Curtains!

Well, curtain rods, anyway. I had to toss the ancient curtains that came with the TM when we bought it - they were sun rotted and faded, and the plastic slide thingys were broken. Plus, I never liked the design of the curtains dragging over the outside of the camper walls - they always picked up dust and dirt, cobwebs, bugs etc., even if we were diligent about sweeping down the walls prior to folding the camper down. My first attempt at replacing the curtains was plain rectangular panels with very small buttons sewn on the backs at top and bottom, that slid in and out of the existing curtain tracks. However, they weren't very attractive and I just wanted a more "homey" look.


















I bought some inexpensive brass finish cafe rods (at a garage sale, $1 each!) to experiment with. My inventive Dear Son mulled over possibilities for a few days, then bent the brackets to look like this:


















Originally, the upper flanges were bent up, so that they were opposite each other, one pointed up, one down, and they had holes drilled so that you could screw them to a wall. DS changed the holes that were drilled in the flanges to slots with a Dremel tool.


















He installed the two screws that came with the rods into the camper walls, and ever meticulous, numbered each position and each bracket, to ensure a good fit. The brackets slide down on the two screws, then the rod fits in the brackets.



































Voila! I didn't show the curtains themselves as I haven't hemmed them yet, and I want to spray paint the rods a different color - the brass is a little too '80's for me. *G* The curtains could just be rod pocket style cafe curtain panels easily made or purchased anywhere that sells curtains, but I think I will hang mine with clip rings instead, so they'll slide easily. If I planned to use rod pocket curtains, I would have set the brackets farther out from the sides of the windows.

Before folding down, I'll take the rods down, curtains and all, and lay them flat on the front bed, and slide the brackets off the screws and put them in the junk drawer by the stove. The screws don't stick out enough to be a problem, they'll just stay there all the time. Now I can buy or make any curtains I like, launder them when necessary and they'll stay clean and out of the sun when the camper is folded. Woohoo! Thanks again to my inventive DS for solving this problem for me!