Door Curtain Size: How to Measure a Doorway Before You Buy

A door curtain fits right when the doorway's height and width get measured before you order, not after — a hand-knotted panel like this one doesn't stretch, shrink, or adjust once it arrives. Two sizes only solve two different jobs: one clears a standard doorway floor with room to spare, the other reaches close to a full floor-to-lintel opening, and picking the wrong one means a curtain that pools on the floor or stops short of the frame.

The same three numbers matter whether the opening is a meter box on a hallway wall, a doorway with no door hung in it, or a French window that needs softening without going dark: height, width, and how far the panel needs to hang below wherever it's mounted. Measure those first, then match them to a size — this Houseland macrame panel ships as one panel per order, on its own wood dowel, so there's no swapping in a second piece later if the first one comes up short.

How Do You Measure a Doorway Before Buying a Curtain?

Measure three numbers at the doorway itself, not from memory or a floor plan: height from the floor to the underside of the head jamb, width at the narrowest point of the opening, and how far the panel needs to clear the floor once it's hung. Write all three down in inches before you look at a single product listing — a panel that's off by more than an inch will either drag or hang short.

1. Height: hook the tape at the floor and run it straight up to the underside of the frame's top piece, not the ceiling. Measure at both sides of the opening if the floor isn't level.
2. Width: measure at the narrowest point, usually inside the trim or casing, not the rough framed opening behind it.
3. Hanging point: decide where the rod or dowel will actually sit — across the top of the frame, on hooks driven into the trim, or on a tension rod inside the opening — because that point, not the floor-to-lintel number, is where the panel's own length starts counting down.
4. Clearance: subtract an inch or two from the full height if you want the hem to clear the floor rather than touch it, more if the floor is uneven.

Standard interior openings give a rough starting point if you can't measure yet: Wikipedia's entry on doors puts most US residential passage openings at about 30 x 80 in (76 x 203 cm), with heights customarily 78 or 80 in (198 to 203 cm) and slab widths from 18 to 36 in (46 to 91 cm) in 2 in steps — 36 in (91 cm) minimum on a wheelchair-accessible interior opening. A meter box or a closet opening usually measures smaller than that; a French window or a sliding glass door usually runs wider.

The same tape-first order works whether you're sizing a curtain, measuring for wall art, or checking what to measure before buying furniture, and in what order: the opening or the wall first, the piece second.

Which Door Curtain Size Fits Your Doorway?

A door curtain in this style comes in exactly two sizes, and each is built for a different opening, not a range of tastes. The 35.43 x 70.87 in (90 x 180 cm) size suits a standard interior doorway, a meter box, or any opening under about 73 in (185 cm) tall where clearance above the floor matters more than a piece that grazes it; the 39.37 x 78.74 in (100 x 200 cm) size suits a full floor-to-lintel doorway or a taller French window, and needs the opening's height measured first because at 78.74 in (200 cm) it reaches the floor on most standard doors and pools slightly on a shorter one. Each panel is measured by hand, so allow about 1 in (2 cm) either way when you check your own tape numbers against these figures.

Recommended for this use case: a hallway meter box or a standard interior doorway under about 73 in (185 cm) tall is where the 35.43 x 70.87 in (90 x 180 cm) size earns its place, since it's the shorter of the two sizes Houseland offers and clears the floor with room to spare. Reach for the 39.37 x 78.74 in (100 x 200 cm) size instead for a full-height interior doorway or a tall French window, but measure the opening first: at 78.74 in (200 cm), the panel reaches the floor on most standard doors and pools slightly on anything shorter. Both sizes are the same single cream colorway and the same one panel per order — sizing is the only real choice here, not color.

From the shop

Macrame Door Curtain, 90 x 180 cm or 100 x 200 cm

35.43 x 70.87 in (90 x 180 cm) fits a standard interior doorway, meter box, or opening under about 73 in (185 cm) tall, and 39.37 x 78.74 in (100 x 200 cm) fits a full floor-to-lintel doorway or French window; it ships as one panel with no rod, hooks, or bracket included, and the shading rate tops out at 40%, so it filters light rather than blocking it.

View the full-length macrame door curtain — 2 colours & current price

What if the Opening Is Wider Than One Panel?

One panel won't close a wide opening on its own — at 35.43 or 39.37 in (90 or 100 cm) wide, this panel is narrower than most standard door and French window openings, and it ships as a single piece per order, not a pair. The product photos show it hung to one side of an opening rather than stretched edge to edge, which is the honest way to use one panel on anything wider than about a standard interior door slab.

• Order two panels, in the same size, and hang them from opposite sides of the opening if you want it fully covered — the listing sells one panel per order, so a full-width closet curtain or a wide French window needs a second checkout.
• Hang a single panel to one side as an accent, the way the product photos show it, over a meter box, beside a bookcase, or across part of a doorless opening.
• Layer it over existing sheers or blinds on a sliding glass door or patio door — the panel adds texture and partial screening, not full coverage, on an opening most single panels this width can't close alone.

Both sizes sit in Houseland's handmade fiber wall art collection, alongside other single-panel macrame and woven pieces that follow the same one-panel-per-order rule.

How Do You Hang a Curtain With No Rod in the Box?

Nothing is included to hang it from — the panel arrives finished on its own wood dowel, but there's no pole, hook, or bracket in the box. You supply the hardware; the dowel just gives you something to hang.

1. An existing curtain rod: lay the finished dowel across a rod you already have mounted, the way a rod-pocket panel would sit, if the opening already carries one.
2. Cup hooks: mount a pair sized to the dowel's own diameter into the trim or the top of the frame, and rest the dowel's ends in them — a variation on the choice covered in adhesive hooks vs over-the-door hooks, since neither needs a drilled hole for a full rod bracket.
3. A tension rod: cut or telescope one to the opening's inside width and drop the dowel over it, which avoids hardware in the trim altogether on a rental.

Whichever you pick, mount it at the hanging point you measured earlier, not at the floor-to-lintel number — that's where the panel's own length starts counting down. On an opening wide enough to need a full-span rod rather than a pair of hooks, the mounting problem is closer to the one in hanging a wide panel when studs don't line up than to a normal window curtain. It also arrives folded and holds creases, so shake it out gently after unpacking; the macrame cord can carry a mild smell from the knotting process that fades within a few days of hanging. Care afterward is hand-wash only — no washing machine, no rubbing, dry flat rather than on a hanger.

Will It Block Light or Give You Privacy?

No — a single macrame panel like this filters light rather than blocking it, and it won't give you privacy after dark. Houseland's listing puts the function at Translucidus, Shading Rate 1% to 40%, describing a panel that cuts glare and softens a view without closing a room off; with a lamp on behind it at night, the room is still visible through the open knotwork.

That's the one real trade-off to plan around: this panel dresses an opening without closing it off, and no rod or hooks come with it either, so budget a tension rod or two hooks sized to the dowel at the same time you order. Use it alone anywhere partial coverage is enough — a meter box, a doorless doorway between two rooms — and pair it with an actual privacy layer, like blinds, sheers, or a lined curtain, wherever you need to block a streetlight or a neighbor's sightline. Over a meter box, hang it so it slides or lifts aside easily: the meter needs to stay reachable for readings and service.

Shop handmade fiber wall art from Houseland

-50%Above Couch Wall Decor, Two Battens Crossing into One Deep Vfrom $121.83$243.99-50%Boho Wall Decor Set of 2 Fringe Panels, Two Heights on Wood Battensfrom $139.99$279.99-50%Large Tassel Wall Hanging on a Wave Batten, 70 x 80 cm, Two Palettesfrom $149.99$299.99-50%Woven Wall Art Set of 3, Yarn Wrapped Wood Hoopsfrom $54.99$109.99-50%Wall Hanging Fabric, Wood Dome Over Three Stepped Fringe Blocksfrom $54.99$109.99-50%Dip Dye Wall Hanging, Portrait Landscape on a Dark Wood Battenfrom $144.95$289.95

See all handmade fiber wall art →