DIY Curtain Rod and Curtains - Farmhouse Style

This was how the three windows in our living room has looked since we moved in. It was time for a change, dontcha think?

Here's our list of supplies:

(3) small 6" x 8" wooden corbels - $1.62 each at Home Depot

(1) 1-1/4” x 10’ Dowel Rod - $17.70 at Home Depot

(2) 9’ x 12’ Drop Cloths

(10) Clip Rings to hang the curtains

1-1/4" hole saw with drill

fine sand paper (220)

OPTIONAL: Weathered Oak Stain and Snow White Paint to achieve the look of the wood.

My honey took 3 cheap corbels from Home Depot and clamped them all together. He used his 1-1/4" hole saw to cut a half circle in the corbels. This is where the rod will sit. I used some fine sandpaper and smoothed out the rough edges after he was done.

Next he positioned the corbels about 12 inches above the window. We have 10 foot ceilings and I wanted the curtains to mostly fill up the wall.

He found the center of the window and placed the first corbel there. He then measured the same distance on either end from the edge of the window to get the end corbel placements. Me, I eyeball stuff, he measures, he's more of a perfectionist than I am. Haha! :) 

Next he laid the dowel rod up on the installed corbels and said. "there ya go"!

He marked the dowel rod for me so I'd know where to put it back after I added the clip rings and curtains. At this point I was planning on leaving all the wood natural, but then it just looked too yellow against the wall color, so I decided to tone it down a bit.

I went out to the shed to see what we had in our stash. I normally like using dark stains, but that was not going to work in this case, so I chose this weathered oak stain by Minwax.

The wood was still looking a bit too yellow even with the stain on there, so I white washed it a bit with some snow white acrylic paint. I did not seal these pieces because we are not going to be touching them that much.

NOTE: My version of white washing the wood in this case was me swiping on some white paint, spreading it around a bit and then using a damp paper towel to smooth it out and tone it down.

Next, I tried on the drop cloth to see how it looked. It looked really wrinkled, so I washed and dried the drop cloths and then folded one end down about 34” and clipped it in place.

Visit our blog For the exact ring clips I used.

I am loving the final look and so does my honey! I don't know why we didn't this sooner!

Please visit our blog for a short video on the process. Thanks so much for looking! :)