DIY Curtain Hardware

For my beautiful living room curtains, I had a VERY clear picture in my mind of the type of hardware I was going to use when putting them up.  You know how it is when you have that 'ideal' in your mind and nothing else will work.  I had such a hard time finding the pull backs in general and then the ones I found just did not go with the decor of our home.  Frustration to the max!  I did finally find a website that would ship me 13 lovely pull backs for just over $100.  Yeah - not happening! (grrrrr......)

So, of course, I started thinking, 'I can make the hardware!'  Really, how hard could it be?!  I'm pleased to say that it wasn't hard at all.  You just have to have a few things.

1. wooden dowel rod
2. whatever decorative end you want
3. paint
4. double ended screws
5. wall anchors
6. drill and drill bits
7. saw (I used a miter saw, but a hand saw will work, too)
8. adhesive (I used E-6000 and hot glue)

Measure how far you want your hardware to stick out from the wall, and cut your dowel down to that length.  (If you have enough dowel, go ahead and cut one or two extras incase you need them.)  Mine were cut to 2"each, and I was able to get 13 (+1 extra) out of one dowel length, plus some left over.

Next, drill into one end of your newly cut dowels.  Measure and mark your drill bit to the length of the screws that go in the end.  It would probably be safer to have them clamped in something to hold them while you drill.  (Safety first, ya know!)

Now you can break out the paint.  I chose to use an acrylic and a paintbrush.  If it had been warmer out, I would have just gone with a spray.  Two coats for sure; but,  I did several coats to get a little gold petina just right on them .  The last coat I used was a clear acrylic spray to give it just enough shine to match the wrought iron in our home.

Here they are drying in the sunshine.

Next comes the assembly!  First, screw one end into the drilled hole of the dowel.  Drill holes in your walls.  (Make sure you have measured and marked all this out before hand or else you will have to add drywall repair items to your list of needs!)  If your holes don't hit studs, you will need those anchors to hold the screws in the wall.  After I had all my little pegs in the wall, I put the curtains up.  (very impatient!)  To put the decorative ends on, I just used some adhesive (hot glue worked well).  

And, VOILA!  Pretty custom hardware for a custom valence!  And the grand total?  Minimal time and about $25.  Gotta love the time spent crafting and the money saved.