I love cornice boards! They can be so elegant. How about googling them under "images" and see if you can get some inspiration? Upholstery fabric can be lovely on cornice boards, or use a drapery fabric. You can "window shop" all kinds of fabrics on eBay and sometimes find exceptional bargains, or at least get good ideas. Also, adding some piping to the edge can give it a really finished look. How lucky you are that your dad is doing this for you! Give him a great big hug.

To save money, since yours will be 96" long you can do it in three pieces, with the outside two pieces in a print and the center piece in a solid. I remember seeing a show on HGTV where the designer used a vintage beaded collar on the center panel. I scouted eBay for months looking for a collar like that but didn't find what I wanted -- but it was a very creative and sumptious idea. The shape she used made it look *not* like a collar. The scoop faced downward, btw.

I can't wait to see what you do, Christy!

The ones that I've seen that look really custom is with a two-color fabric that coordinates with the drapes--where one fabric is a print and the other a stripe.

cburch, I apologize, I don't mean to hijack your thread, but I wanted to mention this and don't think it needs it's own thread. I was looking through window treatments on some site yesterday and saw something I had not before.

They took a short cornice, I suppose it was about 6" from top to bottom and put it above the window moulding and then hung the curtains on each side of the window.

I had never seen a cornice hung above the window moulding. Has any one else seen this? I thought it worth mentioning since people are always looking for ways to decorate their windows without hiding the moulding.

There are some to look at here...

Here is a link that might be useful: Cornice boards

Here is a really good video on how to cover and mount a cornice board -- worth a book mark I think...

Here is a link that might be useful: Cronice making video

Thanks for the ideas and links ...... decisions, decisions! Good to know I'm on the right track. Once they are up and looking good. I'll post a picture! Hopefully by the middle of Dec!

Christy

Brutuses, do you remember where you saw that? That might work for us.

My husband built these cornice boards for our bedroom a few years ago. I covered them with padding, then fabric and added trim to the edges. It was not very difficult. Unfortunately, I'm redecorating in the Spring and will not be using the cornice boards any longer (haven't told DH yet!).

That's really pretty! So crisp looking. Nice job!

hoosier, I believe it was on the Home and Garden or House and Garden magazine site. I tell you how I came to the site, I was searching for Southern Plantation decor or Southern decor and this site kept coming up. It wasn't titled with the title of the magazine, but when you were inside the site the reference to the magazine was there. It wasn't Better Homes and Garden, I know that. You might also just search "window treatments." That's how I found it inside this particular site. I'll try to find it again and let you know. If you find it in the interim, let me know.

teeda, that's one beautiful cornice!!

Thanks for your help, Brutuses! Was this it, possibly? Or was the photo similar to this?

Very nice, Teeda!

Here is a link that might be useful: cornice board pic

Teeda - are your panels long... going all the way to the floor? That just dawned on me this afternoon sitting at work thinking about all the things I should be doing instead of working!!!! I really can't have my panel's puddle on the floor although I'd love to, we have a cat and dog. The dog would probably pee on them and the cat would lay on them covering them with hair. Can I use this huge cornice and have them stop short of the floor?

Christy

Christy--my drapery panels go just to the top of the floor (don't actually touch). They do not puddle. I think your cornices will look fine if the drapes are full length but not puddling. In fact, I think that puddled drapes with a cornice board would look a bit overdone. I'll try to take a picture tomorrow (it's too dark now and my camera flash is really bad).

Does anyone have any instructions for building the boards themselves? I mean the woodworking aspect of it. I'm especially wondering how to manage the weight of it with a 98"+ long one too. Thanks.

Instead of using all wood you could use rigid styrofoam insulating panels. That would really decrease the weight and be easier to work with.

I have made several cornice boards. I have used wood:

foam panels:

and fabric over plywood:

Here is last one installed:

Although foam is lighter, I do prefer to work with plywood, as I think you get more professional result, but this is just my preference :) Longest one I have made out of plywood was 70" + and I installed it using metal corner brackets and it was very stable.