How to Drape a Ceiling With Fabric for a Nursery

Measure the ceiling with the tape measure to determine the amount of fabric required to drape the ceiling. Measure from a corner of the room to the center. If you have a light fixture at the center, measure to about 3 inches before the light fixture. Multiply this measurement by .5 to allow you to swag the fabric along the ceiling. Add additional yardage if you wish to extend the fabric straight down the wall from the ceiling. This gives you enough fabric for one swag from one ceiling corner to the center of the ceiling.

Multiply the yardage for one fabric swag by four if you wish to create four swags from each corner. Multiply the yardage for one swag by eight if you wish to create eight swags from the corners and the halfway points between corners.

Purchase the required yardage of fabric. Cut the fabric into four equal lengths if you are creating four swags and into eight equal lengths if you are creating eight swags.

Mark the placement of the ceiling screw hooks, using the measurements in Step 1. Draw an “X” about 1 inch inside each corner of the ceiling. Find the center of the ceiling if you do not have a light fixture and place an “X” at this point. You will hang all the swags together on one center hook. If you have a light fixture, make “Xs” about 3 inches away from the fixture in a diagonal line from each corner. If you are hanging eight swags, find the halfway point between each corner and make “Xs” at these points. You will hang two swags together at the center so you do not need additional center hooks for eight swags.

Drill pilot holes at each “X” and drive the hooks into the ceiling.

Wrap a 6-inch piece of string around the end of a fabric swag and tie the string tightly. Hang the swag onto a center hook by the wrapped string. Pull the fabric out to the corner, swagging it attractively between the two hooks. Tie another 6-inch piece of string around the fabric at the point you wish to hang it on the hook. Hang the fabric on the corner hook by the wrapped string and allow the end to hang straight down.

Repeat the process to hang each fabric swag from the center hook(s) out to the corner hooks. Repeat the process to hang the additional swags between each corner hook, if applicable.