Photo of some of the tools used in this project

Pinterest vs. Reality

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DIY Window Cornice

Up close photo of corners of window cornice
Photo of some of the tools used in this project
Photo showing some materials used in this project

“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”  -Maya Angelou

I, like most people, have a love-hate relationship with Pinterest. Oh, who am I kidding? It’s love. Pure, unadulterated, unconditional, til-death-do-us-part, warts-and-all, LOVE. I have spent years pinning thousands of genius project ideas, but surprisingly very little time actually attempting any of said projects. UNTIL NOW.

I recently moved into a new place (see previous post) and since moving in have been visually assaulted by a big blank white wall above the window in my kitchen. This is a rental property, so I wasn’t looking to spend a fortune on a custom window treatment but I still needed something to cure the vast empty whiteness situation. Clearly it was time for my years of hard work pinning with wild abandon to pay off. Enter the “DIY Window Cornice”, pinned and (nearly) forgotten many, many moons ago. According to my calculations, if I could successfully follow a few simple instructions (only 5 steps!), I could save myself upwards of $200 and have a totally custom piece to admire for years to come. Or until my lease is up. Whatever.

Before I get into the gory details of how my little project played out, I feel it is my duty to inform you about The Pinterest Fails. Turns out, these projects don’t alwaysend up looking exactly like the pretty pictures you see online. Even if you have no interest in Pinterest, DIY, or any type of crafting whatsoever, you should do yourself a favor and google “pinterest fails”. Please enjoy one of my all-time favorites here.

You’re welcome.

Being no stranger to the potentially disastrous results of these “easy” DIY projects, I was able to go in with impressively low expectations. Always a plus!

Thankfully, Step 1 didn’t seem too intimidating: “Gather your supplies…”. You might not think a craft project would call for the use of multiple guns, but a cursory glance at the supplies list reveals that this one does! Fortunately I already possessed all the required guns, both glue and staple. I was able to purchase fabric, batting and foam board for around $50. Depending on the size of your window and how sale- and coupon-savvy you are, you could quite possibly do it for even less. In any case, I was off to a smashing start and ready to tackle Step 2: “Determine your pelmet box design and size and draw it on your board.”

Um, what the heck is a pelmet box?? No matter. I pressed on under the assumption that “pelmet box” is just a fancy way of saying “pretty thing hanging over the window in place of ugly blank wall”. Don’t judge! This is a craft project, not a vocabulary test. Anyway … I decided to modify the design a bit, as I wanted more of a tailored, modern look (and also I’m not trying to get tangled up in crafting that requires projector sorcery of any kind). Since I decided against any crazy complicatedinsanely intricate advanced design work, I was able to skip a decent portion of Step 2 (namely, the “drawing” part). Measuring for my nice, easy rectangle box was a snap. So far, so good! 

Step 3 was simple: “Cut and tape the sides to your cornice”. Oh, now we’re calling it a “cornice” again? I see. I used regular old clear packing tape to secure the sides. Easy peasy. On to Step 4“Cover your cornice in batting and fabric and staple in place”. This one sounded scary but turned out to be really easy, partially because I accidentally chose my fabric wisely. It doesn’t say so in the instructions, but if you are going to attempt this project I would advise steering clear of any fabrics with very linear patterns. Trying to keep that pattern lined up on the front while you’re stapling away along the back is the stuff of nightmares. My nightmares, anyway. I elected not to cover my staples with tape, as they ended up looking pretty clean and I wasn’t worried about them pulling away from the board.

The back of the window cornice, showing how to staple gun fabric to the backing

And just like that I had arrived (entirely unscathed!) at Step 5“Glue D-ring picture hangers onto each end and hang your box”. I whipped out the glue gun, secured my little D-rings and gave the glue a few minutes to set. And then it failed. IMMEDIATELY. Like, before I ever got the board off the ground, immediately. Not yet ready to accept defeat, I decided to try holding the D-rings in place with little nails pounded into the foam board. This approach worked … for about 10 minutes, and then failed. This is typically the time during any DIY project that I start thinking, “that bare white wall actually looks pretty good!” and/or, “how far away is that dumpster?”. But I had already come so far! And also the dumpster was sort of far away. So I did what any self-respecting craftstress would do: I dug up some Gorilla Glue and showed those D-rings who’s boss. If you don’t have Gorilla Glue, your life is hollow and empty and I’m sorry. They should call it Unicorn Glue. Magical, seriously. A little dab of that stuff on each D-ring and a few minutes later I was in business. The D-rings were secure at last and have remained so for a week now. Success!

All in all, this project was pretty simple and turned out great. I saved a few hundred bucks, the menacing white wall is no more, and I have fresh confidence in my ability to make all my Pinterest dreams come true. Win, win, win.

"Before" photo of the kitchen area without the window cornice
"After" photo of the kitchen sink area with the new DIY window cornice

Now go out and get yourself some Gorilla Glue. You know you want to.

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