apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

All you need to get are traverse rods. This link is from JC Penney, but you can find them at quite a few places.

What do you mean "they are too thick"? Those hooks (removable, btw) are designed to go through the openings of plastic extenders on (as mentioned) traverse rods, or through the bottom opening of a curtain ring, the kind that shows when your drapes are hanging.

You can get more of these hooks at Gracious Home.

They have a wide assortment of curtain hardware in the basement at Zarin's down on the LES, I would try them; they also have lots of curtain hardware at Bed Bath & Beyond, but not too many old-school things like traverse rods.

Meghan,
This is just a small advise about handing drapes in general.
One of the 5 biggest decorating mistake people makes (according to todayshow.com) is hanging their drapes/curtains too low (the top of curtain does not fully cover the top of the window opening) or too high (as your above photo where the ends of the drapes is too far off above the floor).

For an extra glam look, leave a couple of inches of your drapes dragging on the floor...this is if your drapes are long enough to do so.

Traverse rods are not as old-school as you might think: many people still use them for high-end drapes. Kirsch Drapery hardware has some that are reasonably priced. If traverse rods aren't appealing, those metal hooks can fit into special rings that fit on normal curtain rods. The rings have an extra little hoop at the bottom that the hook fits into. For that, you want the top of the hook about 1 1/4" down from the top of the drape. Most drapery hardware places sell them--try Ralph Lauren or Vesta if you want some really modern styles.

I'm not sure how this would look, but maybe you can make some matching fabric loops and hang them from a traditional rod and simply latch the existing metal hooks onto the fabric loops. If you're really lazy, and you don't mind cutesiness, perhaps you could subsitute the loops with ribbon.

I have found it incredibly difficult to find curtain rings with rings in them. They seem to have completely dissappeared from my geographical area.

I hope you have better luck.

Are you clear about what you need?
You can use your curtain pole--if it will take the weight with the supports you have. (Make sure those supports are anchored to your wall).

Measure the diameter of your rod. Let's pretend it is 1"
You want to make sure your rings are a little larger, say 1 1/4 or 1 1/2 inches round (on the inside, of course).

This is what you are looking for: http://www.potterybarn.com/products/p9094/index.cfm?pkey=cprwwhwhbr

Then your hooks just go into the little rings at the bottom.

Is that as high as you can put you hooks into the fabric?

They look a little low. A traverse rod will be a better bet if you can't raise those hooks as you won't see it at all!

Great find, Meghan!
First, I'd get yourself some of these:

kirsch single traverse rod
pin hook kit

http://www.jcpenney.com/products/C028615.jsp

In addition, I'd head down to Harry Zarin or Joe's Fabric on the LES or one of the fabric stores on 40th Street - and get some coordinating (deep pumpkin color?) fabric to make a panel at the bottom to add additional length.

In case you don't sew, you can have the dry cleaners do it for you, or contact a seamstress such as Betsy Davis Backdrops - she has a workroom on 26th Street and has done some fine and reasonably priced work for me in the past.

As noted above, it looks more finished to have the curtain rod mounted closer to the ceiling (with allowance for the upper pleats taken into consideration) and have them fall all the way to the floor.

Your apartment looks great - I think the drapes are a very warm and glamorous addition!

YAY! AT to the rescue!

Thanks so much, y’all, for your great suggestions. Hmm… hooks or traverse rods? Not sure which I’ll go with yet, but I'm psyched to now know what I'm looking for so thank you!

Btw, I totally agree about not hanging the drapes too high (or too low). That rod height worked well for the other curtains I had up and I just threw the new (old school) drapes up over the top of the rod to give you guys the visual. I will def get the height right when I hang them ‘for real’! Thanks again! Love AT!

Meghan

You room looks amazing, I wish the picture was larger! I know those drapes will look gorgeous once you get the right hardware. And I vote for having them hang low, gracefully sweeping the floor if at all possible.

You need these rings- the ones at the top of the page. I ordered some a month ago because I couldn't find them in stores....

http://www.theshadestore.com/product/rings

Minerva, Alana, KenKay, et al - Did any of you use the rings with pleated drapes? Because that's what I'm dealing with. I'm wondering if the rings will give the pinch pleats enough support?

Click here for photo
http://www.flickr.com/photos/67555675@N00/2035125683/

I second KenKay. I helped a friend with drapes like these (properly made pinch-pleated drapes may be "old school," but they certainly have gorgeous body and hang beautifully) and we used that type of ring on a simple wrought iron rod. The result was wonderful and the effect much more modern and casual than it would have been had we used a traverse rod.

megm. Of course! I have triple pleated lined drapes in my living room right now on a rod with rings and everything is just fine. But as I mentioned, it's the rod--and the support you give the rod that's important. Make sure you put wall anchors into the wall and screw the supports in well.

I still don't understand your confusion and don't understand why pinch-pleat drapes are being referred to as old school.

All you need are some rings to slip over the rod, and then you slip the hooks at the top of the drapes into them. I would warn you against removing the hooks from the drapes! They're probably 3-pronged and might hold the pleats in place. I've removed such hooks and wound up with oceans of fabric that I had to re-pleat. You don't want to go there.

PS

Oh pleeeze make the draperies hang to the floor. I would love to have someone explain to me why so many people hang them in arbitrary lengths that end somewhere below the sill and above the floor. Perhaps I just need educating. But it drives me around the twist.

My pinch pleat drapes are 10.5 feet long and they hold up fine on the rings. But like Alana mentioned, most of the support will come from the rod. So try to put the post on the studs, and position the rings so you'll have full coverage. You may want to get a thick rod- like 1.5 to 2''.

Studs? Rings? Thick rod?

NOW we are getting somewhere!