Today I am going to teach you how to hang curtains. It’s one of those easy DIY’s that you can do in your home to not only improve the look and feel of a space but also add some much needed privacy (or light-blocking).
My husband and I are professionals at this point with hanging curtains. This is the last set of windows in our home that needed curtains. We hung corner curtains in 5 rooms of our home, a huge bank of curtains in our family room, and now this space in our basement den.
So let’s get into the steps on how to hang curtains!

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How to Hang Curtains
Before you can hang any curtains you need to decide how long a rod you need and how many curtain panels you need.
My sliding door ended up being 120 inches and on Amazon, the curtain rod I was looking at had a width up to 120 inches. Well, that’s a little too close for me. I also didn’t want them extended so much that they bowed in between brackets.
So I went one size up with the rod that extended to 144 inches. This gave me the length I wanted without worrying about bowing.
As far as curtain panels the rule of thumb is 2 or 3 times the width of the window/door. For my downstairs sliding door the curtains were going to be open 99% of the time so I did 2X instead of three.
I got my curtain panels from IKEA, they are the same ones I have in my bedroom too.
Step 1 – Gather Your Materials
Here is what came in my package for the curtains. I love how inexpensive my curtains were to buy but the screws were absolutely awful.
We swapped them out for good-quality screws, not the cheap things they provided. If you don’t have any on hand, take a screw with you to the hardware store and compare it with what they have on hand in both length and width.
Trust me, it will make hanging the curtain rod soooooo much easier.

I bought my curtains from IKEA and picked up these rings and hooks while I was there. The hooks with the clips I attached to the rings. The rings go on the curtain rod and the clips attach to the curtains.

Step 2 – Determine how high the rod should be hung.
Put the curtains on the rod and with a friend (or in this case your spouse) hold them up on the wall to determine how high the curtain rod should be hung.
How do you determine this? It’s all about how low you want your curtains to be. Some like to have them puddle on the floor, others like to have them just barely touch.
In this case, we will be having dogs go in and out the door so we opted for just above the floor so they stay clean.

Once you have them at the right height, mark the holes for where the bracket will go on the wall with a pencil. Every bracket is different so the steps here may vary.
Step 3 – Hang the First Bracket on the wall
The first thing you want to do is find out if where you marked has a stud behind the drywall. Do this with a stud finder. If you do have a stud then you don’t need the anchors, you can install the screw directly into the wall and into the stud.
If you don’t have a stud you need to install the anchor and then screw into the anchor. To install the anchor drill a hole into the drywall with a drill then gently tap the anchor into the wall with a hammer.
You want the hole to be the right size. Too large and the anchor will fall right out. Too small and the anchor will bend when you try to hammer it in. Trust me, I have done that.
For my bracket, I was screwing into this faux reclaimed wood wall I installed a few years ago so I didn’t need any anchors.
My husband drilled a small hole into the wood so when he screwed into it the screw would have a guide of where to go and not go in at an angle.

Next, he took a screwdriver and screwed the screw into the wood wall. He likes to use a screwdriver for this part and not the drill because the drill can strip the screw easily, especially the cheap screws the manufacturers like to give us.

You need to follow the manufacturer’s directions for how to install your bracket because they are all made differently. The placement of screws is different and some need to be inside the bracket when screwed in and some don’t. Here is my first bracket installed.

Step 4 – Hang the remaining brackets
The first bracket is the hardest so yay! You did it!
Now you need to hold up the rod and hang the next bracket. Mine came with three so I planned to do one on each end of the doorway and one dead center.
Looking at the photo below can you see what is wrong? Look at the center of the rod, it’s bending. I would never get an accurate level installing it this way.

So we decided to install the center bracket next and the end bracket last. If you have a small window you are covering you probably wouldn’t have to do this but because this was so far, it was how we had to do it.
Now hold up your second bracket, check for level, and mark where your screws will go. Repeat what you did on the first bracket and install the second.

Once you are done with the second hang your final bracket, if you have one.
Then you can hang your rod up!

Step 5 – Hang your Curtains
Put your curtains on the rod and spread out. I like to keep one ring on the outside of the outer brackets so that when you go to close them all the panels don’t slide over and you have uncovered the outer edges.
Once you have it all set attach the end pieces and the small screws on each bracket that hold the rod in place.
And voila you are done!

Other How-To Posts You Might Like:
- Simple DIY Projects You Can Do in a Day or Weekend
- How to Prep Walls for Painting
- How to Refinish Wood Furniture
- DIY Fire Pit Ideas
- Inexpensive DIY Raised Garden Bed


As a licensed Real Estate Agent and an avid home decorator, I strive to give my clients the very best I can when it comes to staging, selling, and decorating their homes. I have lots of experience with paint color choices and love to DIY my home so I can have everything just the way I want it. I share my ideas and projects with the world in the hopes that I can help others have their homes just the way they want as well.
Alison
Tuesday 11th of February 2025
This is a great refresher, as Iām doing some updates to our home. Is there any rule of thumb as to how close to the ceiling the curtains are hung in different areas or in general? When selling/staging homes, what methods do you notice or recommend? I understand the decision point about how low we want them to hit floor (puddle vs not touching floor for pets/cleaning). I hope that makes sense. Thank you.
Wendy Duffy
Tuesday 11th of February 2025
Hi Alison. Most of the time it's best to hang the curtains as high as possible but a lot of times it's not possible. It really depends on the length of the curtains. Do you have the ability to hang them? If I can go as high as I want I usually give a few inches from the ceiling to the curtain rod.