{DIY} Building a Window Pelmet

You guys have been so sweet...not to mention patient...as I muddle through post after post of trying to figure out the window situation in Babygirl's Room. Since I have no design experience, I am so grateful to have bloggers and opinionated readers as my sounding board!

So after much debate, and many Photoshop renderings, I finally decided on the plan for her window!! I just finished and I am thrilled with the outcome...and so excited to show it to you guys! Today I'll walk you through how I built (using this term very loosely) the pelmet, or cornice...whichever you prefer to call it.

There are several great How-To's on the internet, including the one that started it all, Jenny at Little Green Notebook. But I found myself still extremely fairly confused after reading them, so I'll be as boringly specific as possible with my tutorial.

First, gather your supplies: foam core board, batting, fabric, duct tape, trim and fabric glue.



Actually, the first thing you want to do is measure. Because I didn't, and I ended up with twice as much foam core (I was sure I'd botch my first attempt), and not enough batting and fabric!!!!! Gee, that's not frustrating.

I measured to either side of my curtain rod for the width; and from just above the curtain rod to just below the top of the window for the height. I chose to make my pelmet cover the swatch of wall so the window would appear taller. And since I added the mucho-necessary darkening shade, I wanted to cover it as well.



If you're blonde like me, it's also really helpful to sketch it out so you don't get confused with all the cutting and taping. I wanted my pelmet to fit pretty snug against the curtains, so it's 7" deep. TWSS  I didn't think to take the finials off the ends of my curtain rods, so my pelmet is even more of a mammoth than it needed to be (since the curtains are already hung much wider than the actual window).



Using a box cutter, I cut two pieces of board to equal my 53" width, then used duct tape to
hold them together.



I then cut the height of the adjoined piece down to 19". For the sides, I cut two pieces of board that were 19" tall and 7" wide. Lay a strip of duct tape down and place the large front panel over half of it:



Then prop a side piece up and wrap the tape around the seam. Repeat on the other end and add strips of duct tape until the panel feels fairly stable.



I thought my center seam needed more reinforcement to prevent bowing, so I taped another piece of foam board over it. If your pelmet isn't the size of a city bus like mine, this step most likely isn't necessary.



Wrap the front of the box with batting:



And then your (ironed) fabric.



I started out stapling it all into place, but it wasn't holding very well, so I just duct taped the thing within an inch of it's life. It's not pretty, but it won't show! And it's foam core board for Pete's sake!! Clearly we're cutting corners here!



I wrapped the side pieces just like a present, holding everything in place with the gorgeous duct tape.



Now, as to how we were going to mount this beast to the wall, Mr. Sugarplum and I had several conversations and strolled many aisles at Home Depot. I think his solution is the best, especially for a larger pelmet like this one; two light-as-a-feather L brackets!



First I Gorilla Glued them on the side panels...then reinforced them with more duct tape. It still wasn't very stable, so I actually screwed them into the fabric and a little bit of the board (careful not to poke through the other side) TWSS I think the duct tape also helps to give the screws something to grip.



Here's a really poor picture of how she looks from the front:



Using Fabri-Tac, I glued a border of white grosgrain ribbon around the perimeter.


(Yes, it's larger than my kitchen table!)

Remember The Ribbon Retreat I posted about here? After no luck finding a radish-colored ribbon in stores, I ordered several samples from them and found the perfect match!



I used the Sorbet grosgrain to trim the white drapes...I love how it ties the drapes and pelmet together. But this post has gone on long enough, so you'll have to wait to see it!

Have you attempted a pelmet of your own? Or does this verbose tutorial motivate you to make one? Are you even still awake?

Update: See the final window with pelmet in place here!