You want the drapery hardware you hang your curtains from to look just as stylish and exciting as your fabric. Using wooden drapery rods, metal curtain rods or wrought iron curtain poles can transform your ordinary window into the centerpiece of your room design. Our guide to Kirsch drapery hardware will help you choose the perfect style like wood, metal or wrought iron. And, we'll give you guidance about pole diameter, size and composition.

Sometimes, customers have a difficult time finding the appropriate drapery rod for their window treatment because they aren't familiar with the terminology of the drapery hardware industry. For example, a lot of shoppers who need a drapery pole for their window spend a lot of time searching for curtain rods. Typically, the term curtain rods is reserved for the basic white metal rods with carriers and cords that we're all familiar with. If you're looking for something decorative for your window, then you're going to want to find a drapery pole or drapery rod. Knowing the correct term to search for will help you narrow down your options more quickly and get you to the exact product you need for your room design.

When considering decorative Kirsch drapery hardware, the next step is to choose the proper style. Generally speaking, the rods are available in either wood or metal. Wood drapery rods have with widest variety of options and features. While metal rods aren't available in as many styles, they do have many unique options for you to consider such as wrought iron or other more contemporary designs. If you have heavier draperies with lining or interlining, or if you need to cover a really wide window, you may want to stick with a wood drapery rod. Metal style rods are terrific, but they don't do well with very heavy curtains and they tend to bow across wide areas unless you use a lot of support brackets.

Accessories like rings and finials are sized to match a specific drapery rod diameter. If you see a 2 inch finial, that doesn't mean that the finial is only 2 inches long. It means that the finial you're looking at is sized to fit properly on a 2 inch diameter drapery pole. The same is true for brackets, rings and other pieces you may be considering for your treatment. The pole diameter is an important decision for both functionality and aesthetics. You need to make sure that the diameter is big enough to support the weight of your fabric. And, you should match your pole diameter to your window width and height. Wide or high windows usually need a thicker pole diameter like 2 or 2 1/4 inch. But, regular size windows at room height look great with smaller diameter drapery poles. Extra large diameters like 3 inch are typically only used on extremely high windows or really wide double or triple windows.

Once you decide on your drapery rod composition and diameter, you still have one more major choice to make and that's pole style. Drapery rods are made in a wide variety of styles that can include smooth, fluted, twisted, reeded and grooved. And, they style names are not standardized across manufacturers. One brand may call their drapery poles fluted where another one may use the term reeded. They style of drapery pole does not impact the functionality of the rod. A smooth pole will work just as effectively as a fluted rod. The choice of pole style is simply a matter of your personal preference.

Although there are a lot of choices to make when you decide to hang a drapery rod for your window treatment, the process is very simple when you follow the steps in their proper order. First, decide on a composition such as wood or metal. Then, choose a rod diameter that will support your fabric and look appropriate in your window. And finally, select a style that will compliment your room design.