Raising the Shower Curtain to the Ceiling

By the time we finally unpacked the shower curtain last week, it had been 48 hours since either of us had taken a proper shower. Those two days involved plenty of heavy lifting and unpacking, so getting the curtain up felt like a small, satisfying victory in the moving process. What didn’t feel satisfying at first was the way the curtain sat once we tried to hang it.

We love the look of an extra-long shower curtain that reaches all the way to the ceiling because it visually raises the height of the room. For reference, we were using a 95″ waffle curtain and an 86″ fabric liner—lengths that can help create that tall, airy effect. The problem wasn’t the curtain; it was the tension rod we inherited. It was just shy of tall enough to reach the smooth, un-tiled section of the shower wall at the top. In our case the rod was literally about a half inch too short to grip the higher wall. That left the bottom of the extra-long curtain bunched awkwardly around the toilet base, which was not acceptable to us.

So our first post-move stop was Home Depot to pick up a longer tension rod. Swapping in the new rod made an immediate difference: the curtain now hangs at ceiling height and the whole bathroom suddenly feels taller and more finished. The curtain even diffuses light beautifully—despite being higher than a standard rod, it doesn’t make the shower dark. Instead, the curtain and liner let light pass through so the shower stays bright and pleasant.

Small Changes, Big Impact

Hanging a taller curtain is a minor change, but it’s the kind of small update that starts to make the bathroom feel like ours. The room already has great bones and quality finishes, so we don’t need a full remodel yet—just a few tweaks to align it with our taste. One of the first things on our list is replacing the light fixture with something smaller so it doesn’t intrude on the ceiling-height curtain. A slimmer fixture will better complement the new vertical line created by the curtain.

We’re also appreciating the existing finishes while planning future changes. The sleek stainless shower fixtures add a clean, modern touch, and the glass shelves bring a spa-like feel that we’re likely to keep. Those components already fit our style, so they’ll probably remain part of the long-term plan for the master bathroom.

Mirrors and Choices

There’s one item we know won’t be staying: the mirrored closet door. It may sound surprising—when have we ever removed a mirror?—but we already have a substantial, attractive floor-length mirror in the bedroom. That mirror, which I gifted to Sherry as a surprise, gives us everything we need. The mirrored door near the bathroom feels redundant and less interesting, so it’s on the list to go.

We’ll proceed carefully when we remove it, since taking a mirror off a door can be tricky. We’re hopeful the process will be uneventful, but we’ll share the step-by-step details of the removal when we tackle it so anyone else contemplating a similar change can follow along.

Next Steps

For now, we’re enjoying the immediate payoff of hanging the curtain at ceiling height: improved proportions, better light, and a more intentional feel in the space. Over time we’ll continue with measured updates—lighting, mirror removal, and perhaps other cosmetic tweaks—until the bathroom reflects more of our style. Small changes like a longer tension rod can go a long way toward making a new place feel like home.