DIY Curtain Rods

Every once in awhile I get questions about our curtain rods and where we got them. However, they are actually DIY! I have been wanting to write up a post so that those of you with questions can see how we made them and here it is…

We started off by picking up dowels from the local hardware store to use as curtain rods. I couldn’t find a link for the corbels, but we picked them up around the Trim section at Home Depot for around $3, and then Trav used his hole saw with a 2 1/8″ circular blade attachment to cut the holes in the corbels. They come with no cuts and a flush edge on the top side. The size of the dowel will determine what size cut needs to be made. Our dowel was slightly smaller than 1.5″. I sanded the dowels and corbels with 100-grit sandpaper to prepare them for staining and treatment. The corbels come with small brackets/holes for hanging on the back side which makes it so convenient for hanging.

After sanding them lightly, I wiped off the dust with a lint-free cloth. I used my white wax and wiped it on the wood (again using a lint-free cloth), and then used Minwax dark walnut stain over it. I have also used Minwax special walnut stain to make some of ours as well. Applying the dark stain after the white wax helps the stain not to “sink in” quite as much. After waxing and staining the curtain rods and corbels, I dry brushed them a little. To dry brush, I took a paintbrush and dipped it in white paint, then wiped off as much of the paint as I could onto a paper towel and used the remaining paint to lightly brush over the wood. It’s important to get most of the paint off of the brush, before brushing it on, to give it a light wash look.

Since the corbels already had metal hangers drilled into the back, all I had to do to attach them to the wall was drill screws into the studs, and hang them on the screws. I then sat the curtain rods on the corbels and hung our Ikea Ritva curtains with 1.5″ ring hooks that I got from Amazon. The size of dowel that is used will determine what size ring hooks will be used. Our dowel is just slightly smaller than the 1.5″, but all hardware store dowels may run different in width.

For our bedroom, I actually found the wood dowels and end for the dowel at a thrift store for a few bucks, and then just bought the corbels for them.

I love how these curtain rods turned out! They are so budget-friendly and such an easy DIY, and we have them all throughout our house!! Hopefully this post answered your questions and inspires you to make some DIY curtain rods of your own!