This entire past weekend I have been researching wood curtain rod brackets for our dining room.
Yes. Brackets.
Fun…it was not.
But eye opening into my psyche when it comes to how I’m suddenly leaning towards breaking my own budget rules for fancy things?
Yes.
Which is why I am letting you guys into my crazy little head space because…let’s face it…I need help. In more ways than just this. But that’s a whole other conversation.
To start, I want to use wood curtain rods in the dining room.
Simple, but not really. This is what I plan to use for the rods, and then attach some wood finials to them, stain, and call them complete.
BUT…I obviously still need the brackets to hold them up. I need 5 brackets for our three windows; our front 2 windows have a span needing 9 feet, so we’ll need a center bracket.
Also to consider, we have the radiator pipes to the left of the front windows, so we need the brackets on that window to come out from the wall by a good 6 inches, meaning most standard brackets won’t work.
I started by looking for wood brackets versus metal because, after all, this is for the fancy Victorian dining room. I wanted to see what was out there other than the standard metal L brackets.
…and oh boy are there choices…
This is where I began my downward spiral into madness. Or genius. Whichever. Both are somewhat interchangeable.
At first I found these 6″ long wood brackets on Home Depot’s site. However, I don’t like the Home Depot bracket because they have the noticeable screw holes on the bottoms.
So I found these on another site.
But now the price has gone from being $50+tax for 5 brackets at Home Depot to $80 + shipping! Yikes. They’re nice but not THAT nice.
I kept looking.
…annnd here’s where came the pure madness, because after seeing these there’s no going back.
I am trying to convince myself that although they are very pretty, it’s still ludicrous to pay over $80 for brackets.
BUT LOOK!
THEY HAVE CARVED LEAVES! OUR CHANDELIER AND MEDALLION BOTH HAVE CARVED LEAVES!
IT ALL GOES TOGETHER!
IT’S MEANT TO BE!
I’m trying to deny myself of what seems to be the inevitable.
They’ve been sitting in my cart all weekend.
Out of desperation I started looking up how to DIY wood curtain brackets and found a cool idea from Maison de Pax. They’re not bad. Not as fancy, but they do the job. I mean come on, how much do we notice curtain brackets?!
It was time to show what I’d found to Karl.
I started by warming him up, showing him the Home Depot brackets with the holes, then the more pretty but more expensive…and up and up the chain…until we reached the carved leaves.
Karl’s job was supposed to be the denier. The reasonable one who would talk me down and say that the other choices aren’t so bad, that they’re just BRACKETS.
As I finished the end of my spiel and showed him the etched leaves brackets he looked at the screen and went “Ooooh”. Then he turned to me and said, “We should totally get those!”
WHAAAATTTT?!
I scrambled for my Plan B, showing him how we could DIY our own and it’d be so much more affordable and, come on…..it’s brackets!
He shook his head and rather eloquently said that, “the many small pieces still make up the whole for the aesthetics of the room.”
Yes, but….nooo. What happened?! You’re supposed to stop this madness, not encourage it! WHO ARE YOU?!
Not to mention that with that kind of rhetoric, you could go buy things for any price as long as it meets your aesthetics. Like these that are $113. EACH.
In the end he said it was up to me, but those carved leaves were the ones he wanted too.
Ugh.
I’ve done the math and it comes to this:
If I get 5 of these wood brackets, 2 with 3″ returns and 3 with 6″ returns, then add in shipping, it’ll be a little over $80.
The 5 of the carved leaves, same kind of bracket sizes, would be $110 + free shipping. They’re also not returnable.
Is it really worth it?
I’ve cross-searched for these exact brackets to see if they’re for sale anywhere else for lower prices, but no luck.
I’m still even hanging onto possibly DIYing…
What if we drill semi-circle holes through the tops of these $10 corbels? They’re the right length…
…now I’m just going down all sorts of trails…therefore before I bore you all past tears…
…this is where y’all need to come in and TELL ME that we’re either so right or so wrong. Or maybe a different but still-awesome alternative?
That may be dangerous though, as I suspect we’re all a bit mad… ;)
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19 Comments
You should get the fancy ones that he likes….prorated over a period of 10 years it will be pennies per day….
very true
It’s $30 difference for something you both love – just do it!
We DO love them. Thanks, Lyn!
Go with the carved leaves…. you won’t regret it. We have been renovating a 130 year old Victorian for over 4 years and it is the little things that make a difference.
Thanks, Jill! It IS the little things.
p.s. – Would love to see/hear more about your Victorian!
The ones with the leaves will not hold the curtain far enough away from the pipe… look closely. :( The rod will sit at the bottom of the notch.
You had me worried there for a sec and I went to look it up again! Thankfully, it is 6 inches at the notch/return, and the overall length is 8 inches, so we should be a-ok! Thanks for the double-check – always good! :)
I think $30 difference is worth the impact they will make. You could also get the gold wax and highlight the the high spots on the brackets and finials. It would tie in really well with the chandelier.
Hmmm…you have a point. Now I’ll be going back and forth between the wood and gold…lol.
When I saw the pics of the various brackets at the top of your post, I immediately loved the ones with leaves. For $30 more, I would totally go with these and guests WILL notice them for their perfect fit in your design. I used wine barrel staves as “rods” over 2 of our living room windows. I found a blacksmith on Etsy to make wrought iron hooks to hold the drapes. I love how they look but was so shocked at a party we hosted when 2 male guests, both married to girlfriends of mine, were caught snapping pics of them!
Thanks for chiming in! I love how you used wine barrel staves for rods – such an original idea, and sounds like it paid off even with your guests – always a plus.
p.s. – the notion of finding someone to make them thru Etsy is brilliant! I’ve never thought of finding artisans thru there, but you’re so right!
Thanks for asking because…as it happens… I have an opinion. Seriously, for me it is a no brainer. I have many years of experience in making things look the way ‘I’ want them to look. I NEVER skimp on the accents because #1…at the end of the day $30 is not going to break the bank and if it is you shouldn’t be fixing up a Victorian in the first place. And #2 even if John Q Public never notices them…seriously… you will walk into that room and wish you had fallen off your wallet and splurged the extra $30 but you will be stuck with the plain old brackets FOREVER because, unless you win the lottery, you will never be able to justify spending more money to change them out. You will just look at them and wish you had bought the nice ones in the first place.
You got me right between the eyes with your awesome opinion, as you shot my own opinion about people who try to skimp when fixing up an old home right back at me! Hah. Thanks for the kick in the butt. ;)
If what Dorothy says is true, that they won’t fit, then I would just make a nice little bevel edged block to mount them to that will raise them up off the wall enough to clear the pipes and MAKE them fit!
Definitely the fancy carved leaf ones! So worth the little more money, in the scheme of things. Over all you will be so happy with them, and the cheaper ones look cheap, and not in the same style as room at all.
Yes! “The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweet taste of low price is forgotten.” –
My husband and I have been re-doing our bedroom and are currently working on our budget. These are pretty but ever since I had kids I’ve learned that 30$ goes a long way in other areas of life and none of my guests pay attention to my decorations anymore, they are watching my Little’s run around :) I am curious about the idea of using wooden accents and like the rods themselves! Thanks!
Hi Sarah. True enough about what $30 can do. I can’t deny that spending $100 on brackets is really out of my comfort zone, but at the same time I know that we’d use them for waaaay more than 15 years and they will stay a staple in the room.
Hope you’re inspired by wood accents – they really are timeless! :)