If you want something more unique than a curtain rod to hang your casual window treatments, there are many everyday inexpensive household items you can use instead. Try making your own hardware with:
- Coat hooks. Brass or metal coat hooks can be attached above your window to hold curtain panels. Attach curtain rings or fabric ties to the top of the curtains and place over the hooks. Decorative touches such as bows or silk flowers can also be attached to the hooks for a finishing touch.
- Glass or brass door knobs. Scour antique shops or thrift stores for old doorknobs (It doesn’t matter if they are mismatched!) Attach them above the window. Tie curtains to the knobs with fabric ties. This idea is also great for a coat rack – just in case you used all the coat hooks for your curtains! Just attach the knobs to a nice sanded, stained, and sealed wooden base, and hang on the wall near your door!
- Have you ever bought spoons or forks which bent while trying to eat ice cream? Well, here is your chance to use those misshapen tools. Use pliers to bend the utensils in the shape of an S-hook! They make great hardware for kitchen curtains.
- Cup hooks. Plain cup hooks painted a bright color can be used. Simply attach curtain rings or fabric ties to the curtains and slip over the cup hooks! They look great and they are very inexpensive!
- For a western themed room, try using western hand tooled belts from the thrift store. Cut them to the same length and loop them through the curtain tabs and over the curtain rod. Or even better, hang the belts from horseshoes attached to the space above the window.
- How about trying old-fashioned clothespins? Simply attach the top of the curtain to a cord or thin rod across the top of the window. Paint the pins with colorful acrylic paints or leave the wood natural.
- Remember that multi-strand wire you use to hang pictures? And the little eye screws that you attach it to on the backs of frames? You can use that same equipment to hang curtains– the ones with tabs across the top. You can thread the wire through the tabs then through the eye screw. You can attach the eye screws to each side of the window frame. Tighten up the wire as you would on the back of a picture frame – by tightening the eye screw.
- Drawer pulls. Use the single knob drawer pulls. As with the door knobs, attach them above the window. Tie curtains to the knobs with fabric ties. This is a great idea for your kitchen. Match the style of your cabinet hardware for a unified look.
- Just look around your kitchen or bathroom for dozens of items you can use for hardware. With a little imagination and your windows will be fun and unique.
