You can apply the same trick with your curtains: hang them high under the cornice and try a pattern with a vertical stripe.

The webs of these spiders are characterized by a vertical stripe running down the center.

We all pretended that it didn't have very obvious purple vertical stripes on the picture.

The front of the top was red with distinctive, silver, vertical stripes.

The top half makes the waist appear small while the clever vertical stripes draw the eye to the knees rather than hips.