How to Hang a Curtain on a Arched Doorway

One option is to install the curtain on the exterior of the arched doorway to conceal the entire opening. The other is to install the curtain on the interior of the doorway.

Cover the Door

1. Place the curtain that you want to hang over the arched doorway onto the curtain rod. Hold the rod and top of the curtain against the wall above the arch. Raise or lower the curtain until it covers the entire doorway and just brushes the floor at the bottom.

2. Slide the curtain over enough to put a magnetic level on the top of the rod. Raise or lower either end of the curtain rod until the rod sits evenly. Mark the wall at the bottom edge of either end of the rod.

3. Put the curtain and rod down and take a metal bracket to the wall. Hold the bracket up so that the piece that holds the rod lines up with the mark you made on the wall on one end and mark the screw holes in the bracket. Repeat the process at the other mark you made.

4. Line each bracket back up with the marks you made for the screw holes. Attach the brackets to the wall using the screws provided with the curtain rod.

5. Put the ends of the curtain rod into the brackets and tighten any built-in screws to hold the rod in place. Spread the curtain out on the rod to cover the entire doorway.

Inside the Door

1. Use a tension curtain rod, also known as a twist-and-fit rod, to hang a curtain inside an arched doorway, leaving the top of the arch on display. Hold the rod up to the doorway just below the arch and twist it counterclockwise to lengthen the rod until it is roughly the same length as the width of the doorway.

2. Slide the curtain onto the tension rod. Grasp the rod on either side of the curtain to keep the curtain from sliding back off.

3. Raise the tension rod up inside the doorway just beneath the arched section. Begin twisting the rod counterclockwise again until the rod hits the walls on either side of the doorway.

4. Move the curtain to the thicker side of the tension rod and find the small plastic or metal ring that circles the thinner side of the tension rod. Push that ring down the thin side of the curtain rod and into the gap between the thinner and thicker sides of the rod to secure the rod at that length.