For anyone looking for a quick, easy, inexpensive and effective way to spruce up your bathtub and bathroom in general, curved shower rods are your answer. I remember the first time I saw one; my wife and I were staying in a very high-end resort, courtesy of my company. We were thrilled to have a few days in such luxury and we were soaking in every small aspect of it. In fact, there was not only a giant soaking tub large enough for the two of us in the bathroom, in addition to that there was also your standard bathtub and shower set up. My wife immediately made use of the soaking tub and it wasn’t until the next morning that I used the shower/bath and immediately noticed how much extra room these luxury showers had. However, I looked down I realized that the tub was the standard sized tub, the same width as ours at home. So why did it feel so big? Then I realized that they were utilizing curved shower rod’s to create extra space.
I had never seen it before. But what a brilliant idea! Without needing to do anything physical to the tub itself, suddenly there was a whole lot more elbow room and the whole thing just felt much more spacious (in fact, it IS more spacious). The simple fact of arcing the shower rod adds at least 25% to 35% more room between the wall and the shower curtain. Another way to think about it is that you have about an extra 6 inches in width. And the inserts for the curved shower rod didn’t look any different than your standard shower and, so this is wonderful news.
As soon as we got home I started doing a bit of research. It’s easy enough to do these days with a quick Google search or visit to Amazon.com for example. I found that curved shower rod’s were readily available and surprisingly inexpensive. Maybe it shouldn’t have been too surprising since it’s more of a creative breakthrough in any kind of technological one. I was on my way to getting one for both of our bathrooms.
One of the design features that I liked about these shower curtain rods was that they have about a 3 inch curve-in at each end of the bar. So while the middle of the shower space gets plenty of additional room, they make sure that the ends come in words far enough to prevent water from splashing or leaking out. It also helps prevent lighter shower curtains from blowing in on you.
You can benefit from these curved shower curtain rods regardless of whether you have a square bathtub or oval shaped tub. They come in several different finishes including chrome, brushed nickel, oil rubbed bronze or your standard white bathroom shower curtain look. Depending on the brand that you get, it may come with rolling shower curtain hooks. These folks have ball bearing-type systems that help facilitate opening and closing of the shower curtain. The ease with which these kind of shower curtain hooks move just adds to the little touches of luxury, And they can work with all shower curtains from your standard variety to your extra long shower curtains or your kids shower curtains.
The end brackets used to mount the curved shower curtain rods are included. There is nothing particularly unique or difficult about installing them, and you don’t need any unusual tools to do the job. Perhaps you only difference is the use of an Allen screw to ensure the arc of the curtain rod stays parallel with the floor instead of being pulled downward by gravity. However, in situations like this, the necessary allen wrench is always included so there’s no need to worry about that issue. Simply install it like you would any other shower rod. But once you start using it, you’ll realize that this isn’t your standard shower any longer. Curved shower rods will transform the humblest of the home bath tub showers into a mini luxury shower.