Sniffles All 'Round....and How to Hang Curtains without a Rod

It's  been a slow week around here. Last Friday my school-age guy came home with a nasty cold and it spread to his little brother and sister. Of course, as the primary nose wiper and get-up-in-the-middle-of-the-nighter in the house, this mama has succumbed to a case of massive congestion and headache. While we're all recovering from our sniffles, I thought I might share an old post of mine from a separate blog published awhile back.

 A few years ago, when we were living in a rental and paying on a house we couldn't sell, I was determined to have a pretty home created on a budget of almost $0. We'd left our curtain rods back in our previous location and I came up with a jerry-rigged, come-what-may way to hang some window dressings without rods. I know there are so many of us that want welcoming, lovely homes but don't have the cash flow to run down to Target and splurge on hundreds of dollars in panels and window hardware. So, without further ado.....

"Hanging Curtains Without a Rod"

 

So, have you ever moved into a new place, with very little cash and thought "I MUST have curtains on these stinkin' windows!" When we moved into our rental in February, the proverbial financial flow was at a trickle while paying for two homes and so I put my ingenuity to work. It took a few minutes of staring at the window with my finger ever so thoughtfully on my lower lip and then I got it. What I needed to do was create the FEEL of luxe curtains (since our rental came with nice wood blinds, the window dressings need not be functioning to ensure darkness....in other words, I just needed to make it LOOK pretty--not actually work).

 

 Here's the secret I devised: simply take two nails for each side of the window and hammer them at an angle (pointing toward the ceiling) into the wall about two inches from the ceiling and about 8 inches apart. Then string heavy gauge wire through the rod slot of your curtains, scrunch the fabric a bit along the wire as you go. Proceed to wrap the ends of the wire on each side to the two nails on each side of the window and voila! A nice little window dressing at no cost.

 

 I must note that when using this little trick, be sure you place the nails high on the wall--near the ceiling--so as to make it easier to hide the nails with a little finagling of the wire and fabric. This method sounds crazy, but I promise, if you do it right no one will be the wiser. Just this last week my mother visited and had no idea of my trick until I pulled the curtain to the side a bit and showed her the wire. The above pic is of our bedroom and this below pic is a detail of the wire technique. With a method this cheap to try, why not give it a go?