So the top of the curtains sit just under the low bay ceiling.

The other great thing about grommet curtains are they stack back off the window really neatly in to their pleats. so not covering to much of your window.


I hop you like my idea for your window.


Regards

Lee