Curtain poles

[Chris Lingwood]

My mum is coming this weekend to make me some curtains! I've got all the material but I've neglected to buy some poles. I'm tempted to just make them out of dowel but I'm also pretty busy at the moment.

 

All I want is a simple pole with fairly short "stands" so its close to the wall around a meter long onto which I can have rings. Most of the ones I've seen in shops come far too far out of the window so I'd forever be walking into them especially as I would be. A friend of mine has used copper pipe brackets which don't look half bad. I'm tempted to copy him although they do have a slight air of rough and ready.

 

Any other bright ideas?

 

I tell you what I'll be glad to see the back of those damnable ikea wooden blinds. The stupid adjusting rod sticks half way across the room when you've got them pulled up. Hateful hateful things!

[Sir Nibble]

My mum is coming this weekend to make me some curtains! I've got all the material but I've neglected to buy some poles. I'm tempted to just make them out of dowel but I'm also pretty busy at the moment.

 

All I want is a simple pole with fairly short "stands" so its close to the wall around a meter long onto which I can have rings. Most of the ones I've seen in shops come far too far out of the window so I'd forever be walking into them especially as I would be. A friend of mine has used copper pipe brackets which don't look half bad. I'm tempted to copy him although they do have a slight air of rough and ready.

 

Any other bright ideas?

 

I tell you what I'll be glad to see the back of those damnable ikea wooden blinds. The stupid adjusting rod sticks half way across the room when you've got them pulled up. Hateful hateful things!

Boat or house?

[Chris Lingwood]

boat so they need to be fairly compact but not wildly long.

 

I've found these pipe clamps, anything from the top row or the three on the right from the second row would be ok I suppose. Shame that's in bombay

 

http://www.brassfast.com/pipeclampsmunsenr...systemclips.htm#

 

[edit] found them in a few places now, nice and cheap. I'm still open to other suggestions though[/edit]

Edited October 30, 2007 by Chris Lingwood

[BlueStringPudding]

Hi Chris,

 

We replaced our metal curtain poles with those hateful Ikea wooden blinds (but I won't hold that against you ) as I have some of the poles still as I was going to use them for other things. How many do you need and what sort of length?

[Sir Nibble]

I have sliding curtain track fastened to the roof, and poles at the bottom of the window with rings sewn to the BACK of the curtains threaded on to them to keep the curtains against the side. Much better than tucking the curtain behind the pole. Look for the track and little sliders intended for shower curtains.

[Chris Lingwood]

Hi Chris,

 

We replaced our metal curtain poles with those hateful Ikea wooden blinds (but I won't hold that against you ) as I have some of the poles still as I was going to use them for other things. How many do you need and what sort of length?

There's absolutely nothing wrong with those blinds, I just hate them! Most of the problem (apart from the bloody poles) is my windows go almost up to the ceiling so you loose about 3 inches of window to that mass of wood at the top. That and they hang away from the walls quite a bit, which I could fix...but I hate them...did I mention that?

 

There are 4 windows I'm doing so I need 8 if I have poles at the top and bottom. They are about 3*50cm and 1*100 although I can't remember exactly. Unfortunately I'm not allowed to replace the ones in the kitchen or corridor. I might slip with the circular saw one of these days though...you never know!

 

I have sliding curtain track fastened to the roof, and poles at the bottom of the window with rings sewn to the BACK of the curtains threaded on to them to keep the curtains against the side. Much better than tucking the curtain behind the pole. Look for the track and little sliders intended for shower curtains.

 

Hmm that's not a bad idea. I shall investigate.

[John Orentas]

Chris.

 

Yes I always find a walk around B&Q will give some inspiration for such things.

 

Another method is to drill through the pole at each end and with the aid of a spacer fix directly to the cabin side.. I always used plasic track stuff and pelmets, works very well but can be messy to replace curtains.. Your next problem is coping with the tumblehome.. Tried all methods, rods, tapes, wires, you name it but this works very well.

 

http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php...=si&img=908

[BlueStringPudding]

I have sliding curtain track fastened to the roof, and poles at the bottom of the window with rings sewn to the BACK of the curtains threaded on to them to keep the curtains against the side.

 

What a jolly good idea.

[Chris Lingwood]

Chris.

 

Yes I always find a walk around B&Q will give some inspiration for such things.

 

Another method is to drill through the pole at each end and with the aid of a spacer fix directly to the cabin side.. I always used plasic track stuff and pelmets, works very well but can be messy to replace curtains.. Your next problem is coping with the tumblehome.. Tried all methods, rods, tapes, wires, you name it but this works very well.

 

http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php...=si&img=908

 

I'm not sure plastic track is going to work wonderfully well on my windows. There's not much room above them, its not impossible though. We are putting curtain tape on the top so we can always change it later if pole proves to be rubbish. A bracket at the end of the pole would work its true....hmmmm

 

That hanging bottom pole looks like a good idea though, I hadn't even considered tumblehome, nor knew what it was called.

[John Orentas]

I'm not sure plastic track is going to work wonderfully well on my windows.

That hanging bottom pole looks like a good idea though, I hadn't even considered tumblehome, nor knew what it was called.

 

 

I wasn't reccomending track systems, in fact if I did it again I would probably go for poles.. I do like pelmets though for several other reasons.

[BlueStringPudding]

That and they hang away from the walls quite a bit...

 

Not if you do what we do - screw two tiny net-curtain-hooks under the window cill, then loop the vertical thread (that joins all the slats) under each one. It holds them flush with the window and the slats still twist open and closed. And the hooks can't be seen either. The threads unhook easily if you want to draw the blind up too. The bar hangs down vertically but is useful for telling which way we're listing!!! But the bar is attached to the twisty mechanism just by a hook too, so the ones in the corridor we remove if need be and place horizontally on the top ledge of the blind. Works well for us.

 

You can see the blind hanging parallel to the window to the right of this picture...

 

 

... and the bar hanging vertically in the reflection in the mirror!

 

But you don't want to see this? You find them hateful!!!! But seriously, do you want me to dig out these curtain poles when I get back to the boat tonight, and measure them up and see how many I've got? They're metal, (dark browny coppery sort of colour), with an Iced-Gem shape podule at each end. Interested... or would you rather follow up your other source of curtain poles first?

[Ian_L]

What a jolly good idea.

 

I have little magnets sewn into the curtain hem at a strategic point and a tiny steel screw in the wooden windowframe and the curtain holds to the wall no problem. I use this method for venetian blinds as well.

 

Cheers

Ian

[Miles]

We have just recurtained our boat and this is how.

 

We purchased cafe curtain poles from Dunelm for just a few pounds each (less than four but I can't remember exactly) and put one above and one below each window. My wife then made the curtains and I hammered some eyelets into the top and bottom. The poles are then fed through the poles. Being cafe curtain poles they areadjustable in length and so they need some way of fixing them so they stay at a fixed length but remember you have to get them off the poles to wash them.

 

We have found them really easy to open and close although close to the window and when in the open position are nicely "pleated".

 

I will try and remember to get a photograph and some dimensions if you are interested. We did it tat way as solid brass rod would have been prohibitive in price at the moment and unlikely to get cheaper.

[DHutch]

Im going to watch this thread, becuase i was litterally going to write one my self last night!

 

We proberbly have a simular problem to chris, as in the sides of the boat are vertical so theres no issue there, but that the tops off the windows are basicaly hard up agasint the ceiling. With just room for a 1inch moulding.

 

Currently we have wooden dowel (10mm ish) with the curtain sticked over at the top to accept the dowel.

- However the turn over isnt half being enough, the dowel quite rough, and theres no where for it bunch up.

- So they only open about halfway, and then get scraped back by the rediulasly over long tie-backs.

 

Then my grandad decided they where dirty, and stuck them though a 60 wash and took all the colour out of them.

 

So my mum is making new ones this winter also, and is 'just waitingme to provide on the rails/poles/track/hoops" for them to slide on.

 

 

 

Daniel

[ChrisPy]

for my cabin wndows I asked SWMBO to make up soe standard lined curtains with narrow header tape. Initially I fitted Swish track.

 

then I found the thin brass rods (about 1/2") with standoff clamps at B&Q, and fitted brass rings (very expensive) to the clips on the header tape. The Swish was ugly and bulky so it went in the 'recycle bin'.

 

if I had to do it again I would have a pocket in the curtain top and bottom, and feed the thin brass rod through the pocket. much cheaper and better looking.

 

I used heavy drapes instead of doors to separate the living compartment from the sleeping areas. There I used a thick brass plated tube like a wardrobe rail (about 1") again from B&Q, and used the pocket principle. It looks and works brilliant!

[PaulW]

After much searching I found the Cafe Rods mentioned above to be the best solution if you want something that is close to the cabin wall. They are fine on windows up to around 1mtr but may bow a little over that. Search google for them, theres loads to choose from and they are relatively cheap.

 

Cheers

 

Paul

[chris w]

for my cabin wndows I asked SWMBO to make up soe standard lined curtains with narrow header tape. Initially I fitted Swish track.

 

then I found the thin brass rods (about 1/2") with standoff clamps at B&Q, and fitted brass rings (very expensive) to the clips on the header tape. The Swish was ugly and bulky so it went in the 'recycle bin'.

 

if I had to do it again I would have a pocket in the curtain top and bottom, and feed the thin brass rod through the pocket. much cheaper and better looking.

 

I used heavy drapes instead of doors to separate the living compartment from the sleeping areas. There I used a thick brass plated tube like a wardrobe rail (about 1") again from B&Q, and used the pocket principle. It looks and works brilliant!

 

My local chandler has the same thing but sells 10mm diameter (ie: thin) solid brass rods and the brass end fixings. (about £10 for 1.5 metres). My (new) boat was curtained like this with an identical rod at the bottom behind which the curtains sit to keep them flush to the wall. I have added some identical brass rod adjacent to some of the curtains to allow various items of clothing to be temporarily hung up for drying or just convenience. The rods, being small in diameter, sit very close to the wall and thereby look really neat.

 

Chris

Edited November 1, 2007 by chris w

[Sir Nibble]

an identical rod at the bottom behind which the curtains sit to keep them flush to the wall.

Chris

 

Chris, take alook at my earlier post re rings on the curtain, it is much more user friendly and looks neater.

[chris w]

Chris, take alook at my earlier post re rings on the curtain, it is much more user friendly and looks neater.

 

Neat idea. I'm going to try that out with mine.

 

Chris

[Chris Lingwood]

But you don't want to see this? You find them hateful!!!! But seriously, do you want me to dig out these curtain poles when I get back to the boat tonight, and measure them up and see how many I've got? They're metal, (dark browny coppery sort of colour), with an Iced-Gem shape podule at each end. Interested... or would you rather follow up your other source of curtain poles first?

 

That's very kind of you but I think I'll have a go at sourcing my own bits.

 

Cheers to people who mentioned cafe rods. I'd not seen them before. Just need to decide how I'm going to do it now...

[DHutch]

Here go as promised.

- This is what wehave now and are aiming to improve on. lol.

 

As you can see, the space above is negligable, which is always going to make fitting in a decent rail system a challenge.

- However i'll look into some of the suggestions above and see if we can get a the first pair made up sometime and see how that works.

 

 

Daniel