DIY Curtain Rods: Complete!

We finally got our curtain rods finished and hung last night - LOVE them!



The after - real curtains on real curtain rods!

Here are the steps along the way:

Scrounge up some old tension rods from a closet and hang ratty blankets
as curtains in your new bedroom.  Live this way for a few months.

Buy some curtains you like on sale.  Thread them onto the tension rods.
A step up from the blankies in the windows but still not there yet.

Find a curtain rod you like and get inspired - read my post here.

Do a google search and realize you can use electrical conduit for curtain rods.
Awesome blog post about it here.
We got a 10-foot length of 3/4" conduit for just over $3.00
Cut your conduit to the size that you need.  Wear your safety googles!
If you don't have a saw, talk nicely to them at the store - they might do it for you!

Find some rad curtain rod brackets at your local thrift store.
.79 for a set of four - just what I needed.
MAKE SURE THEY'RE THE RIGHT SIZE - these were
actually too small and I had to sand them down.
If you can't find any thrift brackets, read this blog post
again to find out what cheap hardware to buy.

Pick out something to use as finials at the ends of your curtain rods.
I found these rail collars on sale for $2.49 each.
You could use drawer knobs, decorative balls, etc.

Spray everything with your oil rubbed bronze spray paint, about $7.00.
Or any spray paint of your choosing - you won't use the whole can!
Ignore the mess in the background.

Next, install! You'll need a piece of dowel or scrap of wood to attach your
finials to the ends of the curtain rod. We used some plywood,
cut down to fit snugly inside the rod and the end of the finial.
(See the plywood pieces on the bottom left.)

Enjoy your new curtain rods that look quite similar to the inspiration!

Curtain rod love - and for about half the price - $21.00 vs. $42.00.
And that's for two curtain rods - one for each window in the bedroom.
This way, we were also able to pick the paint color we painted AND
pick a heftier rod to go along with the large grommets on the curtains.

And that is the end of my DIY curtain rod story!  If you're doing this yourself, I'd love to see your results and/or answer any questions.

Now if only I can figure out how to rotate my photos.  Seriously.  I feel like a 4-year-old would be able to answer this, but I can't get it to work.  I take a picture on my iphone and it appears on my computer photo stream via the icloud.  I open up the photos to look at them and rotate them as needed and save.  They are rotated correctly on the computer screen!  Then when I upload them to the blog, they're not rotated!  And I can't figure out a way to rotate within Blogger.  Anyone who can help me solve this problem will be my life hero.