How to Use Single Panel Drapes to Cover a Window

Fabric

• Choosing a drapery fabric that meets your needs and enhances the room's current decor is important to provide function as well as aesthetic attractiveness. Heavy tapestries, brocades and velvet fabrics are typically created in rich browns, greens, reds and golds, which blend nicely with Tuscan or rustic decor. Lightweight polyester-cotton blends and faux silk fabrics come in assorted colors, hang nicely and complement traditional to contemporary styles. White sheers provide an inexpensive option to cover single windows in cottage or country decor.

Swag

• Gathering a single panel drape and swagging it to one side of the window provides an attractive window treatment. Wrap the bunched gathers with a coordinating fabric tie-back and secure the swagged drapery to the wall with a decorative hook. The drapery can easily be swagged open in the daytime and unhooked to cover the window at night. A single panel drapery can also be gathered in the middle and secured with a fabric tie-back to provide a more symmetrical look.

Cascade

• Cascading draperies hang straight down from a curtain rod, pooling in a soft pile on the floor or hanging up to an inch from grazing the floor's surface. Drapery rings or clips attached to the curtain top add a designer-savvy touch and make it convenient to pull drapes to one side. Metal or wooden pole rods are decorative and available in assorted colors and styles to enhance your room's decor. A single curtain panel covering each window in a row of similar windows adds harmony and symmetry to a room.

Other Considerations

• Consider whether you'd like to have your draperies lined with a sewn-in fabric. Linings are typically used to provide privacy and help conserve energy by keeping your home warmer in winter and cooler in summer. Coordinating wooden or fabric window shades or blinds can be hung behind a drapery panel to provide a stacked, layered look. Interchanging decorative finials on the ends of curtain rods will alter their appearance to blend with the current decor.