If you are on a tight decorating budget, or just like getting really creative, then you may want to consider using shower curtain rods in more places than the bathroom. Sure these rods are functional. They do hold up the all important shower curtain liner that keeps water in the shower and off the bathroom floor. But shower curtain rods also make great decorative poles in other room of the house.

Some of the Most Unusual Place to Hang a Rod

Shower curtain rods can be purchased for just a few dollars but look like a million bucks when used in some creative places around the house. It’s the kind of home improvement project a struggling college student can use or the most sophisticated decorator and still have a great new look.
In the bedroom: Drapery fabric or curtains are a great way to hide an unattractive wall or cover closets where doors just don’t work. The pressure style rods simply twist to the right size and are held in place by pressure. One consideration with this type of rod is that it cannot usually support very heavy drapes. If you are using velvet for example, you would probably need a rod that is mounted with good drywall screws.
Another creative place to use shower curtain rods in the bedroom is by suspending a couple from the ceiling above the bed. Sheer fabric can drape across both rods with a dip in the centre and then the fabric can cascade down the wall at the head of the bed. Not only have you created a romantic canopy, but you will also have a soft fabric headboard as a backdrop to decorative pillows.
In the Kitchen: A pantry area can be curtained off by using a shower curtain rod and some lightweight kitchen print fabric. This can be coordinated with café curtains on the windows and all of the table linens.
In the Sunroom: What to do with a sunroom that gets too hot? Most sunrooms are vented to control temperature, but it can still heat up the connecting rooms in the house when too much sun comes in. You can use a pressure shower curtain rod at either end of the overhead windows in a sunroom. Then stitch a pocket ½” wider than the pole’s diameter into which the poles slip. When you hang the rods the fabric can be taut or drape slightly. Either way you have diffused the sunlight just enough to control the room’s temperature.

Shower Curtain Rods for the Bathroom

The latest decorating trends have taken the mundane out of bathrooms. There are s-shaped rods that make an old fashioned claw foot tub able to support a shower spray. Also, there are new designs in rods that suspend them from chains so that they appear to float from the ceiling. You can dress up shower curtain rods by choosing fun coordinating colours or attaching the curtains with interesting ribbons or clips. It doesn’t have to be just a plastic ring through a button hole.
The ideas are endless and only limited by imagination and creativity. Spend some time looking through decorating catalogues and you will see that whenever there is an expensive rod used to hold up fabric, a shower curtain rod may do the job just as well, but for a whole lot less money.