If you ’ ve been coming round here for any distance of time, you likely know I have a pretty serious heat for hanging some sort of window treatments on our rental windows ( you can read why here ). When we first moved in 2 years ago, we immediately hung curtains in about every single room. The one exception was our dominate Bedroom just because I ran out of curtain rods. I bought a curtain perch soon after ( these are my front-runner cheap rods ) but it sat and sat and sat in our garage while I tended to early rooms and projects.
once in the final stages of finishing up our master Bedroom, I ( of course ) wanted to hang up my curtains. But here ’ s the reality : we are less than a year away from moving again ( can you believe that ? ! ? ! ) Although this has rarely stopped me in the past, I just didn ’ t have it in me to do a full-fledge rod installation with wallboard anchors, screws, etc. So I decided to embrace my inner “ rental guru ” and attempted to hang a curtain rod without drilling into the wall .
It is probably no surprise that I turned to one of my favorite renter-friendly products : Command Hooks. And while this truly is a simple and cagey way to hang curtains in a rental, there are a few tricks I learned along the manner to make it look and feel like a “ real ” curtain facility .
I ’ m not going to lie : this undertaking actually took me a few tries to get juuuuust right. As such, you might see some variations as we move through the tutorial. But the full news is…since I ’ ve troubleshot everything, you won ’ thyroxine have to ; and now you should be able to hang a curtain gat without drilling into the wall in no meter !
Table of Contents
Materials Needed
here is what you will need to hang a curtain perch without drilling into the wall :
- 2+ Large Command Hooks – More on this below.
- Curtain Rod – To fit most Command Hooks, you will need a rod that has a diameter of 0.75″ or less.
- Curtains – Ideally, you want ones that are hung via rod pocket, back-tabs, or rings.
- Optional but recommended:
- Scrap Cardboard – To make a template
- Masking or Painter’s tape
- Matching Wall Paint & Paintbrush
Picking the Right Command Hooks
In an attempt not to drill into the rampart to hang a curtain perch, my next best choice was to use Command Hooks. But not every Command Hook is created equal. Some are besides small to hold a rod, and others can ’ t hold the weight of fabric panels. I spent a batch of time researching options and even looked at a few in the store. All the hook options below are both big adequate to hold a rod and solid enough to support the weight of respective curtain panels, but range in price-points, finishes, and weight .
1 – Jumbo Utility Hook, Slate | 2- Oil Rubbed Bronze, Large Hook | 3 – Forever Classic Metal Wall Hook | 4 – Jumbo White Utility Hook | 5 – Brushed Nickel Hook | 6 – Value Pack Brushed Nickel Hooks | 7 – Curtain Rod Command Hooks
After a lot hem and haw, I decided on these Jumbo Command Hooks. Although they are bulkier and not quite as “ reasonably ” as the other options, I liked the way the perch fit into them best. And since I was trying to hang 10 pound worth of curtains ( 2 panels on each side ), I liked that each hook could hold up to 7.5 lbs on its own. last, they were besides the cheapest and came in bulge sets, making it the most economical choice for adding excess subscribe as needed .
NOTE: I am identical glad with my hook shot option, but did choose to “ hack ” them a bite to make them look less chunky. If I wasn ’ triiodothyronine hanging such grave curtains, I probably would have gone with these .
Determining Rod Height
When you hang a curtain rod in the “ traditional ” room, the perch is normally even to the top of the bracket. In the case of Command Hooks though, the perch nestles into the bait, making the rod even with the bottom. This can be a little catchy to gauge visually, so I suggest first base taping the Command Hooks to the wall ( as shown below ) to test different heights .
even though I in the first place placed my hook at what I thought was “ high and wide, ” it wasn ’ t near high enough once I placed the perch and tested a dialog box .
I personally prefer my curtain rods halfway between the ceiling and the windowpane spare. indeed once I figured out that placement, I made a agile cardboard template using this curtain hack from Young House Love. Using a cardboard template allows you to skip the measurement and charge and can in truth save thus much time and hassle !
How to Hang the Curtain Rod With Command Hooks
once you have your rod and hook placement settled, it ’ second meter to hang everything up !
I can ’ thyroxine overemphasize enough how important it is to follow the package directions on whatever Command Hooks you ’ rhenium using. particularly if you are hanging something big and heavy like curtains. thus although it ’ s a bite of a pain to 1 ) clean the wall, and 2 ) wait the designate “ bring around ” time…it will make a big remainder in your hooks actually staying put !
After adding the Command Strips to the back of my hooks ( shown above ), I used the cardboard template to place my hook on either side of the window .
once I followed all the instructions and the hooks were in full “ installed, ” I hung my hanker, thin curtain perch across the two hooks .
The curtain gat is now in place…let ’ sulfur add the curtains !
The Best Curtain Styles to Use
One of the biggest challenges in using Command Hooks to hang a curtain perch is that the rod ends up significantly closer to the rampart than when hang with standard brackets ( which normally hold a gat out from the rampart a thoroughly 4-6″ ). Below is a video of the bottom of the rod. As you can see, there is less than 1″ of clearance between the wall and the perch .
Years ago, I invested in a long ton of grommet-topped curtain panels so that I had adequate for our entire house. however, when you place a grommet-topped panel onto a rod so close to the wall, the rings project way forward and the panels don ’ triiodothyronine hang dainty and true. I in truth didn ’ thymine like the way it looked, so I explored other options .
Back-Tabbed Curtains
One bang-up option is to use curtain panels that either have a rod pocket or tabs across the back. This allows you to thread the perch across the top of the curtain, but all the excess fabric either gathers or pleats toward the front ( as shown below ). many stores sell both rod air pocket and tab-style curtains, and I ’ ll have a tutorial prove how to add tabs to any panels coming up in a few weeks .
One of the biggest benefits to using back-tabbed curtains is that it camouflages the Command Hooks truly actually well. however, using either gat pouch or back-tabbed panels causes them to sit reasonably wide on the prevention ( because they are basically squishing an integral curtain panel together horizontally ). This can be great in some instances ; but since I wanted to hang two panels on each side, I needed something a short more compact…which lead me to curtain rings !
Panels on Curtain Rings
I was 99 % sure I was going to hang my panels with back-tabs ; but on a notion, I hung a jell up with some curtain rings I had on hand. The result looked so much cleaner since it allowed me to make crisp, clean pleats and easily adjust how wide the entire arrangement sat on the gat .
Although the curtains themselves looked ( and hang ) so much better on the rings, the large, chunky Command Hooks were suddenly in apparent opinion, which actually, truly bothered me. Had I picked more cosmetic hook, it likely wouldn ’ t have been an exit. But my eye kept getting distracted by the big black spot on the wall !
“Camouflaging” the Command Hooks
This next step is 100 % optional ; but if your eye gets easily distracted like mine does ( and you truly want to use rings to hang your curtains ), it ’ sulfur well worth a little key and time to camouflage the hook with some matching wall rouge .
get down by using some painter ’ south tape around the edges of the pilfer. If you work cautiously, you can likely slide tape between the wall and hook itself .
then paint the debunk areas of hook with matching wall paint. If you use dark hooks, it may take a few coats to get good coverage ( when using a light paint color ) .
once you remove the painter ’ randomness tape, the hook fade into the background and become a lot less noticeable. An add bonus is that the bottom ( non-painted ) parts of the Command Hooks about appear like finials at the end of the rods !
Is this a perfect solution for a “ constantly home ” ? credibly not. But is this a great way to hang curtains in a rental home without inflicting a punch of damage to the walls ? absolutely !
A Few Other Things
By using Command Hooks to hang a curtain rod without drilling into the wall, you do have some flexibility. I experimented with hanging my curtains entire and wide-eyed, and all I needed to do was just extend my stripe past the crochet. so far, my perch hasn ’ t sagged at all…but if it did, I could easily add another hook along the middle .
You will probably notice that I still used my cringle curtain panels…they are fair hang inverted. I hemmed and hawed about whether I should “ doctor of the church ” my photos so you didn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate see them, but I opted to keep it real alternatively .
In all honesty, I thought they would be hardly noticeable once hang and would even serve as curtain weights to keep the pleats looking courteous. Although they seem fairly obvious in photograph, I don ’ metric ton even notice them when I ’ megabyte actually in the room. I ’ m not surely I would do this in a space where we host guests ; but for now, it ’ mho just another exemplar of “ making it cultivate. ”
Our curtains have been hung for a few weeks nowadays, and I have the farthermost assurance they will stay put for the remainder of our time here. however, I do want to point out that these curtains are 100 % cosmetic. Thanks to the blinds on the windows, we never have to pull these curtains open or shut. If you need your curtains to be a bit more “ functional, ” I would suggest adding an extra hook to the center of the gat to absorb some of that weight down the bar .
Although this was a project I very had to figure out, I am therefore beaming I took the time to work through it. We ’ ve never shied away from hanging curtain rods in our lease homes the “ real ” way ; and I ’ m not sure we will abandon that method acting entirely. But it ’ sulfur very decent to know we inactive have options should we ever find ourselves in a family where we can ’ thyroxine put holes in the wall. If you can ’ metric ton or don ’ thyroxine want to add holes to your walls excessively, I hope this tutorial proves utilitarian in getting some curtains up on your windows !
See You soon !
Megan
