Renter-friendly way of hanging curtains without drilling holes
Hi guys!! Been gone for a little long while but I’m so glad to be back. Thanks for sticking around.
So today on the blog I’m sharing a DIY I did a couple months ago. We live in an apartment so drilling holes in the walls to hang curtains or pictures is a big no-no unless you don’t care about getting that deposit check back at the end of your lease. When we moved in I desperately wanted to put curtains/drapes up and I had to find a way to do so without breaking the landlord’s rules. Some might think it unnecessary to put curtains over blinds but I felt like it would make our living room more cozy and comfortable.
I did my research and came across command hooks. I was apprehensive at first but decided to do a test drive by using them to hang pictures and it worked out pretty great!
This was a couple years ago but I only actually got to hang curtains a few months ago – I know; procrastination is the devil y’all LOL.
I picked a day when my little man was at school and got to working.
What I used
- Command hooks for items up to 2.2kg/5lb
- A piece of cardboard as a stencil
- Rubbing alcohol/surgical spirit to clean the surface
- Curtains/Drapes of your choice (ofcourse!)
- Curtain rods 5/8” or 1.6cm in diameter
- Spray paint (optional)
The process
It was actually a challenging task as I was doing this all by my lonesome LOL – hubby was at work and the fact that I’m only 5’2/1.57m tall and I was trying to hang curtains a 8’/2.43m high did not help either. I did use a chair, still that did not get me high enough but it helped get the job done. I also spray painted the hooks so they could match the curtain rods and the color scheme in our living room. This was my first time to use spray paint and it was a simple, quick and just one coat was enough.
Tips and tricks
Make sure to clean the wall surface with rubbing alcohol first before you do anything. I made the mistake of skipping this instruction when I was hanging pictures before and they fell off after only a few days.
I also cut a piece of cardboard and used it as a stencil to mark exactly where I wanted the hooks to be. This made my job a whole lot easier.[step 1] below
I did something a little different from what the instructions said which made sense to me. The hook has two parts, the actual hook and a removable base. So the instructions tell us to press the hook against the wall while the base is still attached. Instead of doing that I removed the little plastic base from the hook and pressed it against the wall first [step 2] just to make sure it held up strong and then attached the hook a few hours later.[step 3]
I used four hooks for 120 inch/3 metre wide curtain area and three hooks for 84 inch/2 metre wide curtain area.
This would also work great in a college dorm room.
Pros
- Easy take down when moving or when you just want to switch up your curtains.
- Each Command hook came with an extra sticky strip just in case you make a mistake with the first one.
- Inexpensive – one hook cost just under $5.00 at certain stores eg Walmart
- If instructions are properly followed, the hooks can be removed quite easily without peeling off any of the paint on the wall.
- It’s been a couple months now and the hooks seem to be holding up well. However, I will update the post in December.
Cons
Honestly cannot come up with any just make sure to get help if you’re using these to hang curtains on a wide area. Oh and if you’re vertically challenged like me and you own a ladder – use it!
I hope this helps someone out there.
P.S This post is not sponsored. I just really love this product!
