Super Simple Curtain Rod

This is a post that I've been meaning to write for probably almost a year now.

In most of the house, I'm planning to use Roman Shades (the master bedroom ones are STILL not made, despite the fact that I have already bought 90% of the materials needed for them), but for the office (aka computer room) I wanted more window & lighting options, and I wanted a sheer curtain (to be eventually paired with a top-down & bottom-up Roman shade).

Back when I was living in my apartment, I was a huge fan of tab-top curtain panels on simple rods. I had come up with a brilliant and extremely inexpensive curtain rod setup that cost only about 6-7$, and they were in all the main windows.

What did I use, you may be asking? A 5$ chrome shower rods (in 6 foot lengths) paired with some specialty 1" hoop holders I was able to find. To plug the open ends, I just found some 1" plug caps at the hardware store, and Boom! Beautiful, professional (and very strong) curtain rods for 6-7$ each.

I've also heard that a lot of people use electrical conduit pipes, which are a bit thinner, and also very cheap & strong. Who really wants to pay 50-60$ for a metal pole?

Here's the break down of all the components I used:



As you can see, there are also chrome grommets and shower curtain rings. These were to add a bit of a classier look to the huge sheer panel that I found at my local thrift store. I have tall ceilings (100 inches) and I needed a panel that was close to "floor-to-ceiling" length.

With the grommets in place, and all the hardware mounted, it turned out looking like this, and I couldn't be happier. Since this was all re-used hardware from my apartment, I only spent about 3-4$ on the rings and grommets, and I believe the sheer panel was under 10$.

Aaaargh!

I'm a bit annoyed at the moment. I am *this close* to being done my curtain panel, and now I can't find my iron. I have NO IDEA where I put it, and I haven't seen it in around a year (since I demolished the cabinets in the guest bedroom/laundry room upstairs).

And now it's too late to go over to Mom's place to use hers (since she just went to bed about 1/2 hour ago.

***

In other news/updates, I got the two topcoats (paint) on the doors, and will start the fronts/edges tonight/tomorrow.

In preparation for the doors to be ready, I've also stripped the lacquer off the new brass hardware for the doors. If all goes well, I might have the doors installed by tomorrow evening, with photos on Saturday morning.

By then, the curtain project should also be done.

Finished Crown Photos

Here are some photos of the finished crown. As I mentioned previously, I decided to use a new crown in all the main rooms, and restore the missing pieces of original crown only in the living room and office. The main reason for this is because it will be very difficult to match it. If we had a very similar cutter at work, I would have made matching crown for the entire first floor, but that's not the case. The new crown is still a very nice match to the door casings (mini crown on the door and window tops).



View from the kitchen door. Office door to the left, front door in the centre.





Front door to the left, living room door in the centre, and stairs to second floor on the right.



I decided that I'm going to use my "oops" paint for the main hallway. This was a "slightly too dark" shade of beige that I had originally bought for the bathroom. This was an expensive "boo boo" at 50$ for the 4L can, but I think it will work nicely in this hallway. I haven't decided how I want to address the division at the living room wall/door leading up the stairs. Any suggestions? Ideally, I would paint the entire stairwell opening up to the second floor the same colour, but I don't know if I want to do that (it's going to be a huge pain, and I have a bunch of drywall repairs/patching to do up there.

Here's a shot of what I'm dealing with (I literally laid on the floor to take this). Living room door to the left, and you can see the bathroom fixture/fan opening upstairs. Just out of frame is the ceiling light fixture in this stairwell, which will eventually be that 4-light chandelier.

Note: the rectangular hole in the drywall at the top of the stairs on the right was from when I redid the sloped/angled ceiling part in the kitchen. It hasn't been fixed/patched yet.



Here are a few shots of the crown in the dining room.



Facing partially into the kitchen. The garage (ugly metal) door is visible. Note the beautifully repainted/restored arch. I'm very happy with how it turned out. This entire casing is warped. Like a LOT. I have about a half-inch thick gap filled with caulk in the top against the wall. You can't tell, though. And that's despite the crazy amount of nails I put into it, to try and flatten it out. It's solid white Ash (which is harder than oak), so that's the best I could do. There's also a TON (50+) of huge chips and holes in the front board that have all been carefully filled/patched.



Here you can see the basement door opening, and then the opening to the front hallway (where the first photo above was taken).



As for the doors project, so far I have the double coat of primer done on two sides. Next will be a very quick light sanding, and then the first coat of final paint.



***

Side note, remember the other day how I mentioned my "ghetto curtains" situation? Well, I thought I'd share that. This is the one in the living room window, and the office window is the same. Basically just two nails in the top crown (where the holes won't show), and some old tab curtains from my old apartment.

Progress!

Sh*t got done today! And I'm quite happy to report with photos, too!

Work has been slow lately (not in a good way, either), so we got a 4 day weekend (Monday is Thanksgiving here in Canada). Since I had the day off today, but I knew my boss and his son were going to be in (for phone calls or in case any clients might drop in), I decided it would be a perfect time to do the finishing on my vanity.

I got in to work at my usual time (7:15), and I only left near 2:00pm. I had everything set to be able to do the wet/sand/stain/seal/sand/glaze/lacquer on the vanity (yes those are all the steps involved to get the look I want), but unfortunately, a wrench got thrown into my plans, and Léo (boss) told me that I wouldn't be able to use the spray booth today since the fan belt was busted.

I was still able to do the wet/stain/seal portion of the project, but I was pretty bummed that I wouldn't be able to fully finish the vanity this week.

The stain I decided to use (for the first time) is a water based Aniline Dye. This is a powdered dye that you mix with hot water to make a stain. The amount of powder you use determines the intensity of the colour, and you can mix and match different powders to create just about any colour you want.

Water based dyes have drawbacks (as do traditional oil based stains). One of these is that you need to pre-wet the entire project, and leave it to dry (which took less than an hour - surprisingly), then re-sand the whole thing. This is to pre-raise the grain, before the stain goes on, to eliminate a rough finish, since water swells the wood and gives it a rough texture.

The actual staining was also a bit more of a challenge than a traditional stain. I have about 10+ years experience with stains and finishes, so I didn't have too much trouble, but a novice would have had a nightmare of a time getting a beautiful, even colour.

The instructions suggest staining a light "first coat", followed by a second, stronger coat, but I skipped this, going straight to the full-strength colour with no issues.

It's a lot more work than with a regular stain, but I think the results are more than worth the trouble, especially when dealing with figured woods (curled grain, bird's eye, etc). The dye REALLY makes the variances in the grain POP, unlike a regular stain, which more often than not, will mask the grain, and make things come out more even and "blah".

Here's a teaser photo of the finishing up to this point. The colour is not 100% accurate, since this was in bright light, and with fresh (wet) sealer applied. There will also be a dark glaze added in the cracks/crevices, which will be the next step.

The actual colour is less orange, and appears darker (see other photos below, where the vanity is in the background).

Look at that magnificent grain! I showed it to Léo, and he wasn't that fussy about it, which kind of surprised me. What do you think? Gorgeous, or is it just "too much"?



So while I was working on that, and in between stuff drying, I decided to finally build the doors I need for the rest of the built-ins. These would be the two glass doors for the office display case built-in, and the door for the linen closet upstairs.

Here's the set of 2 doors for the office. They will have some sort of fancy glass insert that I'll make at some point. (Note vanity):



Here's the linen closet door. I'm actually not happy with how it turned out. In hind sight, the frames should have been thicker, and I should have done 5 panels, but it's too late, and I'm not making another one. Once it's painted and installed I'm sure it will look just fine. I STRUGGLED with the decision between raised panels (like the vanity door above), or flat panels, like the original house doors. I decided to go with flat panels for all the built-ins. This will match the little mini door in the office, too. More than likely, I'll also go with flat panels on the new house doors (same as the originals), but when it comes to the kitchen cabinets, those I'll do with raised ones the same as the vanity. That seemed like the best plan.



Lastly, I did some shopping. I went and picked up some black-out fabric (4m/yards) for my roman blinds (which was only 1.50$/m). I also picked up 4 Velcro strips (on sale 50% off) to use along the top of each curtain panel, so that they can be yanked-off and cleaned. In total, that cost only 14$!

I also popped-in to Zellers and had a look around (they had a bunch of stuff on sale, too). They had some nice bedding sets on sale and I REALLY wanted to buy this particular set (with birds), but they only had it in a double.



But I did end up getting a different one. It's brown with a bluish grey pattern that looks a bit reminiscent of Gothic scrollwork. This one wasn't on sale, but the set was only 49.99$ (no photo yet).

September Update (Part 1 - Misc Stuff)

Alright, I have quite a few photos that I want to post, so I'm doing it in two parts.

In house news, last weekend, I finished glazing the porch door (which turned out wonderfully), and after a week, it seems fairly dry enough to paint (not like last time when it was still very squishy after nearly a month of drying). I need another can of the exterior porch paint, so I can't finish painting the door until then (I'll go this weekend for the paint). I also need to re-order some slot head brass screws. I'm quite pissed about this. Earlier this summer, I had bought some "size 8" brass screws, and I had assumed that the heads would be the standard size, which is the size of all common deck screws. However, when I tried them in my hinges, they are closer to a size 7, which won't fit.

Last week, my friend from Ottawa visited. She had a favour to ask of me (which I already knew about ahead of time), which was to repair her aquarium. Basically, she just moved earlier this month, and after the move, the aquarium developed a small leak.

I had never done any kind of aquarium repair, but apparently they're only held together with "more or less" regular (but good quality) silicone. The thick, sticky, goopy kind. She bought/provided the special "aquarium sealant" which is basically just clear silicone. I've done a sh*t-ton of caulking after becoming a homeowner, so this was a piece of cake to do.

The only hard/annoying part was to painstakingly scrape off the old silicone. This was done with a glass scraper with a new blade in it. It took several passes with a lot of force/pressure on each joint.

I didn't redo all the seams, and instead focused on all the vertical (thin) seams, which seemed to be the problem ones.

After waiting 2 days, and filling it up, I'm happy to report that it's now leak free (and looking quite wonderful if I say so myself).



I'm actually amazed at the amount of water/weight that this aquarium holds. It's a 33 gallon, which (according to Google) holds 245Lbs worth of water! It took 7-8 mop-pails full (the blue one in the picture) to fill the tank. I'm just amazed that the glass doesn't bow-out and shatter under the weight. Everything seems perfectly fine (and sturdy), so I guess it's fine.

When she came down with her aquarium, she also brought with her the fabric I had picked out for my curtains!

I've already mentioned that it's the Ikea "Stockholm" in Beige (which is actually more of a grey-brown. The only problem with the fabric is that the pattern doesn't go up to the edge. It's 60" wide (and I need 28" for the width of the windows, plus seam allowance), but the pattern leaves a rather wide blank area on each side. I had thought of cutting it perpendicular, but that would make the pattern sideways, and then I'd have a dark area at the top/bottom of each panel, which is worst.

So... I'll just have to "make it work". I don't really mind the asymmetrical look that it'll have, but at least I have 4 windows and I can pair them.



These were some other fabrics that I had looked at in town.

I really liked this one (especially the colours), but I found that the pattern was too busy.



This one was kinda cool, but way too thick and heavy for Roman Blinds.



Nice, but too "matchy-matchy" with my wall colour.



Fun, but a bit too retro for me.



I *REALLY* liked this one, which reminds me a little bit of "toile" fabric, but it was too thick...



...and it was 20$/m! :(



Onto another topic. Remember the Rankin Apartments (I keep mentioning them, since I walk by the building weekly). Well a few weeks ago, I spotted more doors by the dumpster.



That's a rather beautiful door, but I didn't take it for several reasons. Reason 1 was that the entire other side was blackened by fire damage (badly). Reason 2, Condition: The door had been refitted with a more modern knob, and it looked like it had been kicked-in at some point, with damage to the main edge, and big slivers broken off. The glass panels were also all smashed.

What I *DID* save, though, were the wonderful ball-tip hinges! These are very thick QUALITY hinges. They also had half the original screws on the door side (obviously). These are "flashed copper" or "Japanned" copper hinges. I have no freakin' clue why they would call these Japanned, but I've seen the term used several times. Basically they are copper with darker blotchy areas, kinda like an animal print look.

The door behind it was a crappy (modern) busted-up screen door.

There was also (against the building) a damaged old door, so I took the lockset/handles from it.

Weeks earlier, I had also "stolen" a primitive light fixture out of one of the back porches. Nothing fancy, just a porcelain ceiling "disc" a spiral wire, and a socket (from the 20s/30s). I wasn't sure if I should take it, but I was pretty sure that the back porches were going to be torn down. This past week, I was happy to see that I was right. The one fixture was the only one available (or left), otherwise I would have klepto-ed more of them.

These are the back porches I'm talking about (which are no longer there):



More in Part 2.

Quickie Update

Not much going on lately. I'm still working on the porch door (I need to go pick up some glass for it), and I'll hopefully be getting fabric for the Master Bedroom curtains thanks to a friend of mine who lives in Ottawa (she knows who she is, and she rocks!) The fabric is from Ikea and it's called "Stockholm" in the beige tint. Basically it's a leaf and berry pattern (line work) in white on a beige background.

Also, I've tested out my aniline dyes (samples) that I was thinking of using for the vanity and I wasn't that thrilled about how they turned out (considering all the extra work involved), so instead, I'll be using a regular oil based stain in a dark mahogany (reddish brown). The colour is a special mix called "Cherry on Maple" (I note this here mainly for my own references).

The only other bit of news that I don't think I mentioned yet is that last Friday I picked up some keys. I had the Yale "night" lock re-keyed on the antique door (the salvaged one that was complete and in good shape), and had 3 keys cut for it, and I also got an antique style (but generic) skeleton key fitted to the lock for the porch door. This was super fun, and since it's a universal key, it also happens to fit 3 more similar Corbin locks in my inventory. It almost works on several others, but not quite. They did have other styles/shapes of these universal keys available, so depending which locks I end up using, I can get keys for them.

Bedroom Furniture

It's been over 2 years and I finally have a bedroom with furniture in it! My good friend Devin came by this morning to help me bring up/move a few pieces into the room.

I have a 5 piece set of bedroom furniture in solid walnut that I've had since I was a kid. My father (also an antiques lover) bought the set from an old lady down the street probably in the late 70s or in the 80s. My brother and I used (and lightly abused) these pieces since we were kids.

I spent a good hour last night and this morning, going over the pieces with a dark brown gel stain to help camouflage some of the scratches and dings. The chair and stool are pretty bad. I've thought about refinishing the set a few times, but I always end up thinking it would be a terrible idea and ruin 90% of their value.

The set has a tall (man's) dresser, a large (woman's) dresser with a mirror (the kind that weighs a ton), as well as a vanity (also with mirror, but I've never used it, and I've never seen the piece with the mirror attached - but I have it), and there's a bench, and a chair that probably goes with the vanity.

For quite a while I remember that the dresser with the mirror was in my parents' bedroom, and we used the tall dresser in our room (my brother and I). The left hand side was mine, and the right side was his. Socks were on top, then undies, and regular clothes in the next 3. I don't really remember where the vanity was, but I ended up using it in my bedroom when we finished the upstairs at my old house.

I also have an antique single bed, but it's older, and it doesn't match the set. You've seen bits of it in the Office photos. That bed will go into the guest bedroom (eventually) with other mismatched (antique) pieces.

So far, I've brought-in the tall dresser, and the long one with the mirror. I could also easily fit the vanity, but I think I want to put that one in a different room (more on that below).

Here is the large dresser with the mirror. It's been years since I've used the mirror (I last used it with a mirror prior to 2003), since it looked better without it at the apartment. I'm glad to see that it looks rather nice like this in this setting.

Side note: Now that I have some furniture in place, I can display a few of my clocks. I cleaned the dust off of them and fished the missing parts out of storage (pendulums, keys, weights, etc). These may get changed around later, but I just grabbed a bunch that would look nice for now.



Tall dresser (my favourite piece), with one of my nicer clocks on it (the big one). Note that it's not finished, since the centre of the glass should show a painting rather than be clear. The top is also just sitting in place since it broke off during the move in 2010. The large clock dates from the 1830s.





I rather like this upholstered chair (a 20$ yard sale find), but it may or may not stay in this spot. I am currently thinking about having some kind of tall bookcase or armoire against this wall (rather than having the vanity, since it will line up with the edge of the window and it might look awkward).



Another view:



The other half of the bedroom has changed around already. I originally (and still) wanted the bed centered under the window on the right, but I also really want my old trunk (treasure chest) at the foot of the bed. There's not nearly enough clearance with the bed under the window, so I had to put it like this. It works fine like this, but I'm not really digging the asymmetrical look.

The two clocks on the floor will probably find a home on a shelf on the wall (just above where they're sitting.



Thoughts? Comments? Ideas?

I'm looking for curtain ideas so far. I'm 95% sure I know what I want, but I'm not at all sure about the colour(s) or pattern.

A big part of the reason I bought this house was because of the beautiful casings. That said, I don't want to use curtain rods with long curtains (tab curtains, for example). I love the look of tab curtains, and I own quite a few from my apartment days, but I want something more along the lines of this:







My favourite ones are the ones in the third photo. I like the idea of bamboo, but I'll need something to really block-out the light.

I was thinking of going with something neutral like a beige or a light brown with a subtle pattern, but I also really like the look of the ones with the border. Thoughts?

Please note that I'm not really interested in buying pre-made curtains for these windows. I'm planning to hand-sew my own Roman shades from scratch. HOWEVER, if you have an online source for nice (preferably cheap) fabric, I'm all ears!