I am trying to do some decorating on a tight budget. Does anyone have some ideas for hanging curtains that does not involve buying curtain rods?
Tammy from MO
You can hang them on a string hung between 2 nails or hooks, hang them with push pins, use existing hardware and use plain shower curtain hooks. (03/19/2007)
By pam munro
This is the cheapest way I know to hang curtains. We did it when we were selling our house. It works wonders. Get a length of 1/2 inch PVC pipe, about a dollar or 2 for a 10 foot length. Cut down to the size you need. Buy some 1/2 inch cup hooks, you will need to bend the end out a little with a pliers to better fit the pipe, but its very easy. Screw one hook on each side into the wall above the window. Then just put your curtain on the pipe and hang up there.
We spray painted the PVC to hide it better and you can put a cork or something in the ends to hide the hole. I made some little end caps with clay to match the curtains. Hope this helps, it will only take you about 10 minutes, 2 or 3 dollars, but that cost will cover a few windows. (03/19/2007)
By me
I used PVC pipe also for a large window, to hang lightweight curtain panels. Works great. I had to put an extra support hook extending from the wall to hold the center of the pipe, because it is so light and flexible that without the center support it wanted to bow in the middle. My husband cut the pipe with a jigsaw. I used regular curtain brackets on the ends. (03/19/2007)
By Laura
The string is a good idea, but I used heavy twine that made a "roughing it" look. If your curtains were plaid or masculine, this would be a good choice. (03/19/2007)
By P. Warren
When my husband and I moved to a new house my daughter's room had no windows and we had just bought her curtains to go with the theme of her room. So I removed the folding doors over her large closet and used push pins to hang her curtains over the opening. She's nearly two and goes in and out of the closet constantly and the curtains haven't budged. (03/20/2007)
By Racheal
To get string through your curtains, tie it to a big safety pin or a paper clip, you can feed the string through just as you would elastic through a band on a sleeve or pair of pants. (03/20/2007)
By Marty
Have you considered a length of plastic coated clothes line? Comes in white and blue and could be attached to the window frame with tacks after curtains were strung on it. You could use it in a kitchen and bathroom most effectively I think (03/20/2007)
By Mary Lou
We had a fish themed room. We took bamboo poles and used them for curtain rods. Looked really cute. Also, we hung up a clothesline. Then we used clothespins we painted and hung material up for curtains. It was really cute and much cheaper than curtains are. Plus, we could take them down and put up material for each holiday. My kids loved it. (03/20/2007)
By Judy
I too was looking for an inexpensive way to hang curtains and came up with this idea for my bedroom and bathroom. I took a square of material that would be wide enough to cover the window and give a little drape. Now at the top and on each corner, grab a handful of material and wrap a rubber band around it tight. This makes it look like a flower. Now just put a tack or small nail at the top of the window and hook your flower on it. Cute and not curtain rods. (03/20/2007)
By Barbi
You can also use shower curtain rods and there are also "spring loaded" curtain rods that fit on the inside of the windows. (03/20/2007)
By Sheila Saey
Been there done that in the mountains of NC no less.
We took a plastic roll of dental floss and put the whole plastic roll of floss inside the top section of a flat sheet (depending on what length you need, twin, full, queen, or king lengths). We used a white sheet dyed black at the launder mat, making sure you run another large empty cycle and soap through so the next patron will not have dye on their clothes.
Take the floss end and tie it to a door knob, feed the plastic floss container through the sheet until the floss is running the entire length of the sheet. Next tie the floss ends around nail heads that are embedded into the walls opposite of each other (nails pounded in and tapped up into a form of an L shape) making sure to pull up any slack there may be (depends on how wide the area is on if the floss will give but ours didn't and we had to cover a large bay window on a 16 foot wide wall).
Good luck. I know that this works as we have continued to use this very thing in other homes that we have moved into within our lives.
Ingenuity is the mother of invention they say, I say being broke has an awful lot to do with it though, ha.
By Paula Jo, Mebane, NC
Listen, you can buy a basic curtain rod at Wal-Mart for $1. I'm reading all these ideas, from PVC piping to using dental floss, to shower curtain rods. Unless you already have this stuff at your house, it will cost you just as much or more than the cheap curtain rod. You can buy cheap material sometimes at Wal-Mart for $1 a yard. 1 yard, cut in half and hemmed, will make a nice valance. Pair it with the cheap curtain rod, and you have a nice, not tacky, window dressing. (03/20/2007)
By Jess
I've successfully used broom handles and cup hooks all round the house they can even be painted any color you like with emulsion or even spray paint in aerosols.
Carol (03/21/2007)
By carol
I don't have curtain rods right now either. I stapled mine to the window frame with my desk stapler. My frames are dark wood and the staple holes are not visible and my curtains are not injured either. (03/22/2007)
By Karen
I think the dental floss idea is clever. Besides, it is white and if your walls are white, it blends in. My only concern would be "sagging". IKEA (ikea-usa.com) has inexpensive wire systems ($14.99 or so). (12/12/2007)
By Marie
I saw a really inventive idea in an Arts and Crafts home. The homeowner had used a branch, a little twisty which made it quite woodsy. The curtains that were hung on it were very expensive sheers and the whole thing really worked, so it's quite a classy treatment in the right setting.
I have a friend with a very beachy style, and she used old paddles. Very cool. (10/25/2008)
By Cheryl
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Fishing pole line....same concept as how to hang with wire or string. Fishing line strong n easier to feed through the curtain rod pocket
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