Add rustic style to a window and bring nature inside by using branches and twigs in window treatments. Get tips on making a curtain rod out of a tree branch and a window swag from twigs and vines. Branch Curtain Rod Hang quilts, cheesecloth or casual tab-top curtains from a branch for a fun make-it-in-minutes window treatment. Kitty Bartholomew, host of HGTV's Ask Kitty Bartholomew, shows how. Try this project on a fairly small window where you want a natural look -- a bathroom or stairway-landing window would be perfect. Find a branch a good bit longer than the width of the window, and install wooden drapery-rod brackets to support it. A casual tab-top curtain works well hung from a nice straight branch (figure A). Old-fashioned quilts fit nicely with the natural look of branches -- hang one as a pretty curtain, or toss the ends over the branch and fluff in the middle to create an easy, quaint valance (figure B). Cheesecloth, a most inexpensive fabric, gives a gauzy, dreamy look to a window. Let it hang straight (figure C), or drape it wildly from an uneven branch so it comes away from the window, adding dimension (figure D). Add greenery, such as ivy, to your branch-and-cheesecloth creation: fresh or dried, it will blend nicely with the natural look of the branch (figure E). Vine and Ivy Window Swag Draperies and fabric treatments sometimes make a window look heavy -- especially in the spring and summer. Cindy Piccoli of HGTV's Decorating With Style creates a light window treatment with a vine-and-ivy window-topper. Materials:
Vines and branches from honeysuckle, corkscrew willow or trumpet vine
Fresh or artificial ivy
Dried flowers
Two small screw eyes
Drill
Medium-gauge wire
Wire cutter
Nail
- Use fresh vines if possible. Soak stiff vines in the bathtub, or spritz them with water to make them more pliable.
- Twist small screw eyes into the upper edges of the window frame. Drill pilot holes if necessary. Use a nail through the screw eye as a lever to turn the screw more easily (figure F).
- Arrange the vines in a bunch to your desired length and width, and wrap wire around the arrangement to hold it together (figure G), leaving a long piece of wire at each end of the swag. Attach the swag to the window frame by wrapping the wire around the screw eyes.
- Intertwine ivy through the vines, and wire together small bunches of dried flowers to insert into the swag (figure H).
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