Hi GreekSteel, I had a similar problem, that is needing a curtain rod longer than curtian rods you could buy from the shop. The rod needed to be 4 meters long and the ones in the shop where nowhere near that long. I then looked up in the phone book under Stainles Steel Products & Equipment and found a local Stainless steel & Aluminiun supplier that had a hugh range of steel rods in in differant lenghts and diameters.
It worked out alot cheaper to buy from them than the prices of storter rods in the curtain shop, and as you already know, the good thing about using stainless steel is it looks great and dosen’t rust.
Hope this helps you out Regards Noelene