DIY: Easy Cornice Board

I had a yard of left over fabric from my chair reupholster in the guest room (go check it out), so I figured I would make some sort of window treatment for it,and was a bit intimidated by the project, but after reading this post by Katy Harper, and the post she referenced at Little Green Notebook, I decided that this method was for me!

Here's my "before & after", and it was so EASY, I was done in about 2 hours (not including the "drying time").

Before & After

Making the Cornice Board:

Materials/Equipment needed:

• Material (1 yard)
• Enough foam core board for your project (I used 2 30"x20" boards from Walmart for $10)
• Coordinating Trim (enough to go along the edges of your project)
• Krylon Easy Tack Spray (spray adhesive)
• Pen/Marker
• Duct Tape
• Fabric Glue
• Cotton Batting
• Staple Gun, Staples (3/8")
• Glue Gun
• L-Brackets (2")
• Hooks for hanging the board

What was needed (sans glue gun, duct tape, L-brackets and Hooks)

Instructions:

After gathering the materials, cut the board to size using razor blade or exacto knife (I cut mine to 12" wide). If you can find the board in the correct length for your window, go for it! But I couldn't, so I had to duct tape 2 pieces together. (My total board size was 12"x38" for ~ 36" wide window)

Duct taped boards

Then cut 2 sides for your board to allow it to be in front of all of your other hardware on the window. I needed my sides to be 2", but from what I read online, if you have curtains, you may need to have a 4" side. My sides were 2"x12", and I originally used duct tape to attach them, and thought they were a bit flimsy. I fixed that flimsiness later, but you should do it now! :) Use 1 L-bracket to stabilize the sides of your board. Use whatever size brackets fit your project, my sides were 2" wide, so I used 2" brackets. Oh, and I just used hot glue to adhere them to the board. (there will be pictures below)

A side, sans L-Bracket

An overall view of the sides/middle with duct tape (sans L-bracket)

Next, lay out cotton batting on the front side of the board, and cut it to the correct size to cover the board and the sides. Spray the board with Krylon Easy Tack (or some other spray adhesive) and put the batting onto the board. I left  a little extra to go around the top and bottom of the board too.

Next cut the material to fit the board (about 2-3" more all the way around, so that you enough to work with when stapling it to the board). The hardest part was getting the corners to look square. But I did it, so can you!! :) I forgot to get a picture of this, sorry!

Add the trim: Use fabric glue to adhere the trim onto the board, I chose to put it along the top and bottom of the board.

Laying out the trim

I had to use straight pins to hold the trim in place until the glue dried a bit
 (but don't leave them in too long, or it's nearly impossible to remove the pins!!)

A close-up of the board while the glue was drying

Adding the hardware to hang it

This board is so light that it can be hung from a couple of nails. But this is the point where I decided that the whole thing was a bit flimsy, soooooo... here's the fixes:

Hot glue another piece of foam board over where the 2 pieces of board adjoin.
This worked nicely as a place to adhere (with hot glue) the hooks to hang it on.

Just make sure that you adhere the hooks the same distance from the top of the board, or you may struggle with hanging it level.

A close up of the hook

Then to sure up the sides, we added the L-bracket (which is why I would suggest doing this BEFORE the material was all in place)

See the L-Bracket? It makes a world of difference!!

Finally, hand the board!! :) My husband put a couple of screws in place after marking where they should go-- and wah-lah:

A finished cornice board, that matches my new chair, and bedding! :)

This project is not as hard as it seems, and really was done quickly! And on a mess scale of 1-10, 10 being messiest. it's was about a 4. 

Thanks for reading all about my mess,

Valerie