Curtains 101

Dressing French Doors

Curtains should completely clear the doors so they can open. Or mount Roman shades onto each door. Thomas Jayne once designed flat panels with buttonholes that attached to small brass cleats.

If a wall or room is lined with pairs of French doors, consider running a rod all the way across the wall, or a track all the way around the room, and flanking each set of doors with curtains. "What you don't want to do is have one long valance and one set of curtains for multiple sets of French doors," says Cathy Kincaid.