a conundrum:front room drapery placement

i have a conundrum: i don't know what to do with the front room drapery. we have a laaarge expanse of windows that i would like to frame with curtains -- not necessarily curtains that close since we already installed the shades for privacy. these drapes would be for decorative purposes only.

the previous owners had heavy, heavy drapes spanning the length of the windows. i found it completely overwhelming and definitely do NOT want a wall of curtains again.

previous owners' window treatment:

my original thought was to hang skinny panels on three short rods -- closer to the ceiling than the previous rod was -- to frame the set of two short windows and the large picture window.

however, i can't find rods short enough for what i'm envisioning and that led to me thinking about other possibilities. now i'm ALL mixed up about what would look best.

i could keep the same three skinny panels look --

but hang a large rod over the entire expanse of windows.

i could hang a long rod over the two short windows and get a smaller rod for the other side of the picture window. again, i would use three skinny panels.

i could put a long rod with functioning drapes over the short windows and put a skinny panel on a smaller rod for the other side of the picture window.

i could put two short rods, each holding a skinny panel, just on either side of the windows -- omitting the middle panel completely.

i got this next idea from the house we stayed at on our vacation - they had what appeared to be wood wrapped in fabric as a sort of pseudo-valance. i like this idea the least.

what to do, what to do...

note: leaving just the shades bare is not really an option since i already bought some divine ikat print fabric to make drapes out of.

* mari