For a nursery you have to think of child proofing as much as possible. The look of the nursery comes last. If the windows are near the crib where the child can grab them then no drapes at all. Use blinds. If the crib isn't near the window then use drapes just to the bottom of the sill where a toddler can't reach to pull them down. Also you are going to want to make them as room darkening as possible. Kids don't care about time, as soon as they see sunlight they are up. Even if it's 5 AM.

Thanks! Crib won’t be within reach of drapes. Second kid so I know all to well about blackout 🤣

Just some thoughts:

In addition to the potential for children to try to climb / pull on the drapes, you have a vent below the window.

Not a fan of the droopy dragging the floor look either.

Curtains hung high above the top of the window frame expose bare wall above the window that can look ... bare. Unless you already have art of some kind you want to put there -- such as the baby's name or large wood initial of the family's last name in your favorite bold color or even pressed metal sculpture of the sun or a flower or musical notes ... something that reflects your family and its interests and makes you smile to look at it, consider hanging a double curtain rod immediately above the top of the window frame.

Then

Vertically choose curtains or hem the fabric to be a length just barely below the window sill.

Horizontally, have the rod extend beyond the window frame, left and right, so that you can open your curtains/drapes on the outer rod all the way and cover the side of the window frame and part of the wall beside that but not cover any of the glass ... letting in as much natural light as possible.

In lieu of a valance to cover the rod between the drape panels and so you can leave them open or closed and have a third option of having some small degree of privacy while letting in the light, choose an old style flat white double curtain rod that fits into a rod pocket atop your window treatment and hang sheers on the inside rod and you can leave them open or closed,

Using those rods is less expensive than most other rods and it also means that in order to "dust" -- remove dust -- that might otherwise accumulate on the top of the curtains and rod, you need only to toss them in the washer and can hang your sheers up after they spin dry and you likely can hang the curtains back up after they're only partly dry so the wrinkles can drop out rather than set in.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Mainstays-48-86-in-Basic-Adjustable-Double-Curtain-Rod-2-3-in-Clearance/42489123?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&wl13=1122&adid=2222222227742489123_117755028669_12420145346&wmlspartner=wmtlabs&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=501107745824&wl4=pla-293946777986&wl5=9011018&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=local&wl12=42489123&wl13=1122&veh=sem_LIA&gclid=Cj0KCQiAqvaNBhDLARIsAH1Pq50LHt1hCO185Tvcr_V9vqO3AvVQ3mfUO1N7t6px1OFo3lDDuZNg_RoaAkAJEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Good point about the vent! Ugh it’s the only one in the room too. As you can see, we already have roller shades but they just don’t block enough light so I wanted to layer.

Maybe Roman shades make more sense for multiple reasons. The windows don’t have a lot of depth so we were told we’d have to have a pretty substantial valence which isn’t my taste…

Maybe drapes could be left just slightly open at vent since roller shades will do most of the light blocking at that point 🤷🏻‍♀️

There are room darkening mini blinds and the newer ones don't have the strings that are potentially dangerous for children.

My personal preference for a nursery, however, is louvered plantation shutters painted the same color as the window trim. While they will require some dusting just as other furnishings in the room will require, there is more light/privacy control and, for me, the selling point is that plantation shutters don't absorb smells the way fabrics do ... and babies do make smells.

Also, there are whole house smells to consider -- that dish you fried or to which you added garlic and onion, etc. -- and you might not want other smells from your house to linger in your nursery.

Thanks for the advice and fast replies! Our home is a mid century ranch with Scandinavian and contemporary elements so plantation shutters don’t work and this window is street facing so I don’t want it to be too dissimilar to the other window adjacent, and we have roller shades already installed in both rooms.

I know drapes going to the base of window trim work and are more practical but I’m not sure I can appreciate that look.

Maybe the drapes are just left open slightly at the vent. Would that be so terrible?

Decisions decisions 😁

I also like a long sided valance hiding a shade or blinds when they're not in use (when light is on ... so night or very cloudy day) for privacy.

https://www.swagsgalore.com/boxwood-63-swag-linded-set-sand-swags-galore.html?utm_source=googlepepla&utm_medium=adwords&id=18283950120&gclid=Cj0KCQiAqvaNBhDLARIsAH1Pq51hixU-T1-Q87ZWvrv2TVhq1milXxB0jVan_HKP-yKoMyM7DKo7gG0aAv5vEALw_wcBhttps://www.swagsgalore.com/boxwood-63-swag-linded-set-sand-swags-galore.html?utm_source=googlepepla&utm_medium=adwords&id=18283950120&gclid=Cj0KCQiAqvaNBhDLARIsAH1Pq51hixU-T1-Q87ZWvrv2TVhq1milXxB0jVan_HKP-yKoMyM7DKo7gG0aAv5vEALw_wcB

Just remind yourself that the shorter drapes are what is more authentically mid century! And a lot easier to toss into the wash, less likely to be pulled down by a toddler, too.

That’s true :)

Maybe I’ll compare with cordless Roman shades! Even with a big valence I think that’s a better look than short drapes. And toddlers can still pull on short drapes.