Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Curtain Rod Completion


A while back, I decided that I wanted to hang curtains in our dining room.  The problem with hanging curtains on the large set of windows in this room is that we needed a 14 foot curtain rod, which is impossible to come by without going the custom (ie: very pricey) route.  We decided to craft a curtain rod out of a closet rod pole found at Home Depot.

We picked up finials at the Depot as well:



The curtain rod supports were picked up in a bagged set from Goodwill for $3.99:

The bag included 4 supports and 4 finials.  We needed 3 of the supports for our dining room curtain, and we opted to use the bigger finials that we found at Home Depot for this project.


We screwed in the finials and primed the rod/finial combination, and then we spray painted the entire set using Rustoleum's Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint:







It took about three coats of the spray paint for good coverage.  We found curtain rings (at Bed, Bath and Beyond) that fit the size of our curtain rod diameter and matched the oil rubbed bronze finish almost perfectly so we didn't need to spray paint them:



Hanging the curtain rod was anything but fun.  I wanted to hang the curtains high and wide to add the illusion of height and space in the room.  By choosing a high spot on the ceiling, we ran into a metal strapping support, which required us to put in a call to our carpenter to discuss whether or not we could safely drill through this part of our wall.

We were given the green light, but were told that the stud we wanted to hit was within about an inch from the edge of the window framing, requiring us to move our rod support closer to the window than we had originally planned.  Ah well, it's not a completely functional curtain (which we didn't need anyway), but it definitely adds some height and drama to the space.

Here's a couple 'before the curtains were hung' pictures:



We were so excited to get this rod hung and out of our office!

I'm contemplating adding a bold, chevron pattern in the form of either a rug or curtains in this room, so while I wait to decide, I just hung a pair of IKEA Ritva curtains that we had on hand already for a project we are planning for our exercise room in the basement.

Before:


After:




My reaction to having curtains in our dining room: I. Am. Happy!
Even with a simple white curtain, the space feels cozier.

Cost Breakdown:
Spray Paint: $12
Closet Rod: $26 with 10% off coupon at Home Depot (We used a larger diameter closet rod.  The smaller size rod would have only cost $13...next time we'll use the smaller size.)
Finials: $12 with 10% off coupon at Home Depot
Supports: $3.99
Curtain Rings: $16 using coupons at Bed, Bath and Beyond
Curtains: On Hand=FREE

Total: $70...definitely not the cheapest curtain rod/curtain combo, but it's perfect for the space, and it beats the cost of a 14 foot custom curtain rod!!

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