How-to: Make a No-Sew Valance

I shared a tutorial for making some really easy living room accessories a couple weeks ago. For round two of my living room decor projects, I wanted to bring some more of the fabric I used for my pillows and bench cushion in to my small space. I’ve always like the look of cornice-style (hard) valances and thought I could easily make one of these myself. Turns out, I was right!

Supplies

I’ll talk about how to buy wood cut to size in a moment. 

1 piece of wood 8″ high by a little wider than your window(s)

2 pieces of wood 4″x8″

6 wood screws

drill

staple gun & staples

fabric of your choice that’s long enough to cover your wood

fabric scissors

two eye screws for mounting your valance

two wood nails

Directions

Visit your local lumber-carrying store with needed wood dimensions in tow. Talk to a salesperson about your needs, including the nature of this project (mention that this will be hanging and you can’t use wood that’s too heavy). Lumber stores don’t generally like to make really small cuts, but the salesperson I worked with said he appreciated the fact that I knew exactly what I needed. He had some scrap wood he didn’t think he’d be able to get rid of, so he offered me an awesome price. It was also a slow time of day when I visited the store, so he even cut it for me using the store’s saw. What a guy!

With your wood all set, you’re ready to make my valance frame. Drill three pilot holes in to your wide piece of wood, making sure to protect the surface below your wood. Assemble your frame, creating the shape shown below. Once that’s done, the hard part’s over!

Now you get to upholster your valance. Cut enough fabric to cover your valance. The only downside, in my mind, to this project is having to cut such a long strip of fabric. Luckily, the strip is narrow and there was enough leftover width after I made my cut that I’ll be able to make some legitimate projects with the leftovers.

Next, lay your valance fabric right side down on the floor and line up your valance frame on the fabric. Be careful not to stretch it in weird ways. My fabric, luckily, includes some straight lines that let me know how straight my fabric was. Once that’s all set, start stapling your fabric to the frame.

Stapling the fabric to the ends of the frame takes a little bit of care. I tried to ensure I folded my fabric over all of the corners in the same way. When each end is stapled, trim excess fabric and secure loose ends.

Screw your eye screws in to each end of the valance, through the fabric and in to the wood. Mount the valance to your window with the wood nails, your eye screws hanging on them.

Don’t you love the finished product? I had a really crappy day at work the other day, and when I came home, I saw my valance and felt a little better. That’s when you know you’re happy with your project.