How To Make A Valance/Cornice.....Inexpensive And Easy

One of the finishing touches to my Hollywood Regency bedroom was to add Valances over the drapes

You are going to love this...the only tools you need are:

Hot glue gun

Straight pins

Batting

Fabric

And 

Styrofoam sheets from Lowes for $7.00

After I hung the drapes I thought they looked to plain and I wanted something to glam them up, so I decided to make valances

Many years ago I made valances from wood.  They were expensive, heavy, and took carpentry skills to cut and nail together......There had to be a better way!

I have been buying styrofoam at home improvement stores for other craft projects since it is soooo much cheaper than buying at craft stores

This is what I used.....There are 6-48" sheets to a $7.00 pack

I used a knife to cut a sheet for the top, front, and 2 sides.  I ruined a sheet because I did not compensate for the Styrofoam width on the sides and top.....I'm just saying that I had to do some careful measuring but, with 6 sheets in a pack I had plenty of sheets so, messing up was no big deal.

The only thing I used to attach all of the pieces of styrofoam together was gobs of hot glue.  It gave a good strong bond...I was amazed!

I first hot glued on the batting and then pinned the fabric on.   I hot glued the batting but pinned the fabric to make it easy to change the fabric in the future.

Now it was STILL to plain.......

....So I hot glued 2 rows of ribbon to the bottom....

I used 2 "L" bracets and set the valance on the brackets, there was no need to attach the valance to the brackets as they are really light and not going anywhere

The Bedroom is officially done!

If you are wondering what I'm up to now.....

...Here's my kitchen, do you see anything missing? 

Oh gosh, I think I'm a glutton for punishment.  Anyone that has done a kitchen reno will agree that it is the most difficult of all!

I'll be back when I can........

Happy Creating!
Carol