DIY Curtain Rods Using Electrical Conduit
Learn how to make extra long DIY Curtain rods for extra wide windows with step by step tutorial. These extra long curtain rods are a great budget-friendly alternative! Also, a great solution for rod bowing or curtains catching as they slide.
You will also love easy no-sew drop Cloth curtains and DIY roman shades using drop cloths.
Today, I have Melissa from Make It Yours With Melissa sharing a great DIY tutorial with you!
I love how she has a whole bunch of great ideas and makes everything look really super pretty! You can read more about her at the bottom of the post but for now, here is Melissa –
Extra Long Curtain Rods for Large Windows
Something my husband and I learned the hard way when we moved into our new house was that telescoping, also known as adjustable, curtain rods are not actually a good idea for larger windows or multiple windows sharing a curtain rod.
They are fine for smaller windows.
If you want to extend your curtain rod on either side of a large window (and believe me, you really do), or you have a couple of windows to dress, you either need to
- Make sure you are not extending your telescoping rod to anywhere near its maximum length and get a telescoping rod that is more than double the length you need it to be, or,
- Spend a pretty penny on a custom rod, or,
- Make your own rod using electrical conduit.
Our family room has two 5 foot wide windows that sit side by side.
We knew that in order to stay on budget AND get a good quality rod, building a curtain rod was the way to go.
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Materials Needed to Make DIY Curtain Rods Using Electrical Conduit
- Electrical conduit
- Set screw coupling
- Pipe cutter
- Drapery Brackets – 3
- Finials
- Champaign or wine corks
- Spray primer
- Spray paint – in color of your choice. I used this one.
- Spray sealer
- Utility knife
- Power drill
- Torpedo Level
- Paste wax
- Rag or paper towel
How to Make Your Own Extra-Long DIY Curtain Rods
Step 1– Gather supplies
- Electrical conduit – Pick out the straightest pieces of electrical conduit (aka EMT Conduit, or Electrical Metal Tube Conduit), you can find.
- Depending on the length you need your curtain rod to be, you may need more than one 10 foot piece.
- For our project, we needed two because we wanted the finished rod to be 13.5 ft long.
Very Important Tip: Make sure you know what size grommet or pocket your curtain has so that you can purchase the correct size, or diameter, conduit. We bought 1¼” conduit pieces because our grommet opening was 1 ½”.
- Coupler – Needed if you need a rod longer than 10 ft. Make sure that the EMT set screw coupling (sometimes called a coupler) fits the conduit.
- The coupler will sit in the center support rod, with the screws pointed towards the wall and won’t really be visible. You won’t need to worry about the curtains gliding over it.
- Brackets – one for each end and one for the center.
- Make sure they fit your conduit diameter. The larger your conduit, the more trouble you might have finding brackets that fit it. But you can usually use pliers to open the bracket up a little and shove the coupling in there to expand it and make it work. You want to do this before you paint it, though.
- Finials – Pick out some finials you like, too. We used the ones from the telescoping rod we originally tried to make work for the window.
Step 2– Cut Conduit
Cut the electrical conduit pipes to the required size using pipe cutters.
The required size for the conduit is half of your desired finished length. We needed a 13.5′ curtain rod so we cut our conduit to 2 pieces of 6.75′
Step 3– Paint Conduit
- Use a Scotch Brite scrubber pad to sand the conduit pieces.
- Spray conduit along with the coupling, brackets, and finials with some primer. This is the one we like.
How to spray paint a curtainRod-
We built these easy to use stands for spray painting using scrap wood and some nails. There are nails hammered in horizontally on the vertical piece of scrap wood. You can set the rods on the nails at each end of the conduit.
Looking for a gold or silver spray paint? Find your perfect color –
- Once the primer is dry, add a couple of coats of spray paint to the conduit, coupler, brackets, and finials in color of your choice. We decided to use this spray paint. It is called Stainless Steel!
- When the spray paint is dry, add a clear coat for durability. We used our favorite Crystal Clear Enamel.
Step 4– Assemble the rod
Put the conduit and coupling together and set it all up on the mounted brackets, with the screws pointing up and back towards the wall.
Step 5– Adding finials
- Using a utility knife and working over a cutting board or surface that is safe to cut on, shorten a cork.
Tip – For larger conduits, use a champaign cork and for smaller conduits use a wine cork.
- Drill a pilot hole and screw the finial to the cork.
At this point, you’ll want to test fit the finial by pushing it into the open end of the conduit. If you run into fitting trouble, you can trim the cork with a utility knife. Or just try another (smaller) cork.
Step 7– Hang up the curtains!
Before putting up the curtains on the rod, add some paste wax with a cloth or paper towel to the top half of the curtain rod to help make sure the grommets slide nice and smooth every time you open and close the curtains.
Install curtains on both ends, add the finials, and you’re done!
Step back and enjoy a nice, straight curtain rod!
Which was also extremely budget-friendly
How Much Did the DIY Curtain Rod Cost
- Conduit – $13.50/ tube
- Coupling – $1.70
- Brackets – $5-$10
- Finials – depends on the finials, but probably somewhere between $10-$40
- Champagne Corks – FREE! (If you’re a wine-o)
- Primer – $5-$7
- Spray Paint – (2) at $5-$7
- Clear Coat – $5-$7
- Paste Finishing Wax – $9.88
That’s a grand total of around $73- $117 for a large-scale, completely custom curtain rod!
There’s just no way you could hope to purchase a custom curtain rod of that size for that price!
What are you all making for your window coverings?
If you make a custom curtain rod of your own or any custom curtain decoration, Anika and I would just LOVE IT if you would tag us on your Instagram post so we can enjoy them, too!
Happy sanding and painting and curtain hanging everyone.
And whatever you make, make it yours!
More DIY Curtain Rod Ideas –
Melissa is a teacher turned stay at home mom and blogger over at Make It Yours with Melissa. There she shares recipes that she lives on and crafty things she makes for her home and the people she loves most. She’s a Pinterest junkie with a passion for pretty things and baked goods. A couple of posts that her readers seem to enjoy most are this awesome DIY French Cleat Command Center she and her husband built and this precious cupcake costume tutorial she made for her daughter’s favorite Halloween costume.
DIY Curtain Rods Using Electrical Conduit
Learn how to make DIY Curtain rods for extra wide windows with step by step tutorial. These extra long curtain rods are a great budget friendly alternative!
Materials
Tools
- Pipe cutter
- Utility knife
- Power drill
- Torpedo Level
Instructions
Gather Your Supplies
- Pick out the straightest pieces of electrical conduit (aka EMT Conduit, or Electrical Metal Tube Conduit), you can find. Depending on the length you need your curtain rod to be, you may need more than one 10 foot piece.
- Coupler - Needed if you need a rod longer than 10 ft. Make sure that the EMT set screw coupling (sometimes called a coupler) fits the conduit.
- Brackets - one for each end and one for the center. Make sure they fit your conduit diameter. The larger your conduit, the more trouble you might have finding brackets that fit it. But you can usually use pliers to open the bracket up a little and shove the coupling in there to expand it and make it work. You want to do this before you paint it, though.
- Finials - Pick out some finials you like too.
Cut Conduit
- Cut the electrical conduit pipes to the required size using pipe cutters.
- The required size for the conduit is half of your desired finished length. We needed a 13.5' curtain rod so we cut our conduit to 2 pieces of 6.75'
Paint Conduit
- Use a Scotch Brite scrubber pad to sand the conduit pieces.
- Spray conduit along with the coupling, brackets, and finials with some primer.
- Once the primer is dry, add a couple of coats of spray paint to the conduit, coupler, brackets, and finials in color of your choice.
- When the spray paint is dry, add a clear coat for durability. We used our favorite.
Assemble the Rod
- Put the conduit and coupling together and set it all up on the mounted brackets, with the screws pointing up and back towards the wall.
Adding Finials
- Using a utility knife and working over a cutting board or surface that is safe to cut on, shorten a cork.
- Drill a pilot hole and screw the finial to the cork.
- At this point, you'll want to test fit the finial by pushing it into the open end of the conduit. If you run into fitting trouble, you can trim the cork with a utility knife. Or just try another (smaller) cork.
Hang up the curtains!
- Before putting up the curtains on the rod, add some paste wax with a cloth or paper towel to the top half of the curtain rod to help make sure the grommets slide nice and smooth every time you open and close the curtains.
- Install curtains on both ends, add the finials, and you’re done!
Notes
- Make sure you know what size grommet or pocket your curtain has so that you can purchase the correct size, or diameter, conduit. We bought 1¼” conduit pieces because our grommet opening was 1 ½”.
- Build a simple structure to hold curtain rods in place to paint
Anika's goal is to inspire and empower beginners with woodworking, DIY, home improvement, and home decor ideas.
She wants everyone to unlock their creative potential and experience the feeling that comes with making something. Nothing feels better better than seeing something and saying "I can make that!"
Oh this is AMAZING! Thank you so much for sharing this.
Love the idea. But, I have a question. You mention that the couplet will allow the curtains to slide over it, but how is that possible with the center bracket in place? Wouldn’t the bracket stop the curtains from moving past the center to the other side? What am I missing?
Love the idea. But, I have a question. You mentioned setting the connectors so that the curtains slide over.. but how does that happen? I can’t see how the curtain will slide over the center support bracket?
Hi Louise, yes, the two curtains on either side of the center support will stay on their sides.