13 Pleated Curtain Hacks For Luxury Looking Window Treatments

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Window treatments are often underrated in terms of the amount of impact they can have on your home decor. If you know how to upgrade inexpensive curtain panels, then pleated curtains are one of the most affordable and DIY-friendly window treatments out there. The good news is that pleated curtains don't have to look cheap, even if they are made from inexpensive fabrics like drop cloths or tablecloths. With these pleated curtain hacks, which include clever ideas like using bag clips to create cleaner pleats and sections of pool noodles to make them look fuller, you can have luxury-looking window treatments in any room of your house.

We've covered a variety of pleated curtain hacks, focused on ways to make what you already have look more elegant. Whether you're starting from scratch with new panels or repurposing something you found at the thrift store, there's a hack here for every budget, room, and style. With pleat styles ranging from simple to layered, pleated curtains can add a designer-style finish to many rooms throughout the home. Even if you find pleated curtains outdated and heavy, these ideas may inspire new ways to pleat, frame, and style them.

Using a steamer to train your pleats might seem obvious to some, but if you've been skipping this one crucial step when hanging up your curtains, you could be missing out on luxury-looking pleats. Curtain steamers come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and brands, including professional options that can cost around $120. If you haven't used a steamer or experienced how effective this trick is, then you don't know what you're missing. This is usually the first step you should take when you're trying to get the most elegant look you can possibly achieve.

Your instinct might be to gather pleats at the top to create sharper creases so your window treatments look more luxurious, but an easy hack is to gather the pleats from the bottom and tie them back for a few days so they hang more evenly. For neat and tidy curtain pleats, do this after steaming so you get a stronger, longer-lasting hold, and use a fancy tieback so they look great while the pleats are being trained.

We tried the pool noodle hack for neat curtain pleats, and it could revolutionize the way you hang pleated curtains. The pool noodle hack works great on grommet curtains, and can give your window treatments an upgrade with a fuller-looking pleat. What you do is cut a slit lengthwise down a pool noodle, then cut it into small pieces the length you need for your curtain pleats. These pool noodle pieces fit over the curtain rod and hold your curtain panels apart, fluffing them out so that your window treatments look fuller and more luxurious.

Even without steaming, one way to give your curtains a perfectly pleated look is to use a bag clip hack. With this method, all you have to do is fold your curtains into pleats and use bag clips about a foot apart to hold them in place overnight. You can leave them in place even longer if you want. When you remove the clips, your curtains will be perfectly pleated and stay in place. This idea works even better if you apply Aleene's Stiffen Quik over the pleats so they hold their shape longer.

Pleat tape comes in a variety of widths, lengths, and pleat dimensions. To custom pinch-pleat loose curtains, you can attach pleat tape and hooks to the back of flat-panel curtains for an almost instantly more luxurious look. Pleat tape is also a useful trick if you're making pleated curtains from scratch. Pleat tape can be stitched on or attached with a bonding tape. Once you have the pleat tape installed, you can add pleat pins to get a nice pleated look that's more permanent than some of the other hacks on this list.

Window valances were once popular for pleated curtains because of how effectively they frame your window treatments and hide unsightly hardware. However, many people avoid using these vintage window treatments because they can make a room feel outdated or cramped. Instead, consider a modern, streamlined cornice, which is a hard, fabric-covered box or wooden frame. These can be embellished and customized to suit a variety of interior aesthetics. Cornices also make it easy to incorporate patterns that add structure and visual interest to pleated curtains.

If you can't get your hands on a steamer, all is not lost. You can also use a flat iron or hair straightener hack to help your pleated curtains hang more neatly once they're installed. Fold them in sections by gathering the pleats, then run the flat iron or straightener across the pleat like you would your hair if you were straightening it. Work one pleat at a time from top to bottom to give your curtains a custom look using this genius hack.

Pleated curtains can take a lot of different shapes, and curtain ring clips are one way to hang them for a luxurious, even pleat. For an easy hack to transform flat-panel curtains into pleated ones and distribute them evenly, put a curtain ring at each end, then fold the fabric in half and place one in the middle. Repeat this until you have the right distance between curtain rings for the size of pleat that you want. The result is an almost effortless pleat that hangs simply and beautifully.

If you want pleated curtains with a luxurious look, giving them some weight at the bottom can be just the touch you need. Adding curtain weights is one of the genius ways HGTV's Jenn Todryk straightens flared curtains. Whether you use weighted drapery tape or self-adhesive weights for a no-sew option, there are many different ways to add weights to your curtains.

Another simple trick to get a more luxurious look for pleated curtains is to overlap the panels at the center when hanging them. This is one way to stop your double curtains from splitting on the rod: by crossing the ends of both curtain panels over each other, overlapping them so that they come together for a seamless appearance. That way, when they're closed, it looks like one large curtain rather than two separate panels.

The canvas drop cloths that you find in the paint aisle are an affordable window treatment option that Erin Napier used on HGTV. Since expensive drapes aren't in every homeowner's budget, drop cloths are a good option and can look surprisingly luxurious, especially if you're aiming for a rustic farmhouse style. The texture of drop cloths softens the look, and the heavy cotton canvas pleats well. If you hang them with curtain rings every few inches across the top and use adhesive weights at the bottom, you can create nice-looking pleated curtains for a layered design.

Whether you're shopping at a thrift store or in the homewares aisle at your favorite home center, if you find a tablecloth with a color or pattern you like, consider using it for curtains. Like drop cloths, tablecloths are a budget-friendly curtain hack and a unique source of texture that can come in handy when you're using a layered design to achieve more luxurious window treatments with pleated curtains. For a no-sew pleated curtain idea, all you have to do is use curtain rings or iron-on pleat tape to create elegant pleated curtains from tablecloths.

Just like pool noodles, there are many clever ways to repurpose old toilet paper rolls (the clean ones, of course). To finish this list, we found a few ways they can be used to help pleated curtains hang more neatly. Whether you're using them to stuff goblet pleat curtains to make them look fuller or inserting them onto your curtain rod between grommets, this toilet paper roll hack is worth a second look.