You Want the Cornice How Big??

Hate the look of curtain rods? My solution has been to put a cornice over them. The cornice can be more architectural or a fabric covered box. When you use a panel of fabric that hangs over the rods, it is called a valance. I prefer a padded cornice that has simple lines with plain fabric. As our home is an eclectic blend of antiques, comfy (which defies description) and modern, my first foray into cornices was going to be simple.

We have 22’ window on the south side of our home. I did not want drapes. I just wanted a detail element on that wall that hid my honeycomb shades. Ever talk to someone about building a 22’ long cornice? They sort of snicker at you, if not outright laugh. I priced a custom-made cornice, hold on…$3.00 to $7.50 per inch. Yep, per inch (22 x 12 = 264 inches x $5.00 = $1,350.00).

So, how hard could it be? Once again my husband and I set about to figure out how to build a cornice. We drew out the length and then determined how far it needed to project from the wall and how we wanted the face to look.

We made our cornice out of pine planks to give it the stability we needed. Once the pieces were cut, we screwed the returns to the face and for added measure added metal L brackets on the inside. We also used these to connect the recessed top to the face and sides.

The fabric we chose matched our wall cover and we laid it face-side down on the floor. We then put our padding on top and set the face of our cornice on that. We now had a sandwich!

I don’t like to cut the fabric until everything is stapled on, so I set the top near the edge of the fabric, leaving about 2-3”. I began in the center top and stapled. I then pulled the fabric towards the edges and stapled every 2”. I only moved 6” in one direction and then moved from the center in the other direction. This keeps the fabric taunt on the cornice for a smooth finish.

If your fabric has a pattern, you will want to roll the cornice up and check to make sure the pattern does not become skewed. Once the top was completed, I repeated the process for the lower edge, making sure that it stayed tight.

Once the top and bottom are done, I then pulled the sides and staple them. It’s just like wrapping a present – you want the paper to be tight against the sides of your gift, so you should have a nice snug fit. I then used a box cutter with a sharp blade and cut the fabric, leaving about 2” beyond the staples.

We placed metal L brackets across the recessed top and sides and then we invited a couple of friends over so we could get this bad boy placed on the wall. We drew a line where the horizontal board would go with a level and up it went. A few screws later and it was attached to the wall.

Have you ever built a cornice? What type did you build, fabric or wood? Do you prefer cornices, curtain rods or something else?