The rods on our drapery cranes are manufactured at 35 7/8” in length. The finials are 3’ long and the L-bracket at the wall mount adds 1” from the outside of the bracket or 3/8” from inside the bracket. Consequently, an assembled drapery crane mounted on a window trim or wall will extend 39 ¼” from the inside edge of the wall bracket to the tip of the finial.

To install the cranes on a particular window, you may want to reduce the length of the crane to suit a specific window treatment. For example, suppose you want a pair of cranes to mount on the wall up tight to the window trim and you want the finials to overlap when the cranes are closed across the window. This treatment essentially has the ends of the two cranes butting up to each other if the finials were to be removed from the cranes. The window measures 42” wide from the outside of the window trim. To achieve this look, the tubular rods should be cut to a length of 20 5/8” long on each side [ i.e., 21” – 3/8” = 20 5/8” ].

If the same window treatment were to be installed with the brackets mounted on the outside edge of the window wood trim, then the rod length must be adjusted by the full 1” width of the L-bracket [ i.e., 21” – 1” = 20” cut size]. If the window treatment on the same window is to have the finials butt up to one another when the cranes are closed across the window, the length of the finial, as well as the adjustment for placement of the wall bracket must be considered. If the wall bracket is mounted on the wall next to the window trim, then the 21” overall extension of the crane from the inside edge of the L-bracket must be reduced 3/8” for the bracket extension and 3” for the length of the finial or 3 3/8” total. The tubular rods should be cut to 17 5/8” in length.

You will want to cut the rods to make the overall crane extensions fit your treatment specifications as closely as possible. However, for most installations, a minor deviation in length up to ½” per rod is not likely to affect the appearance of the window treatment. Usually, you will have some leeway in the placement of the wall bracket that will allow you to compensate for minor deviations in the length of the rods.