How to Make a Long Shower Curtain with Valance

This Fall, we have officially lived in our home for 17 years! When I was thinking back to the last time I redecorated my boys’ bathroom, I thought it had been “a few” years, well turns out that was 6 years ago! Really there was nothing wrong with the bath, it just felt tired and a bit blah, plus all our sons are now away at college, so it felt like a good time to update the decor.

The walls were Sherwin Williams Silvermist, and I had a custom Greek key shower curtain made on Etsy that was 72″ x 96″ long. Before this shower curtain, I had another long custom shower curtain made for the boys’ bath 17 years ago! I just prefer the look of a long shower curtain that goes ceiling to floor. My good friend, Jill Norwood, shared on one of her Instagram stories how she used (2) 72″ x 72″ standard shower curtains to achieve the same ceiling to floor look. With so many great choices available in stores and online, this seemed like a much easier and price effective option.

Jill’s method is to hang one full shower curtain from a shower curtain rod at regular standard height (where it “kisses the floor,” as she says), then with the second curtain rod, she folds it into thirds and uses that as a valance that she hangs from clip rings on another higher hung shower curtain rod. I tried her way and loved it, then my engineer husband came up to check it out and commented that everyone would hit their head on the lower shower curtain rod. Engineers are so practical, I tell ya! I told him everyone would just have to duck and it would be fine, but then I started thinking of solutions to “raise the bar….”

While these diagram pics aren’t super high tech, hopefully it will give you a better sense of how I went about extending the shower curtain so it could hang from a higher rod.

Keep one standard shower curtain panel aside and do not cut!
Next, follow diagram for second shower curtain and cut about 24″ down from top of panel. Make sure to cut evenly-my fabric was large plaid, so it was easy to follow a line and make a straight cut!

3. After piece 1 is cut from top of second panel, you will have the remainder of fabric left from this panel. Fold it over evenly and this will be the valance.

4. Solid line is where you seam together full length shower curtain with piece 1 from second shower curtain. Make sure curtain ring holes are at top!

I don’t have a good photo to show you how I added the seam because I am no expert seamstress by any stretch of the imagination, but I do ok watching YouTube videos and can usually figure things out, for the most part ( emphasis on “for the most part!” ) I watched 2-3 different videos on “How to add a seam to a piece of fabric” and tried it once I felt pretty confident. It really wasn’t hard! The most important thing I learned was to keep your seams straight while sewing for a nice, professional look.

Basic Idea:

Long Shower Curtain: 72″ + 24″ = 96″ after seam is added

Valance: Leftover piece of fabric: 72″ – 24″ =48″

Fold 48″ piece over and hang from clip rings to make a 24″ valance that hangs over long shower curtain and hides the seam.

I found the plaid shower curtains on Amazon. I love the neutral colors…

Here is a shot of the back where the seam was added. A lot of people add seams to the length of the fabric to make long shower curtains, but I added a seam to the width.

Below, you can see where the seam was added to extend the standard shower curtain length.

And here is how the valance covers up the seam by extending over it.

One shower curtain rod hangs slightly higher than the other, and the valance can easily slide out of the way when the full length shower curtain is opened and closed. (I just used clear plastic rings for the shower curtain on rod that’s hidden under valance)

6 years ago, when we updated this bathroom, I had Mark add beadboard paneling at 2/3 the height of the wall so I could add towel hooks to the wall opposite the sink. Since it’s a small bath, I needed to optimize the space as much as possible, and adding the hooks was not only a nice decorative touch, but made so much more sense having a place for towels to be easily hung and dry after showers.

The new paint color is Ashwood by Benjamin Moore and the paneling is painted in White Dove by Benjamin Moore. I was inspired by For the Love of a House’s interior paint colors, although at first Ashwood had a green undertone when I was painting at night! In the day, it looked more greige and I like the classic look with the plaid shower curtain so much better! I think I read that Ashwood is an off-white, but it definitely has green undertones in this North-facing bath.

I had this trout print from a thrift store find in my “stash,” and had it rematted and reframed for this space. ( I’m also redoing our oldest son’s bedroom which will now be our guest room, so I guess this is the guest bath now? You will see some design parallels when I share that space at a later time….AKA I love fish prints! )

I was looking for a nicer rug than a bath mat, and stumbled upon this great find at Home Goods in the clearance section. Ridiculously discounted! Such a nice surprise and I don’t think I could’ve found one that looked any better for this space.

Finally, I painted the vanity-something I have been wanting to try for some time. It turned out so good! Click here to read about that process.

I’m really thrilled with how great the shower curtain and valance turned out, as well as the whole space. It’s such a small bathroom, but I tried to add as much detail as possible while keeping it classic. I hope this has inspired you to try and make a custom-looking long shower curtain with valance!

Can’t believe September’s here already! Not sure how I feel about Summer coming to a close, as it’s my favorite….