How To Make Your Own Curtain Rod

Our house has these 3 huge windows.

The space is just over 13 feet long. I wanted to hang some curtains and take down the blinds that used to be there....only problem- A 14 ft curtain rod will set you back $80 or so. Thanks to the fabulous internet I found THIS link and we made one ourselves for a whopping $6 plus $8 for 4 mounting brackets which of course I found way cheaper after we were finished.

The link is way cooler and explains everything with pictures. When I start project I want to get them done fast and always forget to take pictures along the way. 

You just need:

Electrical Conduit- 1/2 -3/4 inch wide (and a connector if you are using more than one piece)

Spray Paint

Finials

Brackets 

I bought 2 pieces of 3/4 inch conduit (10 ft each). Tyler cut them to 7 ft each with a saw, but you can use a pipe cutter too. Then he even sanded them down for me. The next day I propped them up against a ladder and spray painted them (and the connector piece) with some black spray paint I had on hand and Tyler used his handy dandy laser level to attach the brackets to the wall.

Painted Connector

Finials

When it was all dry we hung the six curtain panels on the rods, connected the two pieces and put the whole thing on the bracket. 

Now the horrible part...FINIALS, blech. I couldn't find anything I really liked (that wasn't super expensive). On the link I posted she found some great stuff at IKEA, but since I don't have one here I had to figure something else out. I ended up getting these little metal caps that they use in iron staircase detail work. They didn't fit flush so I spent about two hours sanding down the insides. It was BRUTAL!!! My right hand/arm was numb for 2 days. Then I had to paint them because I had scuffed up their paint. It would be so worth it to find something that just slid over the top of the rod. We also thought that we could have bought some styrofoam balls (which I saw a huge bag of at Dollar Tree), painted them and shoved them on the end. Oh well. 

After all that sanding the caps still would not stay on! I was about to cry when Tyler decided he could drill a hole in it and the rod and screw it together. Now it fits beautifully and looks really nice!

I also made those new pillows for the couch while I was at it. Our ballet teacher didn't show up a few weeks ago, and since no one could sub, Maria and I headed to JoAnn's and she helped me pick out this super cute fabric. I LOVE it!!