Firstly, congrats on rocking the caulk- yeah!

...and that's weird about the finishes on the curved rods...I've had three (2 yrs, 1 yr, 3 months) all purchased at BBB with no problems...but they've all had brushed nickel finish.

Thought I was opening this to sing the praise of the curve (the best for tub / shower combo imo)- good night

It seems the biggest brand name for these is Crescent Rod (from Shower Solutions, who I think claims to be the originator of the curved rod). These are the ones generally sold at Bed Bath & Beyond, as well as online. I love ours, but I can't help you on the finish; ours is brown, to go with our oil rubbed bronze fixtures in that bathroom. (No signs of finish problems yet, but we've only had it a few months.)

-- Eric

I ordered a Moen, but I can't comment on how it holds up since it hasn't been installed yet. Comes in several finishes.

We got the brushed/satin finish Crescent Rod® @ BB&B and so far, so good. It's only been in for a month so can't say how it'll hold up over the long run, but I hope it will continue to be fine. I posted recently about them being on sale ($10 less) @ BB&B, so you might be able to get one on sale.

I so them at a local HomeGoods yesterday in the shiny finish, for $12.99, if you're looking for the shiny chrome finish...

The texture of this brushed finish seems to spot (from water spray) a little more than some of the other satin/brushed nickel items we have (our Hansgrohe tub spout is the same way). I wiped it down the other day with SS cleaner and polish and that seems to be helping cut down on the am't spotting.

Thanks for the quick replies, y'all! I've seen Crescent and The Arc as two of the main brand names, Eric-- I wonder if anyone who sees this will report back on the Arc, which gets the best reviews of any I've seen.

OTOH, cat_mom, I just might pop out to Home Goods today and get a couple of those Crescents --they can work til they fall apart and then we can put in another one. I was really liking the utility of the double rail, too -- maybe I'll try installing two of them.

You know, in light of your all's positive experiences with your shower curtain rods, it might be helpful for baths forum info for folks to report back if their shower rod loses its finish or peels or whatever else, down the line. We 'know' each other a bit, as opposed to random reviews on Amazon or wherever, where competitors might be posting to drag down the competition's sales...maybe it might actually apply to everything, now that I think about it.

And knk, thanks! I admit I have postponed the fun part, the sunsplash thing on the first wall...at this point I want it *functional* so DD can move out of our 3/4 bath that's open to guests. It's a drag for her and a pain to keep clean enough for guests all the time. She needs room to spread out all her things. Even the caulking makes me impressed with professional tile setters -- I was pushing the caulk so hard into the joints, to make sure it wouldn't have air spots, that I separated my index fingers on both hands from the fingernails...UGH...typing isn't all that fun either. How do those guys/gals do it for years on end??

I had read good reviews about the Crescent brand rod, so hope ours will last a long, long time (DH will spit if he ever has to drill more holes into our tile).

If they don't have them at your HG, check out BB&B--the sale price was $29.99, and then you get 20% off w/ your coupon. If you're anywhere near me (don't think you are though), I'd pick them up for you at the HG near me and you could come and get them here!

Thanks for the kind offer, cat :) I went to HG today and found curved rods by Warmrails for $14.99...I'm not sure about the quality (the mounting hardware is plastic--we may switch it out if we can for actual metal) but there are 2 good reviews of it at amazon...I was thinking of putting two up, actually, one for a towel rack inside the shower and one for the shower curtain. Or maybe not. I'll go to BB&B and check out what they have there, too.

I am attracted to the Arc, but I don't know how the chrome finish is. It wasn't so fabulous on the warmrails, either, but then again the price...I'll compare to the BBB version. Thanks again!

I don't know if I'd like the plastic mounting hardware either.

The ones we got from BB&B, the Crescent Rod®, seems well-made and sturdy, and the mounting brackets are metal. I really like the one DH installed so far. They do make a double rod version, I might have seen it at BB&B when I got ours.

I was at BB&B the other day and they had them for much less then we paid when we bought ours a couple of years ago. It has the metal brackets too. I think they were like 20-25.00 now, maybe. Add the 20% off coupon and that's a pretty good deal.