Pelmet Boxes with Nailhead Trim

Voila! Here is a peek of my finished pelmet boxes for our living room...a project that I put off for a good long while before starting for fear of messing up. No worries, my friends, it was SUPER easy, and in total took less than 2 hours to make two of them!

Below, here's how things looked before...we have two windows on either side of our couch. There isn't room enough for full length curtains like I've made for the other windows in the room because they are too close to the couch, and the fabric would be bunched behind our end tables (which are yet to be purchased 3-1/2 years later!). I got these bamboo shades from JC Penney, but overall the look was too plain...don't you agree? I love the fabric I purchased from Hable Construction for the curtains, and wanted to tie it into the rest of the room.

So, my solution was to make pelmet boxes using the same fabric as the curtains on the other windows. I bought styrafoam from Michaels, and these handy u-haped pins...

 

I measured the width of the window plus 2 inches on either side. The styrafoam was a little short, so with a kitchen knife, I cut an extra piece, and taped it on with masking tape. I secured it with the u-shaped pins. Then I cut a 2-inch piece to give it depth and taped and pinned that together as well.

Here's what they looked like when I got them all taped and pinned together:

 

Here's a close-up of how I secured the adjoining edges with the u-shaped pins.

I lay the fabric on the floor, and covered it with a thin batting. I had cut the fabric about 6 inches wider than the area of the pelmet boxes. Then, I just wrapped the fabric and batting around the edges and pinned it all into place with my u-shaped pins (do you note how often I'm mentioning the u-shaped pins? I'm a fan! If I ever need to secure things, my first thought will be of u-shaped pins!)

Ta Da! All wrapped!

But wait, they're a little bland...missing something, right?

Enter nailhead trim! I'm now also a HUGE new fan of nailhead trim, and if I had more time on my hands, I might just nailhead trim the couches in the living room (and go on from there!) It's really cool...it comes in a roll, and every fifth nailhead on the roll has a hole. You insert the tack provided in the hole, and that's what keeps it on....

or SHOULD keep it on. Here I ran into a snag, because the tacks were not holding in the holey styrafoam. SO, back to the u-shaped pins. I secured them close to the base where the pin should be inserted, and then inserted the pin. The pins are actually holding everything together, but unless you look super close, I don't think you notice...do you?

I was in a hurry to hang them up, so my very unprofessional secret that you DON'T see is that I twisted purple pipe cleaners and pinned them to the back, and just hung them on hooks I nailed into the wall. The pelmet boxes are very light, and haven't fallen down yet!

So, I'm not the best photographer, and my living room is by no means "done", but here's where we're at!

I'll need to focus on getting some end tables, and maybe switch out the coffee table for something less damaging if Jake were to hit his head on it. Onward!