DIY Galvanized Pipe Curtain Rod

Can you guys believe it’s already June?! When did that happen? The year is almost half over. Blows my mind.

Not surprisingly, I’m still working on my living room. Things are moving along in here, albeit at a snail’s pace. But, nevertheless, I am making progress and each week it becomes more and more of what I always dreamed it would be.

So I had my curtains hanging from a flimsy Target curtain rod but I wanted something with a little more interest and heft. Something with an industrial vibe. I love the look of galvanized pipe and fittings for window treatment hardware and knew it would be perfect for the space and my needs. There are tons of tutorials out there for galvanized pipe curtain rods (like the one I followed from Hi Sugarplum!), so I won’t reinvent the wheel with another in-depth tutorial.

It’s super easy to install. I had someone from Home Depot cut the pipe to the length I needed and re-thread it. I spray painted the pipe and all of the fittings in oil rubbed bronze. Once that dried all I had to do was locate the studs in the wall and screw the flanges (the flat, round disks) in. Then I fastened the nipples (the short, threaded cylindrical pieces) into the flanges.

Once those were secure, I fastened the tees (the T-shaped pieces) onto the nipples, making sure to leave them a little bit loose to accommodate for movement while leveling the pipe. I carefully threaded the pipe through the tees trying hard not to scratch the paint up on the threads from the tees, which, by the way, is pretty much impossible.  You want to make sure your curtains are on the pipe before you thread it through the tees. Then, the last step was to screw the caps on each end of the pipe. If you don’t have dark colored screws you can just darken the silver ones with a black sharpie, like I did.

Please excuse some of the photos. I was also working on another project in the foyer which required a ton of sanding and the little dots you see in some of the pics are little bits of dust from that.

I love the industrial look of the pipe and fittings. And because it’s made from heavy duty metal, the rod doesn’t sag in the middle like most store bought rods.

The curtains are the Ritva panels from IKEA and the shades are the Premium Bamboo Shades in Java Vintage from Payless Decor.

What do you think? Do you dig the industrial look? Check back soon because I am working on something crazy good to provide organization in the foyer. See ya next time!