artistschmartist Thanks, that's what I thought. It's beautiful and I'm thinking of doing some kind of decorative painting on my salvaged wooden mantle.
Ronique Gibson This question can probably be answered best with " How handy are you?" :)
The beauty of many store bought curtain rods is the ability for them to be adjustable in length, and many are tension mounted if you wanted to put the rod inside of a window opening (like a valance type window treatment).
While if if you can't find the finishes or the ornamentation you want, sure you could make your own.
I personally would buy one, because the options out there are more creative, then I could ever come up with!