PROJECT CONDO: STEEL CURTAIN ROD DIY

One of the things I really wanted to do while taking on the adventure of decorating our condo, was DIY projects. I've seen so many affordable, creative projects and I thought it would be a good way to grow in my crafting skills and experience in making things. When planning the decorations for our dining room, my original plan for the curtain rod was this piece from West Elm. I loved the industrial, sleek feel and thought it would fit in perfectly with our motif.

After a suggestion from my friend Jenny and encouragement from Jon, we decided to save money and build our own! The way this project turned out was exactly what I pictured. It has a very authentic, industrial look and is more of a statement then the original designer rods from West Elm. We also saved a little over $40.00 building these ourselves!

S U P P L I E S   N E E D E D
 * Two 3/4" wall/floor flanges
 * One 3/4" coupler
 * Two 3/4" elbow joints
 * Two 3/4" steel pipes in the length of your preference
 * Two 48" steel pipes 3/4" in diameter
 * Curtain panels
* Wall screws (be sure to include wall anchors if you're not directly screwing into a stud)

S T E P - B Y - S T E P
1. Attach the two 48" steel pipes to the coupler, putting one on each side.
2. Attach the elbow joints to the ends of the steel pipes making sure they are parallel with each other.
3. Once you've connected the pipes with the coupler and added the below joints, put on your curtain panels.
4. Attach the short steel pipes and wall flanges to the ends of each side. All of your pieces should be on at this point.
5. With a helper, hold the curtain rod in place, making sure it's level and at the correct height. Mark where you want it by putting pencil marks on the wall through each of the holes of the wall flanges.
6. Use wall screws to secure it to the wall.

D I Y  T I P S
* When purchasing your steel pieces, make sure the diameter of each piece is the same.
* Since this is a heavier rod, make sure you are either screwing into a wall stud or using anchors.
* I only have two curtain panels right now, but plan to add two more to make the window look more full. I would preplan this since it's difficult to take the rod off the wall once you put it up.

T O T A L   T I M E  &   C O S T
Time: 45 minutes
Cost: $60.00 (not including curtain panels)

I love how this turned out! It's our first DIY for the condo and I'm looking forward to doing more!