Easy (and Free!) Rustic Tree Branch Curtain Rod for a Woodland Forest Themed Boys Bedroom

While I was on my baby sabbatical from blogging I still continued with multiple DIY projects, taking pictures of my progress along the way in the hopes that I would get back on the blogging horse. 


What can I say, DIY blogging is in my blood.

At the top of the list are my children's bedrooms. I flip flop back and forth between them as I grow weary with one project and excited to start another. It's how I've always been as I suffer from DIY ADD. It's a terrible disorder that leaves multiple unfinished rooms, furniture and crafts in its wake, waiting for boredom or inspiration, whichever comes first, to reel me back in.

In spite of my affliction I have managed to finish a few projects in each of my kids rooms, with high hopes of completing both rooms by the end of this year. So naturally my next few blog posts will be all about different DIY projects from my kids rooms.

This post is about the beginning of my sons woodland forest/camping themed room. I had a vision that included all things trees, woodland animals, exploring, tents...basically the whole outdoorsy shebang. Here is the inspiration board I made and put in my previous post to show the design elements of the room.

Now that I've got you all in the mood for campfires and s'mores let's get on with some DIY woodland décor! For my first project I figured I'd better get some curtains up in Jackson's room or he'd be up at 5:30am jumping on my bed when the sunrise woke him up. I knew I wanted to hang canvas curtains, to give an outdoorsy tent feel. I also wanted to make it look woodsy (I mean it is a woodland forest themed room) so I decided to actually use wood by bringing the outdoors in with tree branches.

Luckily my mother in law had just cut a bunch of branches off of a tree that was hanging over her pool and they looked like they were about the same size as curtain rods. I couldn't have been luckier with my timing and of course *bonus* they were free!! The garbage picking, side of the road scooping, leftover garage sale taking person that I am never turns down a free find so it was a complete no brainer for me to use one of these branches to hang the curtains up in Jackson's room.

I found a branch that was pretty straight but with just enough curves to still be whimsical and with a couple of little cut off branches to give it some character. I cut it about a foot longer than the length of the window because I wanted it to extend out about six inches on either side of the window to give it a more natural look. Before hanging the branch I had planned on cleaning it and possibly scraping the bark off and sealing it in case there were bugs in it but instead I got busy with other projects so I (purposely e'hem) let the branch "air out" for about 6 months or so. I thoroughly inspected the branch and when I was satisfied that it was bug free I gathered my supplies and set to work hanging it up.

Tree Branch Curtain Rod Supplies:

-Tree branch
-Curtains
-Brackets with screws
-Drill or Screwdriver
-Tape measure
-Tie-backs (only if you want to pull back your curtains)

I went to Walmart and bought some inexpensive brackets and tie backs. I also purchased some canvas khaki colored curtains off of eBay (that reminded me of a tent) for super cheap.

I also brought a helper with me to foresee my work and let me know if everything looked alright.

Of course my daughter Brynlee was pretty much forced to "help" while Jackson played outside with his friends but she didn't seem to mind being surrounded by all his pillows and posing for my pictures 😄.

Here's the before shot of the plain, boring window.

If you've ever hung curtains the entire process was pretty much exactly the same: I measured to install the brackets so that the curtains just touched the floor, then screwed the brackets and tie backs in, then put the curtains on the branch and lastly I hung the branch up on the brackets.

The curtains I found easily slipped onto the tree branch rod. 

The only thing that I did differently to hang the tree branch was I cut a tiny chunk off the thicker end to make it fit more snug inside the bracket. You can't tell I altered the branch as it was just barely too big to not slip inside of the bracket.

The curtains turned out exactly how I wanted them to look! 

This tree branch curtain rod was the epitome of how I want all of my DIY projects to be, it was easy, free and it gives my son's room the perfect amount of whimsical woodsiness that I was going for.

Until the next time,