Master Bedroom Makeover: Homemade Curtain Rods (in which we use drawer knobs and electrical conduit to hang drapery)

February 13, 2013 by Anne 14 Comments

When it comes to saving money, I am definitely cut from the same cloth as my parents…one could say that I come by my thriftiness honestly.

So when we saw how many pennies the next phase of the master bedroom makeover was going cost us, this was our reaction.

And then we were like this.

So we got creative.

(Let me back up for the new guy in the back: we’ve been making over my parents’ master bedroom. We began by tearing down the hideous wallpaper, painting the ceiling a moody gray-brown, installing board and batten and craftsman-style wood-stained trim, removing the ancient carpet, and putting in engineered hardwood flooring.)

There are two windows in the master bedroom which means Mom and Dad need two curtain rods…and prices ranged from $30 to $60 for ONE curtain rod at Lowe’s. We racked our brains (and by that I mean we went straight to Google) for ideas and found this tutorial from House of Hepworths and embraced it for ourselves, adapting it a little to suit our purposes.

First, Mom and I went to Hobby Lobby to look at their vast array of drawer knobs. It was fairly glorious, and we had a TON to choose from. Mom ended up picking out 4 that had a little crystal knob and some antique brass details. They were all 50% off and we spent about $16 total.

I found 4 curtain rod holders at a thrift store for $.25 each (they’re meant to hold two curtain rods, but we’ll use them for just one), we found 3 sets of 14 curtain clips at a steal for $3.46 per package, and Mom bought some clearance Rustoleum Antique Brass spray paint for $7.17.

We also grabbed two 10′ pieces of conduit from the electrical aisle at only $1.28 apiece and cut them down to size. I measured each window and had brother John cut the rods to be 3′ longer than that so there would be 18″ on each side of the window. Then we coated everything in spray paint (except for the curtain clips, since those will be hidden and we didn’t want to gunk them up with paint).

Once we had everything spray-painted, we turned things over to Dad (no, those are not my hairy knuckles. Mine are definitely hairier :)). I made a little graphic to show you so hopefully it’s pretty self explanatory.

Here’s one last picture of the finished product.

Finally, let’s do a little cost breakdown to re-emphasize the thriftiness of this little project.

Conduit: $1.28 each;$2.56 for both

Spray Paint: $7.17

Knobs: $4 each; $16 for all

Thingie to attach rod to wall: $.25 each; $1 for all

Wood: $0 (already owned)

Caulk/glue stuff: $0 (already owned)

TOTAL: $26.73 for 2 custom length curtain rods! And we totally could have chosen cheaper knobs and spray paint, but decided to get stuff we loved rather than just liked.

We’re nearing the finish line of my parents’ bedroom, but I still have a few more posts up my sleeve (which I’m sure surprises no one). As for the electrical dilemma alluded to in my last post, Dad figured out how to fix it and they didn’t even have to rewire anything. Hooray for that!

So there you have it. Go forth and be empowered to make those curtain rods! You hereby have no excuse for naked windows, unless you’re into that sort of thing, which is really not an excuse at all but is rather strange. Trust me. Your neighbors will thank you.

And perhaps, perhaps, you might even put a smile on grumpy cat’s face. If cheap curtain rods can’t change his mood, nothing can.

UPDATE: THIS ROOM IS DONE! Click HERE to see it. And if you need curtains, check out the no-sew dropcloth curtains we made for this room HERE!