West Elm Curtain Rod
It’s been a while since I did this DIY but I wanted to share it with you because it was so easy and they look so good if I do say so myself. I made curtain rods for my utility room and it probably cost me $10.When I saw these West Elm curtain rod I knew I could use an option for less than the $109 + tax it would cost to decorate our 2 windows.
Because I already had curtain rods in my living room, I reused the wall mount and went to the hardware store to get the rest. I bought 3 48″ dowel rods (because I wanted at least 55″, I desperately needed it so I cut one and each joined the rest of the dowels.) Maybe your luck. are you fine?
I already had this metallic spray paint.
Then I bought 4 PVC reducers (3/4 to 1/2 size) for each rod end. PS I had no idea what I was buying, I just went to the plumbing aisle because PVC is cheaper than copper or whatever might work.
My favorite stain color for dowels. I painted the reducer and old curtain rod hardware gold.
It ended up that I needed about 7 inches in each. To join the 2 dolls together (the 48″ piece with the 7″ piece) I used a 1/4″ drill bit and drilled through the top of both dolls. I used a little wood glue in each hole pushed a dowel pin into the hole on a long dowel and pushed the bottom side over the pin.
While the wood glue had some time to dry, I stained the dowels a warm brown to match the West Elm.
I squeezed something inside the reducer and then lowered it to the end of the dowel. I had planned to use gorilla glue gel to glue on the reducer but ended up just using hot glue. I love how they turned out! $10 for all that compared to $200+? Um, yes, I won.
These are pictures from the back before I changed a few things. I made the bars in October so things must have changed.
When I was installing the hardware, I used anchors anywhere there was no stud behind the drywall. As is its hardware. The West Elm rod is slightly heavier and more substantial.
While I was working on the living room and dining room, I ordered the same extra-wide, flattering statement drapes for the front wall.
We’ll get into the specifics in a bit but I needed two extra long curtain rods for each — the only problem was that after I carted the rod for the dining room, I realized that the size I needed for the conversation room was not available. And, while I found a stick for the living room, there wasn’t a size available that was good enough for the dining room.
They were at two different price points but aesthetically very similar. So, then I decided to experiment.
Today, I’m sharing the results of these simple extra-long curtain rods, and how they compare. I wanted to use a single curtain rod for my living room and easily found the “look” I was going for — a simple, sleek, and modern rod with a straight cylindrical finial.
The window openings in each room are larger while the width varies, — the dining-room window casing has three windows while the parlor room has two.
