DIY Industrial Curtain Rod From Galvanized Pipe Fittings

I’ve been working on my son’s room–he’ll turn 13 in a few weeks and his room needed an update so it looked more like a teen boy’s room and less like a little kid’s room.  If you want to see how it’s looked for the past four or five years, you can see it {here}, although that’s two houses ago!  I’ll show you the entire room soon–I’m still debating whether to stripe one wall or not–but for today, I wanted to show you the curtain rod I made for his window treatments using pipe fittings.  I think it makes for a fun, industrial look.

The nice people at Home Depot helped me figure out what pieces I wanted to create my curtain rod, because I had no clue when I walked in, and really had NO IDEA there were so many choices (they swore I wasn’t the strangest request they’d had that day, but I’ll bet they say that just to be nice!).  Some pipes are actually paintable, in case you want to customize your look even more, but I stuck with plain old galvanized pipe and fittings.  Here’s what I came home with:

~One 3/4″ diameter, 48″ long pipe.  It just so happened that these were precut, however, they will cut your pipe to size for you and thread it if you need a different size.  My son’s window is only 40″ wide, but I wanted ample space on either side.

~Two 3/4″ floor flanges (those are the round things, and they are about $10 a pop, believe it or not!)

~Two 3/4″ diameter, 2-1/2″ long steel nipples (those are the short straight pieces that make the rod/pipe project out from the wall a bit)

~Two 3/4″ diameter, 90° elbows

You can see in the picture below how I assembled the rod.  Be sure you wipe your pieces off before you get your curtains near them, because they come from the store kind of oily and dirty.  Yuck!

The tricky part about this kind of curtain rod is that you have to screw it all together first, and then hang it already assembled and with the curtain panels in place.  Because I used some inexpensive white Ikea curtains with pole pockets on top (Vivan–$10 for 2 panels), the only way I’d be taking them down to clean them would be if I removed one side from the wall.  If that’s a problem for you, you might consider tab-top curtains with buttons, or cafe-style curtain rings with clips on them.

Each floor flange requires four screws; I used 2″ screws and drywall anchors where I didn’t find a stud.  The galvanized pipes are heavy, so you need to be sure you secure it well to the wall.  You also might want a helper while you’re hanging them, although I managed to do it myself, so it’s not impossible.

I have to tell you that I’m thrilled with how it turned out!  The total cost was about $35, so they’re not cheap, but they are a super-cool look for a teen boy’s room.

The map bunting was just something I added later–I cut up an old map and glue-gunned the flags onto jute twine.  My son is a HUGE history and geography lover, so maps, flags, and globes of all kinds make perfect sense in his room.

Let me know if you have any questions and thanks for stopping by!  (PS His room is now updated; see the entire space here)