Easy Cornice DIY

Have you ever found a fabric that you fell in love with and oohed and awed over; thought about it for months, and then when it came time to buy a few yards, it was sold out?  Has that ever happened to you?

Well, when I picked out the fabrics I wanted to use in the dining room, it was months ago.  Like most of our big projects, they are planned and schemed months in advance, so it never dawned on me that once I was sure of the designs, I should act before the fabric sells out.  Such was the case for the cornice fabric that I had picked out.

Sigh.

I put myself on the waiting list.  Then I called the fabric store and was told the fabric pattern wasn’t even in the system to be replenished.  So I had to do some research.  I googled.  I went on ebay.  Then I went on Esty and found a tablecloth made from the exact fabric I wanted to use for the cornices in the dining room.  I added said tablecloth to my cart, pronto!

Now that our dining room make over is well underway, I was able to work on the cornices over the weekend.  I have always loved cornices, but gawk at the price of those found in the stores.

I get it, nothing custom ordered is ever cheap.  But making your own custom cornices is insanely inexpensive and highly satisfying.

I started with a sheet of 1/4 inch plywood.  $16.  I asked Sean to cut the plywood to my measured specifications in trade for a chicken pot pie.  About a $1.50 all in for the pot pie.

I screwed together the 3 sides of the cut wood to make the base of the cornice.  I stapled a piece of 3/8 inch thick quilting batting to the wood.  One yard of batting, $11.99.

I laid the batting covered cornice over the tablecloth, and started cutting to the size I needed, leaving a 2 inch seam allowance around the entire cornice.  I stapled the fabric on to the cornice.  $40 for the tablecloth.

Last, I attached an L hook to the inside ends of the cornice to hang it from the window.

And with that, I had two custom cornices that only cost me $69.49, in total, and an hour to make.  That’s $34.75 a piece.  That’s more my price range..

This really goes to show that if you truly have your heart set on a specific look, you can create the design yourself, while keeping your budget in tact.