Make Your Own DIY West Elm Inspired Curtain Rod

I said when we moved into this house I was going to BUY everything because I wanted it all to be nice and new.  Well, that’s quickly gone out the window with everything going so much up in price recently.  So I saw an opportunity to attempt a DIY look for less when I saw a certain curtain rod at West Elm and realized I needed curtains in our guest bedroom.  Here’s a few easy steps on how I made my own DIY version of these curtain rods AND my own version of the European Flax Linen Curtains too.

First, let me say that I love to buy new things, but sometimes they just don’t work with the budget.  I also recently shared some tips on thrifting because, new is nice, but character is better!  Since the guest room isn’t always used, I figured this would be the perfect place to try out this DIY.  Here’s the look I’m trying to recreate.

This is a pretty easy look to recreate but in all honesty, it was way easier than I had expected!  My particular window is a corner window so my requirements were a little different than just a plain curtain rod.   Here’s what you’ll need to make a corner rod:

Unbleached Muslin Fabric
*I got 9 yards – 3 yards each in 3 cut segments
Iron Bonding
Corner Braces (1.5in x .5in x 1.5in)
One hole strap (1/2 in)
2 PVC Caps
Nuts & Bolts
1 PVC Elbow
2 dowels (.75in dia x 48in L Round Poplar Dowel)

First grab all your “pieces” (hardware) and find a spot to spray them.  I picked a matte black spray paint, but you can’t really tell unless you are up really close so if you have another black on hand, go for it!

Once that’s done and all is totally dry, it’s time to assemble the “hooks.”  For each you’ll need 1 one hole strap, one corner brace, and nuts and bolts.  I needed 4 so I made that many.  And I chose to not paint my nuts and bolts assuming we’d not see them.

GUEST ROOM MUST HAVES

Then it’s time to hang the rod.  I always hang my rods 6 inches up and 6 inches out from the window corner.  I read that somewhere, but I used that when I decided on the length of my curtains as well.  Too much higher and they wouldn’t touch the floor.

Once those are hung, you can start to prepare your rod.  I chose to leave my rod natural, however you can stain it.  I figured the look I was going for in creating my own faux west elm mid century modern rod was more natural than stained.  Now you’ll need some E600 glue and you’ll add the caps to the end of your rods.  For me, again, since mine was a corner set up, I only used 2 of these and it was one on each end.  Just add a bit of glue and hold your PVC cap on there until it doesn’t move.

Now’s time to create your curtains.  On each top I just folded over about 3-4 inches to create a pocket.  You don’t really have to do this if you aren’t going to hang directly on the rod, but that was my plan so I needed the pocket.

Before adding the PVC elbow to your DIY curtain rod, add all panels to the rods so that you can move them over the elbow once you have it on.  I chose to just let the rods sit in the elbow vs gluing because I wanted to be able to remove easily if need be.

In end I’m very happy with how this DIY curtain rod turned out and how it allowed me to check off one more to-do list item in this room!  I think for $30 for the fabric, $9 for the dowels, and about $10 for the pieces/hardware, this look for less really creates the look and feel I was going for and all for around $50 vs $396 for the curtains (3 panels) and $120 for two rods!