I'm being a good daughter and helping my mother with her window treatments. She just had replacement windows installed -- and along with them, plantation shutters. (Oooh, ahhh, I love plantation shutters.) Now she needs new drapes and probably new curtain rods (because she currently has icky 1970s traverse rods).

Here's the question: Would you choose one long curtain rod to span the window's width or two short dummy rods to flank the window?

Notes:

- She has four sets of double windows in her living /dining room ... each window is 36x54, so each window pair is 72x54 ... maybe slightly wider because of the wooden supports /stiles between the two windows.

- The windows are simple rectangles /double-hung style.

- The drapes are already purchased, and they are 95", so they'll be roughly floor-to-ceiling. They are a simple rod pocket style -- no grommets or rings ... meaning, if we go with the dummy rods, the rod will largely be hidden in the pocket. I'm wondering if I like that ... in the pictures below, I like seeing the rod /seeing that the curtain is supported ... I think I'm saying I prefer the more chunky curtain rods.

- The curtain rods are not yet purchased. We are going out to do this on Saturday.

- The drapes do not need to close. Privacy is not an issue, and the shutters will serve for sun control, meaning that the drapes are for looks only.

Two pictures of full-length rods ... and two pictures of short dummy rods: