10-Minute DIY Curtain Rod

A simple 10-minute room divider and/or DIY curtain rod tutorial…

Do you need a quick, easy and attractive DIY curtain rod? Would you like one in about 10-minutes? Nope, it’s not a dream.

But it may be a pipe dream.

Call me your fairy godmother, team because today, I’m going to make some pipe dreams come true. If you’ve been nearing the end of your rope shopping for affordable curtain rods, look no further.

Because you’re about to take that rope (or wire), some pipe and whip up your own gorgeous DIY curtain rod.

Not JUST a curtain rod, mind you. This rod can be used in many ways.

As a regular window rod, but also as a hanging rod from the ceiling and/or wall that can become a room divider and create nooks, too!

To make this simple project even easier…

Click here

PIPE DOWN guys, I know it’s exciting…

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I’m about to TEACH YOU THE ROPES (winking snarky emoji here).

Let’s move on to the supplies you’ll be needing to tackle this industrial-chic (or could also be considered rustic, even nautical) curtain rod project:

DIY Curtain Rod Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Cut your pipe to size. 

Determine the length of rod you require, and cut your pipe to length. The pipe will be slightly shorter than the full width of your desired rod to allow for the tied off end(s) of the rope (take a look at the image below).

2. Cut Rope (or wire) to length. 

Make sure to allow an adequate length of rope (or wire) on either end of your pipe for your loops or knots. Always err on the side of cutting too long, rather than short.

You can always trim the excess at the end of the process. The length of your rope will depend on the length of your desired rod, as well as where you are mounting the rod, either to the ceiling, or wall, etc.

As you can see, this type of rod could have both ends attached to a wall, or both ends hanging from a ceiling, or a combination.

Below, the left side of the curtain rod is hooked to the wall, while the center end is hung from the ceiling.

You could easily use this tutorial to make other variations as well such as a bay curtain or a double curtain, etc. What you decide to do will really depend on your space, and the look you’re aiming for.

3. Mount hooks into your ceiling and/or wall(s).

When mounting traditional rods, if your walls/ceiling are drywall, then drywall anchors are used with your curtain brackets. In this technique, we are not using traditional curtain rod brackets, but we still use drywall anchors to support the rod.

You will first mount the anchors, then the hooks into the anchors.

There are all kinds of hooks on the market. Different sizes and finishes. So you can make almost any option work with this project.

We used simple cup hooks that we had hanging around in our garage.

4. Slide pipe over the rope. 

Or over the stainless steel wire if you are using that instead of rope, as shown below.

5. Tie off ends of the rope. 

In the particular rod shown in this post, we knotted the side-mounted to the wall. We’re not great knot tiers…not enough time spend in girl/boy scouts, I suppose. So we used a simplistic square knot.

I’m sure there are better options, but this one works just fine.

If you are using the wire instead of rope, then you’ll need to create a loop using a crimp (the linked set will provide the wire and crimps which are just closed with pliers or a crimper tool.

Alternatively, you could close the loop with u-bolts (just be sure to buy the right size bolt for your particular wire). This type of loop and clamp is shown below:

We used the above set up to create the outdoor DIY curtain rods we used on our pergola project if you want some more details.

Back to the rope option – on the end mounted to the ceiling (right side of the image above), we simply created a loop, then tightly wrapped twine around the loop to secure.

5. Hang your curtain on the rod. 

Just slip your curtain rod pocket over your new rod. 

Last reminder to grab the printable guide! It’s free, just click here or below to get your copy sent now⤵️

6. Attach ends of the rope to hooks.

Simply slip the knot over your hooks to hold the rod in place.

With the curtain OFF, this is what the rod looks like.

Voila! A PIPING HOT, industrial chic and/or nautical-vibed curtain rod.

It’s easy, breezy and probably costs LESS than you would pay for some run of the mill option at your local home goods store!

BTW, have you guys seen these rooms we’re using our pipe/rope rods in before? If you haven’t, you gotta check them out. The bedroom was our son’s in our old house.

This is what it looked like BEFORE.

Pretty incredible, huh? That paint color is one you’d look at on a swatch at Home Depot and think “Who in their right mind would use a color like this on a wall?” Right?

We created a niche using this DIY curtain rod technique in our old master bathroom. Here is that room BEFORE.

To see an even more updated version of this space, which has since been completely gutted and renovated, head to our updated master bath reveal, and let us know what you think!!

I call this older version my “leftovers” makeover because I spruced it up for $0 using nothing but stuff we had at home already.

Thanks, as always, for spending a minute of your day with us here at the nest! Now Go make some curtain rods!!

Pin this project for later!

And if you make one, leave a comment (or better yet, a photo) on the pin! That helps others know whether they want to try this project, too!