Custom shower curtain rod, the hard way

Why must I always do things the hard way? I have an idea and I make it happen, and then, after I'm finished and almost satisfied with the results, I realize a much easier way to do it. The shower curtain rod in the bathroom is a good example.

When we bought the house, the one and only bathroom was painted a nice shade of green. The shade of green was very subdued and tasteful, but the room is so small and so brightly lit that the green walls bounced greenish light on to everything - including pasty skin. Ewww. It had to go.

According to my Yoda-like graphics teacher, blue is the most universally flattering background color for skin tones because blue and orange are complementary colors. I prefer to be surrounded by blue when my pale flab must be exposed. (I have blue beach towels and four sets of blue sheets.) Blue was my first thought for repainting the bathroom. However, with the living/dining room being the color of a swimming pool I decided another color was necessary. Matt and I settled on a medium gray color and a minimalist scheme of shades of gray and white with metallic accents. I made a simple shower curtain from some partially translucent, white-on-white, floral fabric from JoAnn Fabrics.

I found a cable curtain rod system at Target that could be mounted on the ceiling (Thanks, Matt!). I separated the pieces of a set of drapery clips so that I could add chain extensions between the ring and the clip, and threaded the ring piece onto the cable. I always use drapery clips because it allows for instant curtain gratification. Any rectangle of fabric can be a curtain in minutes - no grommets, no loops, no buttonholes, no rod pockets!

The chain I used for the extenders is called lamp chain, according to the very helpful guy at my Ace Hardware who cut a piece off the big spool for me. I have no idea what the little connectors are called. I used wire cutters to cut the chain to equal-length pieces. I used the connectors to make a loop at the top and the bottom. It works pretty well, and it looks almost exactly how I wanted it to look. Success!

Later I realized that I had seen this arrangement of ceiling-mounted hardware with chain-extended rings somewhere before. It all clicked while I was visiting my aunt in the hospital. This arrangement is common in hospitals for the privacy curtains that separate the beds. The parts are available lots of places on the web. (Search for "curtain track" or go here). I think my way might have been cheaper, but I'm all in favor of Internet-enabled instant gratification!