Wednesday, September 19, 2012

DIY Curtain Rod for Under 5 Dollars






I am always surprised at how expensive curtain rods can be.  Ikea tends to have the best prices for them, but their selection is very slim.  So, we decided to try our hand at making our own.  

We purchased electrical conduit at our local home improvement store for  $1.67 for a 10 foot rod that was one-half inch in diameter.  The 10 ft. rod would not fit into our car, so they were kind enough to cut it for us.  We did need to cut it again when we got home (because the piece was still too large for the space) but it cut very easily with a hack saw.
We also purchased a can of black semi-gloss spray paint for a couple of dollars.  We chose black because we wanted it to blend in with the library walls.  We only used a third of the can.

I was a little worried at first about finding the brackets and knobs for the ends of the curtain rods.  I looked in many home improvement and department stores but could only find the brackets sold as a combo with the curtain rods.  I finally ended up finding them at a second hand store.  I was so excited!  There were three brackets and two knobs for the ends for $1.50.

The end of the knobs had a skinny screw at one end which made them difficult to attach them to the conduit.  They were also quite heavy.  My husband came up with the idea of cutting a square piece of wood just the right size to put into the opening of the conduit. So he wedged in the wood piece with a hammer, then he drilled a hole right in the center of the wood piece.  So it was easy to screw the knobs right into the rod.  It worked perfectly.



There you have it.  Curtain rods for our library for about $5 ( it would only be a little over $3 if you already have the paint on hand).  Now that is a deal!  We plan to do the same thing for the upstairs living room curtains.



{New to Redfly? Many more great ideas to come!}


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40 comments:

  1. This is genius. I love beating the system like that! :) I bought PVC pipe, intending to paint & use it as curtain rods this summer...never got around to it. But I'm with ya!

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  2. I just used conduit to make a rod for my living room last month. I had to buy the brackets, so it cost me $17, but it would have been close to $50 for what I needed.

    Genius!

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    Replies
    1. Did you find the brackets sold without rods? $17 is still much better than $50!
      Glad you were able to save some money. :0)

      Melissa

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  3. Wow, thanks so much for this awesome idea! I just so happen to be in the market for a long curtain rod. Your price is much better than what I've been seeing! Genius.

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  4. Awesome idea...thanks for sharing!

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  5. Great idea! We've got a wall of windows that we're putting in our reno, & I've been wondering how to span all that with a curtain rod!

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  6. This is very cool. Thank you for sharing.
    Mingz Eclectic Creations

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  7. Great idea! Did you also make your curtains? I love that fabric and if you were able to find a bargain and would care to share about that, I'd be grateful. :)

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    Replies
    1. I actually did not make these curtains. I had a vision of what I wanted and looked FOREVER for the fabric, but could never find any. I finally found what I wanted at LOWES. They were about $30 a panel. (I love them too. :0) ) I was, however, recently introduced to fabric.com and found fabric that I love for the upstairs curtains there. You might look there if you would really like to make them yourself.

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  8. Where did you find the beautiful green fabric for the curtains?? I love it!!

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  9. I searched and searched for fabric for these curtains. Believe it or not, I found them already made at Lowes! :0)

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  10. Great idea! It can be very hard to find curtain rods in the style one likes.

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  11. If you couldn't find any thrift-store curtain rod ends, I wonder if drawer pulls would work just as well- I know certain hobby/craft/improvement stores carry them in all sorts of varieties (ranging in prices of course).

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    Replies
    1. I thought the same thing! Hobby Lobby does have tons of really cute drawer pulls that I have always wanted to use for something but never had anything to use them for.
      And then I was thinking you could possibly glue them in the end? I'm not sure if silicone or caulking would work to attach them at the end but the wood square chunks was a genius idea.

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    2. I totally agree! I did look there once because I wanted one of those glass knob ends for one of my curtain rods. I couldn't find one big enough. There were however, plenty of other styles that would have worked just fine. Great idea!

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  12. i love this idea- very cost effective!

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  13. JoAnn's fabrics and crafts also has great brackets and knobs. They have some in the home fabrics section and some in the wood crafts section. I've also gotten some great brackets at Home Depot...

    I LOVE your conduit idea! My hubby is an electrician and I've got that stuff in the garage, but never thought to do it for curtain rods...duh. We're moving this week and have a very wide window in the master bedroom that needs to have curtains, plus I'm going to do a canopy over the bed, so I can use the conduit there too. Thanks so much!
    Renae

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    Replies
    1. Great! How perfect to already have conduit on hand. I'm sure you'll probably come up with other great ideas on how to use it. :)

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  14. Awesome idea, Melissa! It looks fantastic!

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  15. I know it's been a long time since you posted this, but thanks for such a wonderful idea! It's not only cheap, which we can all appreciate, but it looks great, too - can't get any better than that! Off to Home Depot...

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