Two years ago I was reading my latest issue of Renovation Style and came across this picture.

I loved those curtains. It’s hard to see from this picture I took, but the curtain runs from side wall to side wall instead of mounted above the window. I knew I was going to do this somewhere, at some point, somehow. Once we moved into our house I knew this would be perfect in my dining room. Here is what the dining room looked like before we moved in.

Builders’ beige, not my choice of lighting, but great bones! I started searching online figuring it would be easy to find something. The closest I got was a shower flange for shower curtains. Nothing decorative for windows. I visited Home Depot and bought a couple different ones. They were all either plastic with a stainless steel looking foil finish, or actual stainless steel. I realized the heavier the better since my dining room is 13 feet wide. 

I finally settled on one and along with my trusty bottle of spray paint I got busy. I used a flange like the following one, along with Krylon spray paint in oil rubbed bronze, to match my new lighting.

                

These days the flanges come in all different styles and finishes, easily found at a hardware store. Three coats of spray and I was happy. I mounted them to the side walls. They didn’t have to be on a stud because the flanges are purely decorative. The brackets would be holding up the weight of the curtain rod and curtains.

I purchased a normal curtain rod and removed the finials. I then placed three brackets evenly along the wall. Only one is visible in the center of the window. Then I used three panels of curtains on each side. Yes, you read that right. As luck had it, my previous house had six windows in the living room/dining room. So I have a lot of curtain panels to use up. When placed all together, they hide the secret bracket and look like one piece. 

The combined panels flow all the way to the wall and make the window seem even larger. It is also a favorite hide and seek spot for my kids. Very hard to find them back there!

Take a look at the before and after. What do you think?