A pelmet is a framework mounted above a window used to hide curtain fittings and to help retain temperature inside a room. Pelmets are also called top treatments, cornices or valances. However, they differ from other top treatments in that the pelmet is a hardened valance or a treatment built over a structure.
Most people either love them or hate them, and I find myself in both camps. I love the finish they provide to a window treatment, but they can also feel rigid. We’ve made traditional looking pelmets, one in our new dining room and in our old bedroom, but this time I wanted to go in a more whimsical direction in our space.
I knew I wanted a simple black base (made from black foam board) and needed to add to it. [Note: For a tutorial on building a pelmet with foamcore, click here. -Cat] I love Shanna Murray‘s decals, especially “I love you more than all the stars”. I wanted to have it in our room so my husband Michael can read it every morning when he opens his eyes, and I thought the pelmet would be perfect place. Yup, I’m a romantic geek! I try to support artists whenever I can but dangit, after buying the supplies to make the pelmet base it pained me we could not justify buying the decals. So DIY it was!
Now, I don’t trust my handwriting these days so drawing the letters freehand was out. It took a day for the ‘aha’ moment to arrive and I could set about making them. I downloaded the Markus Ink font and put a stroke/border around the type to be my cutting guides. I printed them on full sheet adhesive labels. Once printed, I sat down and cut out the shapes. This work can be very therapeutic. I used the scraps to cut out the stars. We hung the pelmet and strung the garlands, once I finished sewing them.
The finished garland and pelmet work together with our pendant lamp to make a DIY-space customized just for us.
Ooh, this is rad. I have always been in the staunchly ANTI valance camp, but this has totally changed my mind! Valances don’t always have to be stuffy and traditional.
Holy snot, is that what those are called? I have a huge print of Van Gogh’s starry night in my childhood betroom, so I painted my -pelmet box- to match.
ooh
been looking for an idea for the windows in my bedroom – maybe pelmet boxes are the way to go?!
thank you
At first i thought the stars on the wall were from sunlight coming through the pelmet, but i guess not? are they painted up there? i really love the pelmet, it’s such a neat idea! i used to work in a furnishings shop and people were always buying material for new curtains, but rarely pelmets – i think they might have been missing out!
Hi vacantmuse! I used the scrap label adhesive to make the stars that are on the actual pelmet. They’re simply stuck on the base. Here’s a few more details on the project: http://thehappyheathen.blogspot.com/2011/01/i-love-you-more-than-all-stars.html.
This is utterly made of awesome. I think I want to have a baby so I can put this in their room.
My husband may send you hate mail. I sense one going up on every single window in our house…
Ha! To be honest, this particular piece was super EASY to make. It’s just black foam board, backed with a .25″ x 2″ strip of wood on the back for support. It’s mounted on the wall with a small L-bracket at the top on each side.
This is exactly what we need in our apartment. It’ll totally take advantage of our tallish ceilings.