The question about drapery length comes up frequently and the best reply to this is that there are a few options.

Puddling is extra fabric at the bottom (about 12″ extra fabric) that is folded under and just, puddles, as the name suggests. This takes extra fabric making for extra cost, but certainly has a place in a traditional style home or one that is trying to stay in a certain time period.

Pooling is puddling to the extreme, (more than 12″) this is a lot of extra fabric and is not as common as puddling.

Breaking is when the drapery sits on the floor, and has the look similar to a pant leg that is breaking on your shoe. This is common and works fine for drapery panels that won’t be going anywhere. If you need to move your drapery back and forth, the bottom of the drapes will get worn quickly.

Floor length is generally showing 1/2″ clearance from the floor, any more than this and they will start to look like your window is wearing floods. This is really popular so you can move the drapes back and forth and avoid a collision with the vaccuum.

Sill length is stopping just below the window sill, leaving up to 4″ to cover the bottom of the trim is best. This length is good if you’re on a budget and don’t want to spend the money on fabric, or if you have electric heating vents that will cause a problem with floor length drapery.

Visit my ideabook on houzz.com to view great pics of drapery lengths.