I mentioned a really long time ago, in the beginning of September, that I would write a tutorial on how to hang curtains after we tackled it in our baby girl’s room… it’s taken a really long time for me to write this, because, well…. it’s boring! But, tonight I try, because one of these days it’s gonna have to get done again, and I might need to remind myself how…
You see, I have the world’s #1 husband, but real life gets in the way, and hanging curtains can get real low on the honey-do list. And I’m a (fairly) patient lady, but there always comes the day when something inside me ticks, and I try to go at the task myself… but something you might not know about me is that I break things. Everything. We have to buy new drinking glasses often. Because of me. I always open food packages the wrong way. Cereal bags are always torn to shreds. Don’t give me a CD still wrapped in plastic, or I’ll break the case just trying to get the plastic off. Our baby girl’s room has a big hole in the wall (I won’t tell you where, you’ll never find it! 😉 ) because I tried to take a shelf down by myself, and it was stuck… I took it down anyways. Whoops. The pictures that I have hung in our house are held up with many push pins, because I’m afraid to take a nail and hammer to our walls… who knows what I might end up with! Therefore I am also afraid of power tools – I’d like to keep all my body parts, thank you! I can generally handle a drill, and now the electric sander too, but I don’t dare to experiment with more power than that!
So, because of all that, I did manage to wait 4 months for these curtains and shelves to go up in our baby’s room, but we have a couple more “makeovers” planned here in the near future, and just in case, I would like to refer back to something in case I decide to take charge. And in case you need a little help to, I’m sharing my “expertise” with you! 😉 Beware, it’s long, with many pictures.
First, measure out the height you want for your curtain rod. We weaved the curtain onto the rod, and held the rod up to the height that would allow the curtains to drape nicely on the lower ledge.
From there we decided on where the brackets were to be placed (if you can find a stud, awesome), and drew in with a pencil the shape of that little keyhole shape:
oops, that’s a picture of my son peeking in, and showing us the moth he was trying to catch. Let me try that again…
Can you see it? the wee little pencil mark is there.
Next, we found a drill bit similar in size to the screw we were using, and drilled a pre-hole in the spot for the screw.
Placed the screw in the top portion of this little keyhole shape…
And drilled into the wall. Because of the awkward angle, we had to tighten by hand with a screwdriver.
We placed the rod up, and hubby (ooh, isn’t he handsome!!) held it while I perfected the balance. From there he marked where the second bracket was to go.
Since this side didn’t have a stud, we had to use one of those anchors. Hubby pre-drilled the spot, and pushed in the anchor
These screws and anchors came with the curtain rod, but you can purchase cheap sets at places like IKEA, or even the dollar store (but of course, buyer beware, you get what you pay for).
How my hubby keeps his organized…
Screw in the bracket on the other side, and Ta-Da, done!
Now onto the curtain rod for the wardrobe…
This rod I purchased at WalMart was the expandable kind, but it had some sort of crazy spring in it that caused the rod to jump out spontaneously. Not cool. There probably was a proper way to adjust it, but wouldn’t you know it, I ripped the instructions when I took the rod out of the packaging… wonder how that happened?! So I hit up Home Depot, and got these rod holder thingy-majiggy’s for super-duper cheap.
This rod had a fat end and a skinny end, which we realized just in time before the screws went in. So here is hubby placing a pencil mark where the screw is to go. We had already done the step of manually hanging the curtain and rod to decide on height. *Note* make sure you wash and dry your curtains, plus allow them to hang for a couple of days to “settle” before hanging and hemming! Somehow I messed up on the measurement, and (oh how I love good luck) the curtain reached the perfect length… no hemming needed. I have a raw edge at the bottom, but I love that look.
Anyways, again, hubby used a drill bit to pre drill the hole. The reason for using a drill bit first is because otherwise the screw could crack or break the wood. Hubby chooses a drill bit slightly smaller than the screw, so that when he does screw the screw in, the screw still has wood to bite into. Next, he screwed the bracket on.
We held up the rod and curtain, into the 2nd bracket, to decide the height… and repeated the steps.
Up goes the curtain!
Baby girl is patiently waiting while we beautify her room. I think this is the moment when I decided she needed a bird mobile!
The little shelf above the change table was the next job. this is where quality of anchors came in. I won’t bore you with the details, but we had to try 3 different kinds before we got ones that the teeth actually opened up and grabbed inside the wall.
First, of course, decide where to hang the shelf, and check the level. I penciled in the screw holes.
Hubby chose an anchor… the anchor abides by the same rules as the drill bit – just slightly smaller than your screw.
Pre-drill the holes…
Insert the anchor…
we placed the screws in the holes of the shelf, and matched them to the anchors…
And tighten. but don’t tighten all the way yet…
Be sure it’s level. Then tighten.
Awww…. poor Cody is wondering when it’s dinner time!
There’s MORE?! Yup, just a little more. Now the hooks. But this time there’s no need for words. You know it all by now!
Done! Dinner Time!
Thanks for reading!!
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Because (I Think) I Can 