Curtain Rods: The Inspiration

I recently got some curtains for the master bedroom, which meant taking down the stylin' blankets we had hanging in the windows before.  Nice.  However, now we have thin tension rods fitted into the window frame and bowing under the weight of the new curtains.  Not the best look.  So my boyfriend and I went to our local home improvement store (Menards!  If you live in the midwest and you're not shopping there, it's time to start!) and looked for some curtain rods.  Here are the ones we found that we liked:

So much classier than the current look.  For sale here.

The only problem is that they didn't have the color we wanted, oil rubbed bronze, to match the rest of our fixtures and such.  Black was the best option, and I think it would've looked okay because our curtains have some black in them.  Otherwise we'd have to paint them to get the oil rubbed bronze look.  The regular price is $24.99 and the online sale price is $20.74.  I realize that this is actually a pretty decent price for curtain rods, but it seemed like a waste to drop almost $50 to hang curtains on two windows.  So, I did a google search for ideas and some bargain shopping and figured out how to make them in a similar look for about half the price.  And with this approach, I can paint them oil rubbed bronze (or whatever color I want!).

They're still a work in progress, so no promises yet, but I'm hoping to have a finished product to share within a week or so!  Fingers crossed!