Hang It Up

This post is a little overdue. I just wanted to share how I made our curtain rods.

Yup, made.

Because curtain rods are expensive. REALLY expensive. And I have way better things to spend money on. Like wine.

I say this is overdue, because I had Nate hang the curtain rods weeks ago. Oops. I know you were all just staring at your computer screens waiting for me to tell you about this too.

Sorry.

Anyways... Like I said curtain rods are expensive, and our windows are all about 7 feet wide, which means we were looking at spending $25+ a piece. Once I saw the prices, I started brainstorming ways I could make just nailing the curtains into the wall look good.

Unfortunately, I couldn't tell you where I originally saw this, but I will give you the rundown on how I made them.  

I purchased all the supplies from Lowe's. Two 10ft. conduit rods, 4 curtain rod brackets, and a can of spray paint (I used Rustoleum's Oil Rubbed Bronze). Lowe's cut the conduit down to size for me, I said a little prayer that they would fit in my car, and I spray painted the rods and hardware at home.

Now the cut ends are a little sharp, but since I didn't plan on trying to feel these babies up anytime soon (no matter how great they look), and because they are about 2 feet above my reach, that wasn't a huge concern of mine. We also don't open and close our curtains, so chipping paint isn't a concern of our either.

I was cool with not having finials. I think I really prefer the look of not having them. I did have an issue with the end tab slipping off the end of the rod, so I got creative and used paperclips to hold them in place. If I hadn't told you, you would never know.

Please ignore the original holes. I will fill them...someday.

The conduit also is sturdy enough that I was able to not have the ugly center bracket, even though the windows are over 7ft wide.

So a quick cost breakdown estimate (I'm rounding up), for two windows

10ft conduit- 2@ $3 each

Brackets- 4@ $5 each

Spray paint- $6

Total: $29

So there you have it. Two nice looking, sturdy curtain rods for the same price (or less) than the best, yet still crappy, WalMart curtain rod.