My Bathroom Had an Awkward Corner — This Shower Curtain Made It Disappear

One of the most surprising findings from Apartment Therapy’s 2026 State of Home Design survey was just how pro-shower curtain even high-end designers have become. Not only are curtains more affordable than glass doors, but they can also be the perfect opportunity for a pop of color or pattern in an otherwise blah bath. The pros don’t stop there: Shower curtains and liners are often lower-maintenance than many glass doors or partitions. The fabric is typically machine-washable (or at least dry-cleanable), and liners can be scrubbed down or easily replaced when needed. 

So when designing my own vintage-inspired bath, I had pretty much decided on a curtain to complement our alcove tub and shower combo. It saves money and installation time — and, in my case — would add much needed visual softness to my fully tiled bath (the only paint in the room is on the ceiling and trim). It’d also dampen some of the echoing sometimes associated with tile, too. For my bath, it wouldn’t be just any shower curtain, though: I wanted to try the elevated, drapery-as-shower-curtain trend, as my bath had a few non-conventional sizing issues. Here’s why I’d do it again in a heartbeat — and how to pull this look off without any hitches. 

I have seen the pinch-pleat-drapery-as-shower-curtain trend and absolutely love how sophisticated it looks. Traditional shower curtains don’t always feel special, and often, they’re not much larger than about 72 inches or so wide. Visually, I wanted dramatic, sumptuous pleats for two reasons. For one, I thought this would make the bathroom feel more polished and luxe visually. 

Second? During demo, we discovered a main pipe in our bathroom that would cost over $10,000 to remove. That was well beyond the budget, so we had to settle for a bump-out wall and small niche in the corner of the room, which conceals this pipe. We plan on putting marble shelves here eventually, which will hopefully turn this awkward architecture into a stunning feature. Until then, though, I wanted to hide this area. 

My designer friend Adnan Anwar and I agreed that choosing an oversized, custom pinch-pleat “shower” curtain — and running its rod across the entire back wall of the room — would hide this area by making it seem like the shower stall was much bigger than it is. It’s the same principle behind the idea of hanging your drapery higher to make your windows seem bigger and ceilings seem taller. We also capitalized on that aspect of this designer trick by mounting the rod as close to the ceiling line as possible (which, again, meant we’d need drapery that was longer than the average shower curtain as well).

Luckily, I didn’t have to search long or hard for the right solution. TWOPAGES, a custom curtain company that ships incredibly quickly, had been on my radar for a while for their quality and relative affordability for being so bespoke. The brand markets a semi-readymade solution for anyone who wants to try the drapery-as-shower curtain trend out. 

This TWOPAGES style comes in so many different fabrics, colors, and patterns, which means you truly can get what you want aesthetically (there’s even another version, the Heck, if you want a slightly different design). I wanted to be sure of my choice, so I ordered samples first, which arrived in just a couple of days. I ended up settling on the off-white Jawara fabric, which is an elegant, crosshatched cotton-linen blend. It matched my Vanilla subway tile pretty closely and set off the Kale Green subway tile nicely, too. 

The best part about this curtain? It comes with a matching waterproof liner, which is similar to what you’d buy in store. It’s cut to the exact dimensions of your curtain, though, which helps to protect the bottom of the drapery from splashing and mold (I ended up ordering a 74-inch-by-88-inch size, so the standard 72-inch square liner would have definitely been short). I also chose to have the curtain memory trained, so the pinch pleats would be pretty close to perfect. This, to me, was worth the extra cost because I wanted to hang it and be done — I didn’t really want to steam the curtain a ton or deal with it beyond occasionally cleaning it.

The curtain arrived in like five days, which is wild, considering that it’s custom. It came out of the box looking great, and I was genuinely pleased with how heavy and thick the fabric was. In addition to the shower liner, the package also contained the clips you need for securing the pleats. I did buy my own shower curtain rings from HomeGoods, as I wanted them to match my shower rod as closely as possible. But TWOPAGES does sell shower curtain hardware as well, if you want a one-stop solution. 

The whole thing took maybe five minutes to hang, and it relaxed length-wise pretty quickly and kisses the floor so nicely. True to form, I didn’t have to steam the curtain at all, and the pinch pleats make it look so expensive. To be fair, it wasn’t cheap — the curtain was about $328 with a discount. But considering its very large, custom size, how quickly I got it, the heft and weight of the fabric, the fact that I chose memory training, and that it came with a liner, it’s not unreasonable. Nicer shower curtains can easily cost $100. I’m not planning on ever replacing it. With the right maintenance — keeping the liner looking fresh, dry cleaning the curtain occasionally — it should last for years.

It’s been about two-and-a-half months, and so far, the curtain has held up incredibly well. It hides the awkward corner in my bathroom perfectly, and it looks like it fits the architecture and era of the home. 

I’d absolutely recommend this solution if you want to give your bath an elevated look. You could save a bit by not memory-training the fabric’s folds — or going with a slightly shorter curtain length — but I’m loving how dramatic-yet-simple this setup is. And, of course, you could introduce a pattern here, too. Or, if you want to get really spendy and luxe, you could frame your shower stall with two curtains like this. Honestly, the options are endless, but this trend really proves that even the most utilitarian parts of a bathroom can have a little design moment.