How to Build and Hang a Window Cornice
Understand how to create your very own wood window cornice box to dress up your window frame. Making a personalized wood window valance is a excellent novice making task!
See more of self-taught DIYer Jenny’s home and recommendations for commencing DIYers listed here — you will not want to pass up her gorgeous kitchen area and living room! Furthermore go through how to set up effortless craftsman window trim all around any window.
What is a Window Cornice?
A window cornice is a three-sided box that frames the best of a window. A cornice usually covers—and extends out over—curtain rods, the best portion of blinds, and window casings. It can be as tall as you treatment to make it, straightforward or fancy.
A window cornice is usually reliable, like these built from wood in this tutorial, whilst a window valance is customarily built from cloth and more like a shorter curtain at the best of the window. A wood window valance “box” may possibly also be termed a pelmet box, which is usually more reliable than a valance but coated in cloth to match the drapery.
Regardless of whether you simply call it a window cornice, valance, or pelmet, the reason is to include up the window hardware and give your home windows some presence and design and style!
Creative Window Cornice Ideas
Get resourceful with window cornices to in good shape the operate and design and style of your room. Some ideas:
- Include a shelf to the best for displaying stuffed animals or kids’ soccer trophies.
- Paint the box part of the cornice a different color than the trim parts.
- Paint the window casing the identical color as your cornice or vice versa.
- Layer trim pieces to get a distinctive search or use a router to generate a actually personalized piece.
- And, if you are placing crown molding up in the room at the identical time as you are undertaking your cornices, you can style it so that the crown molding runs seamlessly all around the room and the window cornice—-heaven!
For my wood window cornices, I employed crown molding that matched what was by now in the room —- pretty normal builder-quality stuff that you can uncover at any significant box shop. I also employed some ogee trim (also acknowledged as foundation cap).
How to Establish a Diy Wood Window Cornice
Be sure to retain in head that all of these wood proportions and trim pieces are particular to my cornices—-you may perhaps want to do some thing different. For illustration, I employed a 1″ x 8″ board for my cornice box, but if you want a taller (or shorter) cornice box, you’d want to purchase a wider, or shorter, board, etc.
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Wood Window Cornice Source Checklist
*This is a delicate and economical wood. It often has knots and is often not straight, so be picky when picking your wood. Get the straightest doable pieces with the fewest knots. You can use a tougher and larger-excellent wood, but it will be more high-priced if you program to stain your cornice, somewhat than paint it, you will most likely want to invest in a larger-excellent wood species.
Wood Window Cornice Instrument Checklist
Diy Wood Window Cornice Box Assembly
Stage one: Prepare & Evaluate
Prepare the search of your cornice. Look at:
- What trim, if any, do you want to use?
- Will you stain it or paint it?
- How tall and huge do you want it to be?
- How a lot house do you have above and on the sides of the window to get the job done with?
Evaluate your window from the exterior edge of the window casing on one aspect to the exterior edge of the window casing on the opposite aspect. Do not measure just the window by by itself. Consist of the casings!
Your cornice will dangle down around the window and the casings. I selected to insert 4″ (that is 2″ for each individual aspect of the window) to my window measurements. Why? To allow for the width of the edge of the cornice and for a small house concerning the window casing and the cornice.
Helpful Examining: Universal Tricks for Fantastic Seeking Curtains
Also measure out from the wall to establish how deep your cornice desires to be. Will the cornice dangle around a curtain rod or blinds? The cornice box desires to be deep sufficient to prolong out around any obstacles—-the window casing, blinds, or curtains.
Include at the very least a one/2″ or so to your depth measurement so you will not have to get worried about your cornice scraping up towards your window therapies immediately after it is put in.
Primarily based on the clearance you have concerning the ceiling and your window, as nicely as your particular choice, establish how tall you want your cornice to be.
Buy your elements and make a sketch of your proportions.
Stage two: Minimize the Wood Cornice Parts & Crown Molding
I minimize all the pieces for my cornice initially.
I minimize my 1″ x 8″ popular board to length and minimize both of those of the shorter sides at a beveled forty five-diploma angle applying a miter observed. This piece is the front of your cornice box.
For the best and aspect pieces of my cornice box, I necessary a shallower width of board, so I ripped my 1″ x 6″ popular board down to 1″ x 5″ (a non-normal dimension not out there at my community lumber property) applying a desk observed. I then minimize the best and aspect pieces of my cornice box from the 1″ x 5″ board.
For the aspect pieces, I employed my miter observed to minimize forty five-diploma angles on one of the prolonged edges.
I minimize my crown molding and ogee trim, both of those the front and aspect pieces, mitered to meet flush at the corners of the cornice box.
See this post for recommendations and methods to assist you understand how to minimize crown molding and other trim — and often try to remember to practice, practice, practice on some economical molding or scraps until eventually you are assured with your cuts.
For the ogee trim, established your table to forty five-levels. Go away your blade on center at -levels.
For the crown molding, you will will need to established the angles on your blade and desk according to the spring angle of the crown molding you are applying. I employed just about the most simple and extensively out there crown molding there is (spring angle: 53/37). I established my miter (angle on desk) to 31.five-levels and my bevel (tilt of blade) to 34-levels.
The biggest piece of crown molding, managing alongside the best of the cornice box, has two exterior corners.
The left-hand mitered exterior corner is minimize by placing the crown to the correct of the blade. The best edge of the crown rests up towards the fence. The miter angle on the desk of your miter observed is established to the correct of center.
You will also minimize the correct-hand aspect piece of crown this way. The edge of the aspect piece of crown that satisfies the front piece of crown will be minimize at an angle. The other aspect will be flush towards the wall, so it is a straight-edge minimize.
The correct-hand mitered exterior corner is minimize by placing the crown to the correct of the blade. The bottom edge of the crown rests up towards the fence. The miter angle on the desk of your miter observed is established to the left of center.
You will also minimize the left-hand aspect piece of crown this way. The edge of the aspect piece of crown that satisfies the front piece of crown will be minimize at an angle. The other aspect will be flush towards the wall, so it is a straight-edge minimize.
When chopping crown, I often insert a 50 percent-inch or a small more to the whole length I measured in advance of chopping. I’ll do a test in good shape immediately after producing my initially minimize and then trim a small more off if I will need to, but with crown, once you minimize it far too shorter, you are out of luck! So I’m often quite, quite very careful and acquire my time to be certain to get it correct. Preserve in head, far too, that crown has to prolong a little bit earlier the length of your cornice box. If the minimize edge of the crown lines up just with the edge of the cornice box, there will not be sufficient of an edge left on the crown to meet up with the edge of the aspect piece of crown, which you will want it to do in purchase to get a neat corner.
Stage three: Assemble the Wood Cornice
I drilled holes applying my Kreg Jig alongside the best, inside edges of my front box piece and my two aspect box pieces. (If you don’t very own a Kreg Jig, you can sign up for your box jointly by initially gluing with wood glue and then applying ending nails or a nail gun.)
I employed wood glue to sign up for the mitered edges of my aspect box pieces and my front box piece and clamped it all to dry. Then, I employed my 18-gauge nail gun to boost the bond by nailing the pieces jointly (you could also use a hammer and ending nails, if you don’t have a nail gun).
Upcoming, I employed my Kreg Jig screws to screw jointly the best piece of my box to the front and aspect box pieces. Now, you have got yourself a box. Time to jazz it up!
Stage four: Attach Cornice Trim
I attached the ogee trim flush to the bottom edge of my cornice box with my 18-gauge nail gun (you can also use ending nails and a hammer). You can glue initially, far too, if you’d like to.
In advance of attaching any trim, however, test the in good shape of your corner pieces to make certain they in good shape jointly correctly. 
Make measured marks all alongside the length of your box where you want your crown molding to be. Then, use a level or other straight edge to link the marks so you have a line alongside which to line up the bottom edge of your crown molding—you want it to be level. Nail alongside the bottom edge of your crown to connect it to your cornice box. It can be everywhere on the box frame you select for it to be—-flush with the best edge of the box or someplace farther down the box. I selected to have a five-one/2″ gap concerning the best of my ogee trim and the bottom of my crown molding.
You can often insert a shelf to the best of the cornice box, which would give the crown some thing to connect to (like it would if it have been becoming equipped alongside a wall and ceiling), but because on this cornice, I selected not to insert a shelf, I had to glue the corner crown pieces to the center crown piece to connect them.
Use painter’s tape to protected the link until eventually the glue dries. Attach the bottom of the aspect pieces of crown with nails alongside the bottom edge, just as you did with the front piece of crown.
I would suggest towards striving to nail the best piece of the aspect crown to the best piece of the front crown, as you’ll risk splitting the crown.
Stage five: End and Paint Your Window Cornice
Now, use wood filler on your nail holes and caulk all the seams.
Helpful Examining: Ideas for Caulking Like a Professional
Following the wood filler and caulk have dried, do a mild sanding to assure a sleek completed surface area. Wipe absent all dust and particles.
I employed one coat of primer and two coats of paint, allowing everything dry completely concerning coats.
Keep in mind to paint the underside of your cornice box, far too, as it will be visible if an individual is standing near to, or under, the window.
If the best of your cornice box will be visible, be certain to paint the best, far too, but most of the time, a cornice box will be so near to the ceiling that no one will be capable to see the best of it.
How to Hold a Wood Window Cornice
Minimize a 1″ x 2″ strip of wood just shorter than the complete length of your done cornice box.
Mount it to the wall above the window where you will be hanging the cornice, applying a level and 2″ wood screws. Be certain to connect to studs and not just dry wall.
Preserve in head how significantly down around your window you want your cornice to hang—-that will establish where on the wall you set up the 1″ x 2″ strip of wood (your cornice box will ‘hang’ on this strip of wood).
You will connect your window cornice box by ‘hanging’ it on, and screwing it in to, your 1″ x 2″ strip, which you have mounted to the wall above your window. It will not be protected sufficient to just ‘hang’ the cornice box on the 1″ x 2″ strip. You will need to screw down as a result of the best of the cornice box, in to the 1″ x 2″ strip at normal intervals alongside the length of the cornice box.
To make the position less difficult, I screwed my 2″ wood screws partially in to the best of my cornice box in advance of hanging it, so that I’d have much less screwing to do immediately after placing the cornice box in area around the window. Be aware in the placement of your screws. You don’t want them so near to the edge that the wood splits, thus compromising the attachment. Neither do you don’t want them so significantly absent from the edge that they will not screw down in to the best of your wall-mounted 1″ x 2″ strip.
You can also use the identical thought to generate a decorative and/or practical shelf.
Alternatively of producing a box as you did for the cornice, use just a flat board and insert a shelf on best. Attach trim just as you would for the window cornice. I employed an Ook Hangman French Cleat Photo Hanging Package to dangle the shelf below in my kitchen—-operates like a aspiration! And, of course, you can dangle it someplace other than around a window!
Or use the identical idea to generate a mattress crown cornice like Cassity did for her daughter’s room listed here:
A lot more techniques to make your home windows search amazing:
Diy Window Cornice In advance of and Afters
And just for kicks and giggles, here’s what those bedrooms seemed like when we bought the residence and what they search like now (with the window cornices and other updates):
Be certain to pin your favorites to conserve for later on and share with your friends!
Posted 05.03.sixteen // Up to date 05.14.20
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