simple, inexpensive, diy curtain rods

Curtain rods can be absurdly expensive. Especially when you need 8 foot long ones. They have to be sturdy and durable otherwise they bow in the middle and don’t solidly hang up the curtains.

We have two huge windows in our living room, each about 8 feet wide, and the price of curtain rods that size was literally hurting me. So naturally, we made some. To do this we used the following supplies, with costs included:

• – L shaped brackets – $3 for a 4 pack
• – 1/2″ one hole straps – $1.50 for a 4 pack
• – nuts and bolts – $1.50
• – 1/2″ electrical conduit – $3 each for a 10 foot piece

To cut the conduit to size you’ll need a hacksaw. They’re inexpensive to buy but Al found that there’s a set up in the crown molding section that he was able to use. So we saved money but cutting them in Home Depot instead of buying a saw. He cut them to size and with our supplies we headed home.

They were so easy to make. We simply used the nuts and bolts to secure the one hole straps with the L brackets. Once those were all together we were ready to hang.

To make sure all the brackets were hung at the same height I cut the corner of a sheet of paper out. Each time Al hung one he held the paper to the corner of the window and knew exactly where to secure the bracket.

Once they were secured, which I’ll digress for a minute – Below is the picture of casualties from this project. Whatever material the external walls are made of in this building do not allow for things to be hung. Everything bounces back, breaks, bends and so on. It’s absurd. Hanging things on the internal walls is like butter though, one swipe of the hammer and it’s hung. It’s so strange.

Anyway, this was quite a feat to get these hung, but we finally did. The conduit fits perfectly in the brackets. They’re not done yet, we still need to paint them and add finials to the ends, but I still haven’t decided what color to paint them and what finials I want.

The total cost for two eight foot rods with brackets was $12 plus some tax. So $6 each which like I said, for two huge rods is amazing. I’ll still need to add in the costs of the finials and spray paint but I still don’t anticipate each rod to end up being more than $10-12 each. The rods I was pricing out were $40-50 each (which was at discount stores like TJ Maxx and Ross) so I am totally pleased with this.

I’ll share the final look of them once I decide on paint color and finials! How do you guys hang curtains? I’ve said in the past how I hate drapes but with these humongous windows I have no choice!