One of a Kind Curtain Tie Backs!

Time for a break from repainting vintage furniture. 

Although that's my passion right now. You can see some samples here -    http://tinyurl.com/nj7d38f . I had another DIY project that I didn't want to put off any longer.

I don't know what it is that kicks me into the redecorating gear; new trends that I love, boredom, a need to stay crazy busy.  It's like a nesting instinct kicks in and there's a DRIVE to redo, redo, redo.  Over that last few weeks I've wallpapered and redecorated my stairway, landing and hallway, repainted a deck, painted an outdoor rug, etc.  One of my fun repurpose projects was a trio of one-of-a-kind curtain tie backs.  

Every time I looked at new tie backs, I couldn't bring myself to dish out the dough. Why are they so expensive?

Like most girls, I LOVE a touch of bling and sparkle. In my "looking," I ran across some antique crystal doorknobs. I knew these would work. Needing a base, I also purchased some antique, shabby chic, chippy doorknob backplates.

Here are my basic supplies. I found the threaded steel rod at Lowe's and it screwed right into the bottom of the doorknobs. Besides the doorknobs and backplates, some 3/8" diameter threaded steel rod (from Lowe's), wood screws, 1/2" copper pipe (left over from another project), and nuts to fit the threaded rod. 

I decided that a 3" projection from the window trim to the bottom of the doorknob was a good length for the tie back. My hubby pitched in and welded the wood screws to the ends of the threaded rod after it was cut to a 3" length.

Since the screws didin't have to be all the way into the window trim, I actually eyeballed the length of the copper pipe.  (I'm not always the most detailed in my projects. SOMETIMES an eyeballing works.)

I screwed the copper tube clad rod into the trim through the hole in the backplate and VOILA!  My own, bling -y, crystal, shabby chic, mod, curtain tie-backs.

They turned out gorgeous, and for a lot less price than 3 new tie backs. Just the right price for a frugal DIY - er!!