New Curtain Rails on a Budget

We wanted new curtain rails to replace the white, plastic ones we had after decorating our living room from skirtings to ceiling completely in Farrow & Ball Bancha.

The rich green is a perfect backdrop for the original cast iron fire surround and our newly opened ‘builders opening’ fire (more on that later) but it also served to highlighted the dreadful plastic rails.

As an aside, the windows in our living rooms are a mixture of white UPVC and original Edwardian wooden frames. We painted the wood and the UPVC frames with Farrow and Ball eggshell and so far so good, the paint has stuck fabulously well to the UPVC.

The bays are just shy of four metres wide with two window bays in one living room and one in the other. Having bespoke made-to-measure curtain rails wasn’t an option so we looked for cheaper alternatives.

Dunelm sold a curtain rail that could be adjusted and fitted to the bays but the rail was only available in chrome and we wanted the rails to be an antique gold. I thought about painting them with Annie Sloan paints and finishing with metallic waxes but I felt this was expecting too much of the paints as the curtains in both rooms are used daily in the winter.

Rub’n’Buff seemed like the ideal solution. I’d experimented with it on chrome fixtures and fittings in the family bathroom and have been so impressed with its coverage (although I dread to think what’s in it as it’s very chemically and smelly).

I bought the Rub’n’Buff from Amazon and chose European Gold. The tubes are about £11 each and I used one and a half tubes for three rails, 12 corner knuckles, 6 finials, 15 brackets and 180 rings! I waxed everything once it was hanging apart from the rings which were as fiddly as anything to do but quite quick considering.

After rubbing the chrome with white spirits and masking the paintwork around the rails, I used a chunky brush to get the wax into the finials (as they’re an embossed, bumpy metal) and a small brush to paint the brackets. My hands (wearing rubber gloves) were the best tool to smear the wax onto the 180 curtain rings and poles. A tiresome task but worth it.

The more layers of Rub’n’Buff you use, the darker and more solid the colour is. I went over everything twice apart from the rings, which I did just the once as they’re semi-hidden behind the curtains.

I’m pleased with the way they’ve turned out and the difference in cost between bespoke and Dunelm with Rub’n’Buff and effort is hundreds of pounds. We now have extremely bespoke curtain rails for a fraction of the cost!

Posted in Gilding Waxes on Apr 12, 2023