You may have noticed in previous posts that my dining room window is quite bare. We had the blinds that came with the house, but the window is 10 feet long so we had a hard time finding a curtain rod
I wanted something substantial and really loved the look of this one from Home Deopt but I just couldn't justify spending $80 on just the rod. For that price, it better make my curtains too!
The nice Home Depot man escorted my friend Jennifer and I around helping us come up with ideas to make our own. We bought a 10ft rod of 3/4" of electrical conduit (in the electrical aisle) for $3.87 and a can of black spray paint ($4.00). Of course we didn't think about the 1o ft rod fitting in my SUV at the time, so we sat outside Home Depot waiting on our hubbies to get out of a mission trip meeting and come get us in the truck :)
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
Electrical Conduit[/caption]We also bought three standard brackets to hold the rod (Price not included since I would have had to buy those either way)
I picked up these beautiful vintage cabinet knobs at a local antique store for $3 each
To get make the knob stay inside the hollow conduit, we screwed the knob into a wine cork and then inserted the wine cork into the rod. It fits perfectly so you have to do a little wiggling to get it all the way down and flush with the end. (I'm not going to lie, I was a little proud of my ingenuity on this one)
We (and by "we", I mean Jennifer, I can't sew to save my life) made my curtains by sewing a hem on all 4 sides of 3 panels of fabric. It took 3 panels of full width to cover my 10 foot window. As you can see we hung the curtains with rings that we got a great deal on at Lowes. They were on clearance for $2.97.
Isn't that so much better than the ugly white blinds?!
Thanks for stopping by! Don't forget to come back on Wednesday to link up your handmade creations!
Hey there! I'm stopping' by from the blog hop and wanted to let you know I liked your Facebook page! Hope you'll get a chance to visit me! You can find me here:
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http://www.croppedstories.blogspot.com
Facebook
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This is awesome. Gonna pin it for later! Just liked your fb page, and will now also be following via bloglovin. =0)
ReplyDelete~Kim
Thanks Kim!!
ReplyDeleteThis is pure genius Amanda! I am pinning because I have a huge window in our dining room that I want to dress up but don't/ can't spend a ton of money on it!
ReplyDeleteHi Amanda, I work at Home Depot and I tell people to do that all the time with the electrical conduit. It just kills me that they charge so much for a curtain rod and the conduit is so economical.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I had about the same idea, only thought of using bambo rods........think I might just try this idea!
ReplyDeletemy husband is a electrition and i have used conduit for many things 1 i loved best is i wanted shepards hooks attached to our deck for hanging plants and windchimes but i needed 6 and if you have ever checked the proce of these you will know why i didn't get any however my hubby has pipe benders he usues for his jobs and he just bent me some hooks out of conduit and drilled holes streight through both side to run some heavy gauge wire to hang things from then we painted them and he screwed them into the deck and they have been there for 14 years only had to touch up the paint 2 times after a couple of bad hail storms chopped them its been great!
ReplyDeleteThat is genius!! We used shepherd's hooks for our wedding in 2011, wish I had thought of that! We could have saved so much $$!
ReplyDeleteI have a window this same size too and am so impressed with your creative solution! I'm going to remember this idea for the future if we decide on some new curtains for our super duper big window.
ReplyDeleteI think this will be a good alternative to an expensive patio door rod. I want to hang my one-way draw curtains without a middle bracket for support. Think this will work?
ReplyDeleteTrix, I don't think this one would work with out a middle bracket because conduit can be bent. Maybe try a wooden dowel and stain it. I've heard great results from dowels too.
ReplyDeleteAWSOME AWSOME I am on SSI and always looking for ways to save money. This is a great savings, you could do it on any size window by changing the size of the pipe. Thanks so much for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI've used pvc pipe too.
ReplyDeleteI have been doing that for years. It was a no-brainer. Right size, perfect price and can be painted in any color. That's all I use and all I have used for many years. Drawer pulls also come in many shapes and colors and I also use them for the ends.
ReplyDeleteVery pretty! I tried to follow you on fb, but I couldn't find you!
ReplyDeleteThanks Michelle! You can click on my FB button on the right side bar, or my URL is https://www.facebook.com/CupcakesAndCorndogs
ReplyDeleteThankyou for the wonderful tip, I plan on trying this as I have many large and long windows...thanks again
ReplyDeleteWow - great ideas- I love your table runner - may I ask where you purchased it?
ReplyDeleteThanks
Margie
Hi Margie! Thanks! The table runner is actually just pressed fabric from hobby lobby! You can read about it in this post http://cupcakesandcorndogs.com/2013/03/easter-table-setting.html
ReplyDeleteDo you have any problem with the paint peeling or chipping from the curtain rings being moved back and forth over it?
ReplyDeleteAllison, If you climb up there and look close you can see a few little scratches but you can't see it just standing there. It hasn't chipped at all, just scratched a little from the rings sliding. Thanks for stopping by!
ReplyDeletehi pamela, do you think home depot would cut this conduit rod down to 9' or does it only come in 10'? thanks!
ReplyDeleteHi Jackie,
ReplyDeleteI should be able to cut it for you, it does come in several lengths but I don't think 9' is a standard length.