I conquered the curtain rod

I am very excited to share the culmination of my curtain project today. As my last post revealed, it didn’t really get off to a good start. So I went to bed and woke the next morning, refreshed and with a renewed determination to hang my curtain rod.

My third trip to the hardware store yielded the correct length of screws. I present to you, a securely mounted bracket!

One might argue that I am a little too proud of my bracket. One might get smacked.

I used clip rings to hang the curtains, and the above photo is how they looked at first.

Thrifty tip: You can buy single twin flat sheets at Walmart for $5 a piece. That’s what my curtains are made out of. It’s cheaper than buying fabric by the yard.

However, they were slightly too long hanging like this.

Case in point, the SassCat making herself a nice little bed on the too long curtains. But, my mom had a suggestion (see, moms do know everything!).

I folded over the top of the curtains and clipped them on the fold, creating a valance and solving the length problem in one fell swoop! (And if you look closely, you will spy one of my modular felt coasters on the coffee table there).

The middle bracket is probably overkill (emt conduit is pretty light), but just in case the SassCat tries to climb the curtains or something…

I think my curtains look fantastic. Even if you are a total grouch and hate turquoise curtains and doing things yourself, I think you’ll agree that the savings were fantastic.

DIY Cost breakdown:

Sheets (2): $10 at Walmart

Hardware (conduit, brackets, screws, clip rings, conduit straps, nuts, bolts): $21 at Lowe’s & Ace Westlake Hardware

Materials for the Finials: $5 at Blick (I did have a gift card)

= $36

If I’d Gone to Target Cost Breakdown:

Curtain Rod: $21.69

2 Panel Curtains: $40

= $61.69

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Power Tools Are Not My Friend

Sometimes I feel bad for living up to the stereotypes of girls.

I do believe that there is no reason girls can’t do something boys can. I believe we are equals.

But…

I like pink. I like glitter. I like baking. I scream when I see spiders. I’m not good at math or science. Sometimes I act stupid around boys because I know my intelligence intimidates them, and underneath it all, I just want to be liked.

And as it turns out…power tools really aren’t my thing. And by power tools, I actually just mean, small drills.

I have been really wanting curtains in my living room for the past year that I’ve lived here. Things holding me back:

1. Long curtains are expensive – and I need two  (it’s a large sliding glass door with custom blinds)..
2. Curtain rods are expensive.
3. I wasn’t sure how I would mount the curtain rod above the blinds (it’s an apartment, so the less holes in the wall the better).

Then I found this DIY curtain rod tutorial. It seemed so simple – and cheap. So I went to Lowe’s and bought all the supplies (it ended up costing me a bit more than the reference blog post, fyi, but still cheaper than curtains and a fancy rod. Also, Lowe’s doesn’t normally cut emt conduit to length for you, but if you bat your eyelashes and look helpless, they will. WIN). I bought single twin flat sheets at Walmart ($5 a piece) and am going to hem them to the exact length.

I borrowed a drill from my neighbor friend. And I was ready. I was super excited. I felt so empowered. I was going to hang this curtain rod all by myself and it was going to be awesome. I was going to be so badass.

FALSE.

I didn’t have the right kind of screws for the wall, I spent all night on the phone with my dad, the idea of drilling holes into the wall really freaks me out (once you start drilling, you’re stuck with it, you know?), and so on.

One and a half brackets attached to the wall later…

I’ve got the hang of the drilling thing. I’ll be making my third trip to the hardware store tomorrow to buy shorter screws and then hopefully everything will work out. And maybe in a couple days I’ll post pictures of my finished curtain rod and drapery!

I’m not trying to make some big sweeping feminist – or anti-feminist – statement here. I’ve never used a drill before and you have to keep in mind that I’m trying to figure this all out without someone here to show me what to do. So actually, I think I did pretty well! The thing I feel bad about in situations like this is that I know I’m playing into stereotypes and reinforcing them. And I want to be a better role model for younger girls. So they don’t have to be intimidated by things like power tools and math (I see numbers and my brain shuts off!).

Thoughts?