Lacquer & Linen

I know I have been a little behind on sharing updates on the nursery. I’ve gotten so caught up with all my little projects, I didn’t leave much time to putting together some posts on them. Nevertheless, I am excited to say that the nursery is almost finished! I still have some finishing touches to do and some art to make/hang but all the big things are done. One of the biggest DIYs on my list was making an upholstered cornice for the window.

Since I plan on installing a less than glamorous but entirely necessary blackout roller shade inside the window, I needed something to conceal the shade when it is not pulled down. A cornice was the perfect solution. I could hide both the roller shade and my budget friendly curtain rod all with just this one rectangular box. This was my first time experimenting with making any sort of window treatment and I was surprised at how easy it was to put together and how great it turned out.

The first step in most any upholstery/furniture project is measuring. To measure for the cornice, I simply measured the width of the window and then added 3″ on both sides to accomodate the existing curtain rod. If you have casement on your windows, make sure to measure so that the cornice will fit around it. A good general depth for cornices is 4″. I picked up my wood from Home Depot and had them cut it down to size for me. After everything was measured and cut, we were ready to get started!

After the cornice was finished, I applied a sweet little pom pom trim to the bottom edge to give the tribal fabric some girly softness. I used fabric glue to attach the trim and then secured it with push pins while it dried. I wouldn’t normally recommend attaching trim with fabric glue but since no one will be touching it once it’s hung, it was an acceptable solution.

By far the trickiest part of this project was actually attaching the cornice to the wall. When I was at home depot, I forgot to have them cut a top piece for the cornice. This would usually be the easiest way to secure the box to the wall but in an effort to avoid another trip to the store, we decided to figure out another way. Since each of my side pieces was only 4″ deep, there was little room to get leverage on a screwdriver to screw the L-shaped brakets to the wall. We ended up finding that a flex head screwdriver worked best.

 All in all, this project only took an afternoon to complete and I am so happy with the results. After I healed up from a rather unfortunate mishap that involved my palm and the wrong end of the staple gun, I decided that the staple gun will be my favorite new tool. At least until I learn how to sew, stapling fabric is my only means of upholstering anything.

This project was so easy, I’m thinking of making another cornice for our dining area downstairs. Although, I have quite a few projects on my pre-baby check list so it make have to wait a few months. I still have a few other nursery projects I can’t wait to share with you in the next few weeks before the big reveal, stay tuned!