A good curtain rod will be versatile, both in terms of function and aesthetics: Ideally, you’ll change them out less often than your curtains, so you want them to work with a range of styles. Most rods on our list are telescoping, which means they can be expanded or retracted to the right width for your window, which eliminates the need to order a custom-cut size. Any rod works for any kind of curtain header (the top of the curtain, where the fabric meets the rod), whether it has grommets, a rod pocket, or requires rings. There are also plenty of aesthetic options, from a minimalist steel bar to antique iron with arrowhead finials.
As an obsessive home DIYer (I’ve made space for sawhorses and a six-foot, OSHA-compliant ladder in my 400-square-foot apartment), I’m in the form-over-function camp on any kind of hardware. If it’s not sturdy, it’s not worth your money. I’ve made this list with function in mind — I consulted a dozen experts to help choose the right curtain rod for your space and tested the best-in-class rod in my kitchen to see how it holds up. I’ve included plenty of inexpensive curtain rods that do the job well, as well as fun ways to spurge on customization and/or aesthetics.
Updated on June 24,
We’ve updated this guide with the latest price and stock changes for our favorites from West Elm. Snag one of our best overall picks from Target, on sale now.
Curtain rods can be inside-mounted, or hung within the window frame, or outside-mounted, which allows the curtain to cover the edge of the window frame. To find the right length for an inside-mounted rod, simply measure across the width of your window, where you plan to hang your curtain. For outside-mounting, Megan Hersch, the owner of Studio MG Interiors and online interior-design service RoomLift, recommends measuring about 12 inches wider than a window on either side, so you can pull the curtains all the way off of the window when you open them and not block any light. For the height of an outside-mounted rod, she recommends hanging the rod about halfway between the window and the ceiling; for a very tall ceiling, place the rod about 16 inches above the window.
While most of the rods on this list are telescoping, that design does leave a visible notch in the middle of the rod, which Hersch says is “not a big deal, but it is a telltale sign” that a rod is not custom size. If you want to avoid the telescoping-rod notch, we’ve included a few options for custom-cut rods, from a DIY method to splurge-y rods with matching hardware.
When buying curtain rods, look for materials that are durable enough to withstand the wear and tear of daily use and don’t bow or sag under the weight of drapery. Heavy-duty and strong metals like steel or iron are the most common, and many curtains have a decorative outer finish, like wood veneer or brass.
Finials are the hardware that caps the ends of the curtain rod, and they come in a variety of styles, from antique Victorian wrought-iron pineapples to simple, minimalist cylinders. Their function is mostly decorative and, as is the case with several options on this list, they can be customized or swapped out for another style in the future.
Among the experts we spoke to, fancy finials were polarizing. Interior designer Katy Byrne calls them “a great opportunity to add an interesting detail” to your home; Sarah Leon and Teddy Wolff, who are in the process of renovating their home in Brooklyn, prefer to avoid them. Leon finds them “distracting visually,” and Wolff advises against stylized hardware: “You don’t want a lot of background noise,” he says, and simpler hardware allows you to “design over top of it and grow with a space.”
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Threshold Dauntless Curtain Rod From $32 From $32 Photo: RetailerNew! You can now save this product for later.
Size: Two sizes, from 36” to 120” | Material: Steel | Finial style: Cylinder
I first heard about Target brand Threshold’s curtain rod from Dani Mulhearn, a senior designer at online interior-design service Havenly. She calls it “simple and timeless” — with a well-proportioned, pared-down silhouette. Made of steel, it feels smooth and solid and comes in four finishes, including matte black and brass, and has simple cylindrical finials (including one style with a mid-century-esque walnut finish) and matching hanging hardware.
I tested out the curtain rod myself above a kitchen window, mounting directly into the wooden window frame (I live in a landlord special, so there were already painted-over divots from a previous curtain-rod install to guide me). Within 40 minutes of reading the instructions, the rod was secured and curtains were hung. I needed a ladder and a drill, plus a screwdriver to finish tightening screws — the design of the brackets creates a difficult angle for a drill. Once installed, it held two panels of 8-foot long curtains without any bowing or wobbling.
Another thing that makes the Dauntless rod my top pick: It feels more expensive than its $32 price tag (a useful feature for a curtain rod, which you may be buying in multiples). There are some small imperfections in the finish if you look up close, but they became invisible once it was mounted three feet above my head — it just looks simple, elegant, and solid.
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From $99Size: Four sizes, from 28” to 144” | Material: Steel | Finial style: Cylinder
This low-profile rod, recommended by interior designer Katherine Tlapa, has a similar minimalist aesthetic to the Dauntless rod, with a more streamlined design — it has one piece of hardware that serves as both a finial and a bracket, which creates an airy, lightweight silhouette. It would go well with any style of drapery, from a zanily patterned postmodern curtain to a classic linen panel. It comes in several finishes, including brass and matte white.
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RH Dakota Extension Rod From $85 From $85Size: Two sizes, from 28” to 126” | Material: Iron | Finial style: Customizable
These extendable curtain rods by RH (formerly known as Restoration Hardware) are made of iron, unlike our best-in-class rod, which is made of steel. Iron is generally heavier than steel for the same strength, but has a beautiful soft finish that interior designer Nicole Fuller calls “grounding and discreet.” When I tested out the rod at the RH showroom in Manhattan, I discovered another benefit: If you’re using curtain rings, the sound of iron on iron is softer and less grating than steel on steel, the material used in most curtain rods. If you’re sensitive to noise, iron rods may be preferable. Unlike the other ready-made rods on this list, these do not come with mounting hardware or finials, so each component has to be bought separately, but that does allow for more customization.
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From $119Size: Two sizes, from 28” to 108” | Material: Wood veneer, brass-finished hardware | Finial style: Cylinder
This wood-and-brass-finished curtain rod from West Elm has a warmer look than our best-in-class pick, perfect if your commitment to mid-century modern décor extends to your hardware. For a wooden curtain rod, it’s important that the rod itself is not wood — you want a wood veneer over a stronger material that’s less likely to bow, like steel or iron. Interior designer Erin Gates uses a similar rod in her own living room but in an all-metal style. She calls it “substantial, clean, and simple.”
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From $23 Photo: RetailerSize: Four sizes, from 28” to 150” | Material: Steel | Finial style: Cylinder
The four curtain rods above all require putting holes in your walls for mounting hardware; if you’re drill-averse, consider a tension rod. Leon and Wolff used these durable steel tension rods “all over the place” in a previous apartment, a converted factory space in Chinatown with high ceilings and plaster walls. “Instead of hanging art on the walls, we just hung Ikea white curtains everywhere” using these rods, Leon says. “It was really good for acoustics, and it gave us a lot of hidden storage.” They report that the rods did well up to seven or eight feet (after that, they started to sag a bit) and stood up to frequent use: “We took our doors off, and we used the curtains as doors, so we were using them a good amount,” Leon says.
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From $16 Photo: RetailerSize: Custom length | Material: Steel | Finial style: Custom
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An adjustable rod — like our best-in-class pick — has a visible notch somewhere along its length where the two telescoping pieces meet. Although it’s easy enough to cover with a curtain, if you prefer a seamless look, you’ll need rods that are custom-cut to fit your window. Hersch recommends the brand Highland Forge for “a custom look at a very good price.” In addition to choosing your style of rod (either round, square, or hammered), its diameter, and finish, you can customize the length, which eliminates the telltale telescoping rod notch. Buying a custom rod will also mean you have to shop for the additional hardware yourself, including finials, mounting brackets, and rings, for example. But according to Hersch, Highland Forge will “double-check your order to be sure you’ve got all the parts you will need to make the hardware work.”
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Size: Custom length | Material: Brass | Finial style: Custom
Another way to avoid the telescoping notch is to custom-cut your curtain rods yourself with metal tubing and a pipe cutter. Strategist senior editor Simone Kitchens made custom rods with lengths of this K&S Precision Metals brass tubing. “Our Craftsman house already has a lot of brass hardware, so I wanted vintage-y curtain rods to match,” she says, but she couldn’t find antiques that were the exact right length. She split the difference between new brass rods and vintage rings and finials bought at a salvage store in Albany (look for similar styles on eBay). The pipe was cut to size with a pipe cutter, below: “Brass is a soft metal so you can cut it with an electrician’s conduit cutter,” Kitchens says. “We just clip the exact length we need. A hacksaw works too.”
[Editor’s note: In-stock sizes for a set of three tubes are limited, and availability varies further for sets of two, four, and five.]
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From $305Size: Custom length | Material: Iron | Finial style: Custom
If you want to splurge on custom brackets, curtain rings, and finishes in addition to customizing the length of your curtain rods (which offers a degree of aesthetic control beyond what you’ll get with our best-in-class curtain rod), I recommend the Shade Store. Interior designer Betsy Burnham says its hardware provides a clean, unfussy complement to any drapery. “Our preference for window hardware is thin, black iron rods with the smallest rings possible, as I think the hardware should be tidy and unobtrusive,” she says. Burnham adds that the Shade Store’s step-by-step process ensures that you won’t forget anything you might need, like finials and rings.
• Betsy Burnham, interior designer
• Katy Byrne, interior designer
• Nicole Fuller, interior designer
• Erin Gates, owner of Erin Gates Design
• Megan Hersch, owner of Studio MG Interiors and RoomLift
• Megan Huffman, interior designer
• Simone Kitchens, Strategist senior editor
• Sarah Leon, editorial consultant
• Dani Mulhearn, senior designer at Havenly
• Jeremy Rellosa, Strategist staff writer
• Katherine Tlapa, interior designer
• Teddy Wolff, photographer and co-founder of The Deligram
Additional reporting by Lauren Ro.
The curtains often steal the show when you're dressing your windows, so it makes sense to consider all your options and choose carefully to make curtains the focus of your decor. But the drapery hardware also deserves its moment in the spotlight and shouldn't be a last-minute decision. When chosen well, the right curtain rod will add to the look and have the opportunity to make a bold impact on your space, but it also need to be functional, which makes the details of the rod important. You need an option that complements the curtains while being strong enough and large enough to hold them.
When choosing the perfect curtain rod, the most important characteristics to consider include the material, type, length, circumference, color, finish, and overall style. These traits determine how good the curtain rod looks in the room and how well it's able to hold the window coverings in place. You'll need to take proper measurements to find a curtain rod that fits well. The details of your room and your curtains should also be considered when deciding upon the right hardware. Curtain rods should fit in with the overall room design style. Ensure you choose curtain rods that enhance your decor rather than compete with it.
Read more: These Viral Curtain Alternatives Offer Chic Solutions That Won't Break The Bank
Before you can choose your curtain rod, you need to know what you're hanging and how you want to display it. The curtains you choose will help you decide on the style and type of rod to get the finished look you want. The size and weight of your curtains also impacts what type of hanging system you need for them. Solid wood curtain rods offer the strength to hold heavier drapes without sagging. Plastic or hollow metal rods may bend in the middle under the weight of thick fabrics or large curtains, so they're better suited for lightweight curtains and smaller windows.
Looking at the curtain style, colors, and patterns will guide your rod selection by helping you find an option that coordinates with it. If you have rustic, farmhouse-style curtains, a chic, modern curtain rod may look out of place. Make sure the colors in your curtains work with the finish on your rods. For example, gold curtain rods pair well with neutral and warm colors, while a black finish looks sleek against white or gray curtains.
The curtain header type can also impact what type of rod you choose when you decorate with popular curtain styles. Grommet-top and tab-top curtains allow the bar to show through clearly, so choose a high-quality finish that you want to show in your room. Meanwhile, pinch-pleat headers work particularly well with traverse rods.
Your dominant interior decorating styles will also come into play when choosing curtain rods, as they should fit with the overall design scheme. Coordinating your rods to the rest of the decor ties it all together to create a cohesive design that flows well. Rods that are more showy will work well in maximalist styles, while basic curtain rods will look great in minimalist spaces. The material impacts the overall look of the curtain rod as well. While you can choose from a variety of designs in both wood and metal, the metal options tend to lean more toward a modern look, while wood adds a warm, rich traditional look.
The color and finish options also impact the style of the curtain rods you choose. For example, a smooth metal rod with a shiny metallic finish infuses a modern look, while a textured wrought iron rod with an aged finish represents a classic, old-world style. Wood curtain rods come in all types of standard stained finishes to help you coordinate with other wood finishes in the room and will look great in traditional, boho, and natural spaces. You can also refinish wood curtain rods if you decide you want to try unique wood finishes in the future.
Different curtain rod types address specific issues or needs for hanging your curtains. Decorative rods attach to the wall using brackets and come in single and double configurations. A double rod is an option if you want to layer your curtains. These rods are visible and enhance the window curtain area, so choosing a finish and style that fits the room is important.
If you want the fabric to be the focal point, choose a concealed curtain hanging option. The rods attach to your wall or ceiling and are hidden by the curtains. Wrap-around curtain rods offer the same effect. The rod curves around on the end and attaches to the wall so you can pull the curtain around the corner. This option also increases privacy and blocks light around the windows.
Other rod types have specific functions. Cafe curtain rods are usually slim for lightweight cafe curtains that cover half of the window. If opening and closing curtains easily is important to you, consider a traverse rod. It works with special clips that go into a track and slide easily when you open or close the window coverings. If you're looking for a way to hang curtains without drilling, tension rods fit inside the window frame and stay in place from the pressure of the rod pushing against the frame. They work well if you're a renter and want an easy option, but the tension isn't strong enough to support large or heavy curtains.
Sizing for a curtain rod includes the length and diameter, both of which are important to ensure it can handle the weight of your curtains. You can usually find curtain rods in lengths from 24 to 144 inches long to accommodate windows of varying sizes. Consider the weight and size of your curtains and where you want to hang them to help you choose.
The rods should extend beyond the edges of the window to leave room for the bunched-up curtains when you open them. How much you extend the curtain rod beyond the window frame is personal preference. The generally accepted minimum length is 4 inches or more on both sides beyond the window frame. That means if your window is 48 inches wide, your curtain rod should be at least 56 inches long. Some designers focus on the number 10, with the rod being mounted 10 inches above the window with 10 inches of overhang on either side. Heavier drapes may require a longer rod because of the bunched-up fabric.
Deciding on the diameter of the rod relates to the weight of the curtains. Heavier panels benefit from curtain rods with larger diameters because they're typically stronger. While diameters usually range from 1 to 3 inches, metal curtain rods often come in diameters less than 1 inch. Those rods are best for sheer or other lightweight curtains. The heavier and larger your curtains are, the bigger the diameter of the curtain rod should be.
The curtain rod is the main type of hardware you should think about for window coverings, but it's not the only one. Choosing additional curtain hardware adds the perfect finishing touch to your stylish window treatment ideas. If you'd like to add something more decorative, consider using rings or hooks that hold the curtains securely and help them slide along the rod.
Furthermore, decorative curtain rods usually have finials on the ends of the bar to cover the end of the hollow tube. They give it a finished look, keep it in place, and add a little extra embellishment. Finials range from simple rounded designs in the same metal as the bar to large, highly ornate pieces made from materials ranging from glass to ceramic. Choosing bold finials make the curtain rods a focal point of the room. Alternatively, if you'd prefer them to blend in, pick a more subtle finial option.
Another hardware option is to add curtain holdbacks to the windows. You can choose from different styles, including fabric and metal. A metal holdback is usually a curved piece that's attached to the wall. When you want to hold your curtains open, grab them and tuck them behind the hook on the wall. When choosing different metal curtain hardware pieces, coordinate the finish and style so everything feels cohesive.
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