I was patient through the end of last year's yard sale season looking for curtain panels and didn't find anything. (As I assumed I would not.) Plus I still always had my heart set on panels in this fabric that I'd been drooling over from Ballard Designs. But they were more $$$ than I would spend on curtain panels.
So I figured it was worth a shot to let my Santas know I wanted Ballard gift cards for Christmas. Hubby calls this "mental accounting." I can't justify spending his hard earned money on something but I will drop the same amount of money in a heartbeat if is gifted to me. To him, money is money, whether it was a gift or earned - it should be treated equally. Well, that's the difference in thought process between a treasure hunter and a financial advisor.
Anyhoo... Between Christmas and my birthday I was given enough in Ballard gift cards to go ahead and justify my splurge. (Thank you "Santa!") There were a few bumps in the road along the way though. Such as Ballard losing the first gift card they supposedly mailed out and/or mailing it to the wrong address. And then me ordering the wrong length panel the first time around.
While waiting for the correct length to arrive, I had my handyman Brian install the curtain rod brackets from my existing hardware up high on the wall above the molding. I could do it myself if I had a drill that worked....if the one I got at a yard sale last year had a battery packed that actually recharged. I'm not bitter or anything. I'm hopeful I'll find one that does work yard sale-ing this season, otherwise I'll be asking Santa for that for next Christmas.
So, Brian spaced the brackets exactly how I told him I wanted them. Only once I actually hung up the rods (the cheap kind where one side slides into the other side), one side just barely reached the other so they sagged without enough support in the middle. I forgot to take a picture of that but it was quite pitiful looking. Oops, I guess I kinda didn't realize how limited I was in how far they actually extended apart. Another bump in the road. The hardware was already drilled into the wall so...what to do?
My genius husband had the idea to just make new rods out of dowels and screw the finials from the old rods into the dowels. DUH! So I ran down to the local hardware store and bought the right size dowels and a little sample container of brown paint, because I decided they would look better darker.
This time it was my father-in-law that accepted my request to drill holes in the ends of the dowels to fit the screws on the finials.
After screwing in all the finials I painted everything brown. Much better.
I also had to paint the brackets that were already screwed into the wall. While those were drying I ironed the curtain panels and finally got everything all rigged up. I would prefer much thicker rods, but these were the thickest dowels I could fit in the existing mounting hardware. So I settle.
Boy am I patient. 8 months later and I finally have the look I was going for. Gifted panels. Half re-used hardware. And less than $10 on dowels and paint. Not bad for new window treatments. It was worth the wait. I sort of love them.
I have to smile when I look at this picture. A hand-me-down table (well okay, I don't smile about that one, but I make do with it just fine), yard sale light fixture, yard sale light shades, yard sale vase, yard sale salt & pepper shakers, yard sale mini-crate, thrift shop pitcher, yard sale vintage kitchen timer (that I keep on the table to motivate my kids to eat their dinner faster), thrift shop frames, antique-shop planter, hand-me-down corner table, yard sale bird cage... I don't buy much new. But I think you already figured that out.
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