Can't recommend drapery for sure without knowing what your windows look like, but it seems that 96" drapes would fit perfectly without shortening. If your ceiling is 8'4", that is 100 inches.

Where do the window frames hit in relation to the ceiling height?

If you order ready-mades and they come in wrinkled, you can take them to the dry cleaner and have them pressed, or you can do them yourself. Some fabrics may not be pressable, but will need to be steamed, so you would have to check the care tags for that.

I will try to take a picture of the window. Actually, I can take a picture. The thing I don't know how to do is post it. I'd probably have to have DH do it. The other thing is I do have crown molding at the ceiling. I just measured as well as I could (the cornice was in the way and I can't take it down)and I think there is 12 inches between the bottom of the crown and the top of the window frame. My brain isn't functioning but it seems that the crown would cause the 96" drapes to not work. I just held my tape measure up as well as I could.

Do you wish these drapes to be operable or stationary panels? If they are stationary, the panels can always "kiss" the floor. I have custom drapes on order for my LR/DR because the rooms both face the street, are quite wide windows and so would've need multiple panels and I needed them to be operable. When I had my windows measured, we planned to have the rod sit a few inches below the crown (to be installed) and then the drapes fall below the rod. So 84" could work if hung on a decorative rod, but 96" would need to be shortened.

I know JC Penny's makes operable pinch pleats in wider sizes as well as made-to-measure drapery which are both quite a bit less expensive than custom.

Here is a link that might be useful: Made-to-measure JCP drapes

JCPenney has beautiful drapes and the quality is good. Their prices are great.

If you don't sew, you must have some other talent you could trade with a friend who would hem drapes for you if it's needed? It's also okay for drapes to puddle on the floor slightly if you want.

To find directions on how to post a picrure here, you can type "how post picture" in the search engine and more than one great post will come up telling you how. You can book mark, or print out and save, or just type that in the search window again every time you forget.

Thanks, I appreciate the replies. The drapes can be stationary as I have a Silhouette blind in the window. I got on the website for the Penney's drapes. They have quite a selection. Is there a standard height that a rod should be hung above the window molding? Or is it just what looks good? That's also something I've never quite understood.

Unless your room is already on the tall and narrow side, I'd hang them from the ceiling, which makes the room look taller and doesn't break up the 'line'.

We have gas hot water heat in our home. I have a baseboard right below that window. I wonder if the rod will make the drapes hang out far enough to not hang in an odd way. These baseboards can be annoying sometimes.

I agree with lucy about installing closer to the ceiling/crown. That tends to draw the eye up and make your ceilings appear higher. I do not know much about the gas hot water heaters, but I have to wonder if it would be wise to cover it up with drapes. How does this work? A picture would really help.

I will attempt to post a picture later today. Since I will never be actually closing the drapes only a very small part of the baseboard would be covered on the sides.

Gas hot water heater registers do not usually create a problem. I have had curtains right over them and they look fine. There is no worry about combustion, etc. like there would be with electric baseboard. All that is in the register is a hot water pipe and radiant fins. The drapery rod is usually far out enough to drape properly.

In that case you could either go standard 96" and puddle or get some of the made-to-length ones from JCP if you see something that you like. Depending on the type of drapes and width of window, you may want to consider doubling the panels to get a fuller look. Do think about using a pretty decorative rod and rings to hang them