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Sunday, March 14, 2010

Craftsman Curtain Rod Bracket Installation

As promised, here are some installation pictures of the curtain rods. A previous blog post shows the manufacturing of the curtain rod brackets.

Rich Wright, the contractor of my house, made the curtain rods and brackets out of left over mahogany from the construction. He had to build a jig to hold the base bracket in place and ensure that it was aligned straight.
Curtain Rod Bracket Jig Craftsman curtain rod bracket installation.jpg

This picture shows the mounting really well. There are two screws that mount the base piece into the wall. The cover piece has a hole in the center where a 3-inch screw goes through the rod (not shown) and into the back support bracket. That hole is then filled with an ebony plug.
Installed curtain rod bracket

We ran into an issue with how to do a bracket for a corner window where each window had it's own curtain. Here is the solution, a corner bracket that takes each rod in at a 45 degree angle.
Corner curtain rod bracket installation

Test fitting a curtain rod into the brackets to make sure everything fits.


Now it's time to make the curtain rods. Each mahogany rod was custom cut to the length required for each window and door. I numbered the ends of the rods when finishing so I could remember where they went later. After some light sanding to bevel all edges, I sprayed on 3 coats of Varathane to seal them. This is the same finish I used on the curtain rod brackets.
Curtain rods finished with Varathane Numbered Mahogany Curtain Rods Mahogany curtain rods of varying lengths

Meanwhile, this block of ebony was cut into tiny squares to plug the holes in the brackets after installation.
Curtain rod bracket ebony plugs

And now for the final product. Well, almost final. I still haven't put in the ebony plugs but you can't really tell in these pictures. The rods extend one inch past each end of the brackets. The curtains have tabs with buttons so the curtain can be removed if needed.
Craftsman curtain Craftsman curtain tabs

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Craftsman Home Remodeling Forum Shut Down

Hi everyone,

Due to excessive abuse of the Craftsman Home Remodeling Forum by spammers, I have had to shut it down. Not only was the forum being blasted with inappropriate messages but somehow the spammers were using it send out SPAM emails.

I do plan on resurrecting the forum at a later date with much more stringent controls.

Sorry for the inconvenience,
Mike

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Kids Outdoor Arts and Crafts Area

This is late in coming but for those of you that have read about our palm tree removal, you know that we had some empty space on the side of the house.
palm tree removal palm tree removed

Not wanting this space to go to waste, I built a frame structure, put on a corrugated, plastic roof and grew wisteria over the entire surface. I had some left over slate from my master bathroom so I fit it into the dirt space for a floor. The blue table is one that I made out of a single 4x8 sheet of plywood. It always seemed to be in the way but now it has a good home.
arts & crafts play area-left arts & crafts play area-right

Friday, March 5, 2010

2010 JDR Industry Blogger Awards

The Craftsman Home Remodeling blog has been nominated as Best Remodeling Blogger in the 2010 JDR Industry Blogger Awards! Voting is now open.
Please vote for us here today!