The Genius Pool Noodle Trick That Makes Curtains Look Picture-Perfect

Photos of big, full, and luscious draperies grace every glossy magazine page and social media home tour. But when you head to the store to purchase premade drapery panels, bring them home, and hang them up, they look limp, uneven, and underwhelming. Why is that? Well, the trick lies in both the custom tailoring of the folds, as well as the rich fullness that custom draperies boast, with enough fabric to span one and a half to three times larger than the width of the window. The result when stacked open is a substantial, high-end look that's tailored to sit in lots of even beautiful pleats or ripples.

However, when it comes to store-bought panels, they are often flat, undersized panels with no shape or heft. In addition, they often hang limply with uneven, saggy ripples, making the entire effect a bit sloppy and unrefined. So how can you achieve the picture-perfect designer look on a budget with your existing panels? Amber Pratt (@diy_inspo) on TikTok shared how she inserted a piece of pool noodle behind each of the fabric folds of her drape to act as a spacer for uniformity and fullness. By sliding a piece of pool noodle over the rod behind each ripple, she was able to create perfectly uniform ripples when the drapes were stacked open for only $1. This incredibly cheap, wonderfully clever hack couldn't be easier, so let's dive right into how you can create the same designer effect on your drapery panels with a single pool noodle.

Begin this easy hack by cutting a pool noodle into approximately 2-inch-wide pieces, depending on how large you want your ripple to appear. Cut a lengthwise slit in each so you can wrap them around the curtain rod without removing it. Insert the noodle on the rod behind each ripple fold to create a hidden uniform spacer. Open the curtains fully to stack them in neat ripples for a picture-perfect, even gather. The noodle will also bolster the fullness of each ripple, making the drape look more luxurious. Be sure to steam your curtains thoroughly to remove wrinkles and ensure your lovely ripples hang straight.

This hack works best on decorative inoperative drapery panels, as it allows the clean uniformity to remain in place without disruption. While the pool noodles will add a bit of fullness and ripple to a closed operational drape, it won't be perfectly even compared to the open stacked drape. In addition, if you have a grommet curtain, like the one used on the TikTok tutorial, the circular grommets flatten out toward the front when the drape is closed, meaning the noodle is more likely to be visible, though the grommets when closed versus open. However, the pool noodle may even be visible through the end grommets when static and gathered, so with this style of drapery, you'll want to choose a noodle the same color as your curtain fabric or rod to help it blend in. For other styles of drape that fully hide the noodle, the color doesn't matter as much, though the window light can cast a strange color glow from behind through thinner, unlined fabric, so it's best to match the noodle to the rod or fabric for unlined panels as well.

In the case of this hack, not all drapery types are created equal, so let's walk through some considerations for making this hack work well for that nice ripple look. First, you must have the right type of curtain header that allows for proper placement of the noodle. A back tab style with hidden loops on the rear side of the drape is ideal, as it completely disguises the pool noodle from sight while still allowing access to the rod. As discussed earlier, a grommet header also works well, though sometimes the large metal holes reveal the pool noodle.

However, any drapery panels with a full-length rod pocket will not work with this hack, as they do not allow for the noodle to be placed on the rod between folds. Similarly, any headers with visible drapery hanging hardware (like rings), top tabs, or tie tops are not compatible either since the rod is fully visible with nowhere to put the pool noodle. If you have a pleated or flat drape with gathering tape meant to be tailored to your aesthetic, you can always use a smaller-diameter pool noodle as a uniform vertical pleat spacer between curtain clips or forks similar to this alternative TikTok tutorial.

And there you have it, the cheap pool noodle spacer hack that transforms lackluster back tab or grommet header curtain panels into full, structured, gorgeous draperies fit for a magazine.