Friday, April 21, 2017

Not just a curtain!

I have another post started with a bunch of fun details that are getting knocked off while I wait for cabinets to dry and such, but I thought this item was special enough that it deserved its own post.

Who'd u thunk that a shower curtain would evolve into a major project?   ME!  Raising my hand!!  Because I don't do ordinary well..... OBVS.  Hello, have you caught onto me yet?   Yes, I could have thrown up the old shower curtain track, (I can't believe I actually held onto that grungy piece of plastic this long just in case my idea didn't work! You want it?  It's yours for shipping....) and I also could have bought a ready made curtain and cut it down.  However,  I saw this curtain at Anthropologie a year ago and fell in love with it.  

I pinned it  ( Pinterest is soooooo evil, it makes me do things....)        Here's my version.   UGH I wish I had ironed it before I took this pic. Imagine it ironed folks!

Did I make all those tassels by hand?   YEP!  I used embroidery thread in the same colors as the pendleton blankets (cause matching counts, LOL). The fabric is just a duck type canvas. I added three rows of horizontal pleats so I'd have something sturdy to attach the tassels to and hide all the knots underneath.

The shower curtain rod I bent out of 1/2 inch copper pipe.  I made a jig like this that followed the curve of the tub.

 The first time I tried to bend the pipe,  I filled the it with sand that was a maybe little too coarse and there were some voids (or I got a little too aggressive) and the pipe kinked.  DANG!

The second time I filled it with salt (yes, I washed it out really well after) and it worked like a charm. The pipe actually bent pretty easily.   I used copper bell hangers to attach it to the wall .  Where it attaches to my copper covered wood bulkhead wall I bolted it through with a fender washer on the other side. Attaching to the fiberglass endcap was a little trickier because I was afraid it would pull out.  I ended up epoxying a circle of aluminum to the fiberglass, reinforcing it with a few rivets and then screwing the bell copper hanger through that.


 I thought I might have to extend a support from the ceiling but with the three hangers it seems secure enough.  No monkey bar swinging on it but ...

Rear mount with a 90 degree fitting and a small straight run of pipe
 Front mount bolted thru wall. with a 45 degree fitting and another small straight return
I tried E6000 glue for the fittings but it didn't work.  I then used some Gorilla Glue clear  5 minute epoxy  which did the trick!

The copper hooks were actually fun to make,  I built another jig.  Drew the basic shape I wanted with a sharpie on a scrap piece of wood, drilled two holes with a forstner bit, added a couple of pieces of a 1/2 inch wood dowel and voila! I bought 8 gauge copper grounding wire from a big box store for the actual hooks.  Bolt cutters to cut, and a dremel with a grinding bit to burnish up the ends . Pretty simple and about $5 in materials. 




I even figured out if a hang a few hooks backward they can be used as towel hangers! Sweeeet.
I liked this shower curtain so much I made a room divider just like it #totallysickofmakingtassels.  It's on a spring curtain rod so we can use it to cordon off the bath area or use it up front when I want to read and my husband wants to sleep.  I'm kinda a night owl! Yes, my tub is on the bed, its a work in progress, deal with it!

In other matters,  my kitchen cabinet/counter is coming along nicely. And we've started the fresh water plumbing which is beyond exciting.  A couple of fast questions for you all.  How do I secure the fresh water tank to the floor?  I have VERY limited space. 

And where do I put the fresh water campground intake faucet?   Point me to your pictures of such. I'm assuming in the back left belly pan area?

Lots more to come soon I promise!

1 comment:

  1. Maybe it's pregnancy hormones or maybe legitimate appreciation... but I literally cried opening this- in a good way! It's truly beautiful, one of a kind- and everything I hoped it would be. birds wall painting
    Very beautiful painting! I open the box and my first thought is,”I love this!” The colors are not the exact same as the product photo but if it is hand painted, that is to be expected. Also the signature is a lot bigger than I would like but I already know that because of the product photo and others reviews. I like the art enough that I will deal with it though. gold shimmer wall art
    This is so cute!! The quality is really great. You can see that it is actually hand painted and its just a little different than the others you see in reviews and pictures. It's nice to know each piece is unique. It came neatly packaged and didn't take long to arrive at all. Happy with my purchase. It adds a lot of colour to my bedroom. gold glitter canvas wall art

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