Here's her room before any making-over began. Just keeping it real for you, with the mess and all:
Here's a less scary pic:
My solution was to cover the giant transom window with a pelmet, a.k.a. cornice or valance. I was inspired by this window from Hi Sugarplum:
It looks so pretty and fancy....until you look at the back.
Basically all it is is foam board and duct tape. Simple, right?!?!? Hi Sugarplum provides a great tutorial on how to make the pelmet, but I'll give you a few highlights.
Start with your foam board. I got mine at Michael's for about $2.70/piece, but I just saw them at the dollar store for only $1. I had to use 4 pieces and duct taped them all together. To cut the board, just use a knife, score the board and then break it.
Here it is all laid out on my kitchen floor. This gives you an idea of what a beast this thing is:
Next, duct tape batting and fabric all over the thing. Staples don't really work in the foam board, so duct tape is the best bet. For fabric, I took some Pottery Barn curtains that K has had in her room FOREVER and just cut them up to fit. I didn't want to spend a lot on fabric, because I was kind of dubious about how this project would turn out; and, because of its size, if it would even hang on the wall.
Here she is getting ready to be hung:
You can see a seam over on the right side where the fabric wasn't long enough and I had to add an extra piece. To hide the seams, I just used fabric glue to glue on some white grosgrain ribbon.
Here it is covering the transom window. It is so hard to take a picture of a window with the light streaming in! Sorry for the dark photo.
Come back tomorrow and I promise you better pictures! You will also be able to see the curtains that I made. I know you're excited!
Looks so good! Need to know two things - tute on the adorable monogram and how did you hang yours? I'm having some issues with hanging mine...as in it fell down after 5 minutes. Great job though - and so clever reusing the existing curtains.
ReplyDeleteLooks great!
ReplyDeleteI love this! I'm planning to make pelmets too. I posted your picture on my blog as it inspires me:
ReplyDeletehttp://typearamblings.blogspot.com/2011/08/blog-binge-drapes-and-valances-pelmet.html