{DIY Curtain Rods}

Let me first start with.... Bay Windows are the devil! : ) If you've had to find or make curtains for them, you know it's a hassle to deal with. When we moved I thought, "Awww how cute and comfy it makes the living room feel".... and I thought that up until I had to put curtains up. Ok... done with my ranting : )

All bay windows are a little different so for some of you it may not be that difficult, but mine, the windows were pretty close together leaving no room for the ends of a curtain rod (#1). My other option was to do the connecting rod system (#2) for all 3 windows but they're hard to come by and can be expensive when you find what you want, especially the type I wanted (wooden). And again, the spaces between my windows were so minimal, the curtains would have blocked a lot of the light. And being the pale ghost that I am.... I need my sunlight : )

So my final option and choice I decided on.... framing curtains outside of the bay window. A little scary and different, yes it was, but I did a little googling and found some pictures that looked really good. Now, this decision brought on it's own challenges, of course... shucks, I never think things through : )... The curtains would be more of a decoration piece instead of a privacy detail. So there was no need to put a 10 foot curtain rod across the entire window.

Since I wanted wood, my plan was to purchase a 4 foot wooden rod and measure (#1) to 2 feet then cut in half.(#2)  I owe a BIG thanks to my handy-dandy dremel for quickly cutting the pole in half - maybe not even but that was an operater error : ). These would be placed on both sides of the window.

Now, since the holes for the finials didn't go all the way through.... can you guess? ..... yep, I had to drill those at the ends I cut too (#3). Not hard at all and just gave me another reason to play with a power tool. Then I just put up the brackets, slipped on the rings and screwed in the finials (#4).

Now that those are done... I ran into another problem with finding curtains wtih the correct length, so it was a simple decision to find material I liked and just make them. I'm sure I've said enough already, so I'll leave that post for another day. But for now, take a look at the before and after pictures.