2012 January — Domestic Imperfection

How To Make Your Own Curtain Rods On The Cheap

Making your own curtain rods is super easy and super cheap…. it’s a project you can do even if your not a DIY kinda person. I made a rod for just under bucks, including all the hardware.

The secret to the homemade curtain rod is electrical conduit, which you can find at any hardware store. I love this stuff and have used it all over my house. I used it to make my laundry room curtains…

My funky, uneven, dining room bay window curtains…

Modern Farmhouse Dining Room - Domestic Imperfection

My master bedroom curtains (which I never blogged about)…

and now my living room ones.

Now if you read a lot of DIY blogs than electrical conduit doesn’t seem very original idea, but when I was trying to make my three little bedroom windows look like a wall of windows I had never seen conduit used before. So it’s an original idea that everyone else thought of too, lol.

Anyway, electrical conduit can be found in the electrical isle of your hardware store and is about $2-3 dollars for ten feet (depending on the thickness). I bought the 3/4 inch, but I think most people buy the 1/2 inch. I like mine beefy :)

The first step is to cut it down to size. I used a hacksaw, but if you know what length you want they will cut it for you in the store. You could also buy your own pipe cutter if you feel like spending some $, but since your reading this post I’m assuming you don’t.

So here is my process….

First, cut it to length. Or if your feeling lazy, have your overzealous toddler do it for you.

I cut mine about two feet longer than my window is wide (I want the curtains to cover more wall than window, to make the window look bigger).

Then spray paint them whatever color your heart desires. I usually leave mine raw because I like the look, but this time I used rings on the curtains and wanted them to match. Here is the raw one and the one I painted pewter…

Then hang your brackets. Mine cost a little under $4 a set at Home Depot. I like to hang mine higher than the window…it’s all about making those windows look big and bright!

Then add your finials to the end of your rod. This is where you can get creative! I used decorative wicker balls for mine, but I thought about using decorated leftover Christmas ornaments or light bulbs, old doorknobs, cabinet pulls, big silk flowers, river rocks…

I found these at Hobby Lobby for less than two dollars a pop.

(Also, in case you are unaware, you can always print out a 40% off coupon at Hobby Lobby.com)

I want to be able to easily take down the curtains for washing so I made one of my finials removable. I wanted to glue a wine cork to the ball and insert it that way, but my husband and I aren’t drinkers and don’t have any lying around. Sooo, I got a little creative – and a little bit ghetto – and came up with this…

It’s a big ‘ol drywall screw that I wrapped duct tape around and glued to my ball. Then I just inserted it into the conduit to hide my ghettoness creativity.

Lastly, put your rods in the brackets and TA DA…custom curtain rods for ten bucks!

To see how to make super simple curtains, GO HERE.

How to make curtains - Domestic Imperfection

To see how to make slightly more complicated (but cheaper) curtains, GO HERE.

Simple and Affordable Bay Window Rods and Back Tab Curtains - Domestic Imperfection

Grounded

Remember that kitchen remodel we claim to be working on? We really are still working on it, just very very slowly. We did a teeny bit of work on it last week, so I thought I would share so that you know that we know that it’ not finished yet.

(If this is the first time your hearing about our kitchen, you can catch up on the main stuff here and here.)

So what did we do? Added toe kicks! And now the cabinets don’t feel like they’re floating anymore – they’re grounded (hence the title – I hope you weren’t expecting some deep personal post, lol).

So here is the before..

We didn’t just want to paint the current toe kicks because we wanted to make the bottom of the dishwasher blend in.

So the husband used some scrap beadboard the make the skins and we just used the backs.

and I slapped a quick coat of paint on them…

Then Adam (my super sexy sock and sandal wearing husband) and Elijah (my tool wielding diaper clad toddler) nailed them in…

Done! Told ya it was a teeny little project.

I do have one more kitchen thing for y’all though. Above the microwave we took out the cabinet in hopes of doing some open shelving. As it turns out, if your taller than 5’3″ there is a whole mess of stuff up there that is visible (who knew?).

We were brainstorming on how to hide it all, but didn’t come up with anything fantastic and decided just to do the open shelving and figure it out later. Adam cut the beadboard for the back and when he went to install it, it got stuck halfway in.

And I think we like it. It kinda looks like a vent-a-hood AND takes care of the whole ‘hiding the mess’ problem. Now just to pry that piece out and do it for real. Perhaps on a hinge so we can get to the router if there’s an internet problem (heaven forbid!).

Ashley