My daughter is moving into a older apartment (built in 30's or 40's). Compared to today's drywall and even older plaster, these walls are quite hard. They are a very dense terra cotta material, or as we call it here "terrazo". (it really feels like stone!) Some past tenants have avoided trying to mount curtain rods over the windows, but others HAVE managed to do it. What tools do I need and what screws/anchors should I use? thanks for your help, Lulubells

I have a question that i'm hoping someone can help me with. Oh, BTW, i'm new here! I saw a project on the Christoper Lowell show that I am about to undertake. It is painting a mural on a canvas that will be attached to a ceiling. On the show, he hung it on a dining room ceiling which was perfectly rectangular. I am going to be hanging mine on a bathroom ceiling which is almost like an L shape. The question I have is exactly how to hang this? I need it hung very close to the ceiling since I have light fixtures and vents that will have to go overtop of the canvas and sit as flush to the ceiling as possible. I also dont want it drooping in the middle of the room, so I think I need it taught so it stays straight. I have been thinking about the ideas of having very thin strips of wood (like plywood?) framed around the perimeter of the room that I can stretch the canvas over and attach to the ceiling with screws, but i'm not sure if that would work or not. The only other alternative that I can think of is to attach the edges of the canvas itself to the ceiling, but im not sure how. This is about 10-12 ft up in the air and has to stay pretty secure. I guess also after I get all the paint on it, it might be a little heavy. The canvas is about 12ft long by about 5 ft wide so its pretty large. Does anyone with experience in home projects have any advice for me? I didn't know exactly which forum to post this on, so i'm hoping this is the right one. Thanks to anyone that can help. I want to get this up as soon as possible so I can start on the rest of my bathroom project.