HOW TO CREATE A CEILING CANOPY
I spent a lot of time researching brackets, rods, methods, etc to create this drapery canopy for the bed. I had seen a lot of inspiration images in the past, but upon looking more closely at the photos, I quickly realized how many ways this could be accomplished. The main issue I was having was the corner brackets. If corner brackets weren’t used, the corners got a little bulky/clunky not the look I was looking for. When I did find some corner brackets, they either didn’t fit the rods I needed, or they were a different finish. After hunting some more, I finally found the perfect products for this install. And you guys… they are from Ikea!
Items Needed ||
3 Drapery Rods
2 Corner Brackets
6 Ceiling Brackets
Pipe Cutter
4 Drapery Panels
Anchors
My main goal was to have a rod that was atlas 1 1/4″ in diameter and ideally one solid piece, vs the telescoping options often found with big box store drapery rods. I was thrilled to stumble across the Hugad line at Ikea. I went with their 83″-152″ telescoping rods at $6.99 a piece. Wait! I just said I didn’t want telescoping?! Well, the beauty of this project was I just needed the larger diameter rod (not the telescoping one that slides into the larger one.) And at $6.99, I didn’t mind just discarding that piece. That gave me three rods at 83″ long. We then used this pipe cutter to cut the rods to the exact lengths needed for the Queen Bed. The cutter is really easy to use! But you might want to try a few cuts on the discarded rods first. Better to be safe than sorry.
Now onto the corner pieces… this is where Ikea shines. See that curved piece in the graphic?! Don’t go into the store looking for that curved piece (trust me I did!!) you need to look for a straight rod piece about 8-10″ long in a box. I was very confused when I realized this. I thought it was curved?! Well the rod is made out of rubber and bends to any angle you need. I mean… genius. It was the perfect solution for this install, but would also be ideal for bay windows or awkward angles.
To connect the rods to the curved pieces, pop the circle end cap out of the rod you removed and place it in the end of the rod you cut to size. It will fit!! And then use the threaded rods that come with the corner bracket and screw the pieces together.
After a few goes at it, we decided that it was easiest to install the side ceiling brackets first, slide in the side rods, add a corner bracket, the end rod and finally the last corner bracket with the final two ceiling brackets dangling off the rod (like above!). That last one can get a little tricky, but they do screw in securely. Once your rods are attached, you can the align your final ceiling brackets and securely attach them to your ceiling.
I also slid on the Ikea Ritva drapery panels before attaching each rod. Normally I would use drapery hooks and rings, but that would have put us over our budget on this challenge.
The ceiling brackets were the only items not found at Ikea. I ordered these off of Amazon and they fit perfectly. We installed the brackets using anchors. Use anchors!! And not the little plastic ones that come with your parts and pieces. There are so many options available, and so many ceiling treatments, I would suggest asking your local hardware store what they suggest for your application.
I would have loved to take install shots step by step, but with my husband and I installing, we quickly learned you need four hands almost the entire time. So grab a buddy, or two!
The results were so good and relatively affordable! For six ceiling brackets, three rods, two corner brackets and four drapery panels the cost was only $125. This ended up being a fraction of the original canopy bed we were looking at, so it allowed us to add more items into the space.
I think that every detail about this space have been shared this week and I am so glad that this room is complete. I am wiped! lol. This one was a push with the short timeline and tighter budget. But the results… so happy with how the entire space came together.
xo – Kristin
Looks like a challenging project, just the way I like it =) Thanks for sharing, I’ll definitely give this a try!
Useful and well written post
thanks for sharing it with us
good luck
Hello Kristin,
I enjoy watching your creativity on this blog. You are very talented. I am attempting to copy your idea above but I am running into a road block. The circle end cap from the rod are not the same size. Did you purchase additional rods in order to ensure you had enough ends? The telescoping rod that slides into the larger one had a smaller end cap then the larger rod. I tied looking online for more end caps to purchase but cannot find any that would fit properly (for that specific diameter. Any ideas???
Hi Rebecca,
Sorry you are having issues!! We didn’t use any of the end caps or the smaller of the two telescoping rods. We used the larger rods only and used a pipe cutter to cut them to theexact length needed. I’m not sure of this answers your question or not!
Kristen,
Did you only crew in one of the corner brackets to the rod and the other side of the corner bracket is being held up by the ceiling bracket? I just wanted to know how you crewed in both sides of the corner bracket to the IKEA rod that only had one end cap. I really hope I am making sense to u? 🙂 Thank you for being so kind and taking the time.
GOTCHA!! Sorry. My husband and I are sitting here trying to remember how we did that. I think we actually had an additional rod that was purchased as we were going to have the rod run at the head of the bed as well & decided against it. Looking back, I think for we popped the end cap out of that extra rod for that corner bracket. My apologies for not mentioning that step. That’s what happens when there are five people in a room all expressing solutions on how to assemble something! I will update the post. And again, my apologies. I hope this helps!!