Where do I find drapery hardware?

Drapery Hardware

Had quite a start the other day when I found out that Fabricland is not carrying drapery hardware or panels any longer.  They won’t be replenishing their stock. This is a corporate decision, so don’t go hollering at Denise.

So, that leaves the DIY-er, and some pros like me, without our favorite lower and mid-priced drapery hardware supplier. I can supply hardware from my suppliers, but, full disclosure, it can be expensive to order from drapery supply companies. Of course ‘expensive’ is subjective, but most custom rods start at about three times the cost of off-the-shelf. There are tons of reasons for this price discrepancy, and there are times when the only viable solution IS a custom rod, but sometimes we just need a simple rod and rings.

So now what?

Here are your DIY options.

1. Home Depot
2. Canadian Tire
3. Rona
4. Amazon (online)
5. Home Hardware (online)

6. DraperyCurtainRods.ca (online)

First of all, you need to know what you need.  So, I’ll explain a bit here, and give you some places you can download more information.

This isn’t rocket science, but it is rather particular. Please don’t go charging forward without considering these things. And if you have a particular aversion to one of the suppliers, that’s fine. Just ignore them. Don’t go hollering at me, either. Please.

1. Understand what kind of rod your drapery choice requires. For example, if you need your one-piece drapery to open and close, stacking to one side or the other ( as in a patio door), you probably need drapery that attaches to a rod with carriers that run in a channel and allow the curtains to freely move one side to the other. This means a channel rod. If you are using rings, you will need a center support, and the rod will be a drop-in rod. If you are using grommet panels, you need to first understand that grommet panels by themselves are not meant to traverse, you need to do some work on them before they are functional. ( See the links on the website for more info.)

3. Make sure you know, or have someone who knows, how to get the brackets securely onto the window wall. Again this isn’t rocket science, but it does require some thought and probably a trip to a hardware store that has someone who can answer questions.

3. Don’t cheap out. If you are buying in person, look at the darned thing. Is it flimsy, could you bend it in your hands? This applies to short rods, too. If you are buying online, make sure you can return the rod at no cost if the quality isn’t good enough.

4. Figuring out where to put the rod on the wall so that the drapery doesn’t drag on the floor — if you already have the drapery — is tricky. There is a way to figure this out, but it takes some finesse. (check the website for the link to this print-out.)

I’ll add the info for the online resources, some free downloadable guides to help with all of this with links and images when I post this piece on the website Designsewlutions.ca in a few days.