When it comes to dress­ing up your win­dows, choos­ing the right valance or cor­nice board can make all the dif­fer­ence. I’ve al­ways found that these dec­o­ra­tive el­e­ments not only en­hance the aes­thet­ic ap­peal of a room but also serve prac­ti­cal pur­pos­es, such as hid­ing cur­tain rods or pro­vid­ing a fin­ished look to your win­dow treat­ments. The first step in this process is to con­sid­er the style of your space.

Are you go­ing for a mod­ern, min­i­mal­ist vibe, or do you pre­fer some­thing more tra­di­tion­al and or­nate? The ma­te­r­i­al and col­or of the valance or cor­nice board should com­ple­ment your ex­ist­ing decor. For in­stance, a wood­en cor­nice board can add warmth and tex­ture to a room, while a fab­ric valance can in­tro­duce soft­ness and col­or.

An­oth­er im­por­tant fac­tor to con­sid­er is the func­tion of the valance or cor­nice board. If you’re look­ing to block out light or add pri­va­cy, a thick­er fab­ric valance might be the way to go. On the oth­er hand, if you sim­ply want to add a dec­o­ra­tive touch with­out al­ter­ing the light flow, a sheer fab­ric could be per­fect.

I’ve of­ten found that mix­ing and match­ing dif­fer­ent ma­te­ri­als can cre­ate a unique look that re­flects my per­son­al style. Don’t for­get to think about the length and width as well; a well-pro­por­tioned valance or cor­nice board can dra­mat­i­cal­ly change the per­cep­tion of win­dow size and height.

Key Take­aways

• When se­lect­ing a valance or cor­nice board, con­sid­er the style of your room and the size of your win­dow for the best fit.
• Ac­cu­rate mea­sure­ments of the win­dow are cru­cial for a prop­er fit, so be sure to mea­sure both the width and height of the win­dow.
• Prop­er in­stal­la­tion of mount­ing hard­ware is es­sen­tial for the sta­bil­i­ty and longevi­ty of the valance or cor­nice board.
• When at­tach­ing the valance or cor­nice board, en­sure it is cen­tered and lev­el for a pol­ished look.
• To se­cure the valance or cor­nice board, use ap­pro­pri­ate screws and an­chors to pre­vent it from falling.

Mea­sur­ing the Win­dow

Once I’ve set­tled on the style of valance or cor­nice board I want, the next step is mea­sur­ing the win­dow ac­cu­rate­ly. This part is cru­cial be­cause even the most beau­ti­ful valance won’t look right if it’s not the cor­rect size. I usu­al­ly start by mea­sur­ing the width of the win­dow frame.

It’s im­por­tant to mea­sure from one side of the frame to the oth­er, tak­ing note of any ob­struc­tions like win­dow han­dles or trim that might af­fect how the valance hangs. I like to add a few ex­tra inch­es on each side for a more dra­mat­ic ef­fect; this helps cre­ate an il­lu­sion of a larg­er win­dow. Next, I mea­sure the height from where I plan to mount the valance or cor­nice board down to where I want it to end.

This could be just above the win­dow frame or even ex­tend­ing down to cov­er part of the wall. I find it help­ful to vi­su­al­ize how it will look by us­ing painter’s tape to mark where I plan to in­stall it. This way, I can step back and see if the height feels right in re­la­tion to my oth­er fur­nish­ings.

Tak­ing these mea­sure­ments care­ful­ly en­sures that when I fi­nal­ly in­stall my valance or cor­nice board, it fits per­fect­ly and looks pro­fes­sion­al­ly done.

In­stalling Mount­ing Hard­ware

With my mea­sure­ments in hand, it’s time to move on to in­stalling the mount­ing hard­ware. This step is es­sen­tial for en­sur­ing that my valance or cor­nice board hangs se­cure­ly and looks great. I usu­al­ly start by gath­er­ing all my tools: a drill, screws, a lev­el, and a stud find­er.

Us­ing a stud find­er is par­tic­u­lar­ly im­por­tant be­cause I want to make sure that my mount­ing brack­ets are an­chored into some­thing sol­id. If I can’t find a stud, I’ll use wall an­chors to pro­vide ex­tra sup­port. Once I’ve lo­cat­ed where I want to in­stall the brack­ets, I mark the spots with a pen­cil.

I al­ways dou­ble-check that my marks are lev­el; noth­ing looks worse than a crooked valance! Af­ter drilling pi­lot holes for my screws, I at­tach the brack­ets se­cure­ly. It’s im­por­tant to fol­low the manufacturer’s in­struc­tions for spac­ing and place­ment, as this can vary de­pend­ing on the type of valance or cor­nice board I’m us­ing.

Tak­ing my time dur­ing this step pays off in the end when every­thing is aligned per­fect­ly.

At­tach­ing the Valance or Cor­nice Board

Now comes one of my fa­vorite parts: at­tach­ing the valance or cor­nice board it­self! With the mount­ing hard­ware se­cure­ly in place, I care­ful­ly lift my cho­sen piece into po­si­tion. De­pend­ing on its weight and size, this might re­quire an ex­tra set of hands, so I of­ten en­list a friend or fam­i­ly mem­ber for as­sis­tance.

It’s al­ways nice to have some­one there to help hold things steady while I se­cure every­thing in place. Once it’s po­si­tioned cor­rect­ly, I make sure it’s lev­el be­fore fas­ten­ing it down. If it’s a fab­ric valance with a rod pock­et, I slide the cur­tain rod through and then at­tach it to the brack­ets.

For a cor­nice board, I typ­i­cal­ly use screws or brack­ets that came with it for se­cure at­tach­ment. This is also when I take a mo­ment to step back and ad­mire how it looks against my win­dow; see­ing it come to­geth­er is al­ways re­ward­ing! If every­thing looks good, I tight­en all screws and en­sure that it feels stur­dy.

Se­cur­ing the Valance or Cor­nice Board

Af­ter at­tach­ing my valance or cor­nice board, se­cur­ing it prop­er­ly is cru­cial for longevi­ty and sta­bil­i­ty. De­pend­ing on what type of mount­ing hard­ware I used, this could in­volve tight­en­ing screws or en­sur­ing that any clips are firm­ly in place. If I’m us­ing a fab­ric valance with a rod pock­et, I’ll dou­ble-check that the rod is se­cure­ly fas­tened with­in its brack­ets so that it doesn’t sag over time.

I also like to give every­thing a gen­tle tug just to make sure it’s all se­cure. If there are any signs of wob­bling or in­sta­bil­i­ty, I’ll go back and re­in­force those ar­eas as need­ed. It’s bet­ter to ad­dress any is­sues now rather than wait un­til lat­er when it might be more dif­fi­cult to fix.

Once every­thing feels sol­id, I can re­lax know­ing that my beau­ti­ful new win­dow treat­ment is ready to shine!

Adding Fin­ish­ing Touch­es

Lay­er­ing for Depth and Tex­ture

Some­times, I’ll even con­sid­er lay­er­ing ad­di­tion­al win­dow treat­ments like cur­tains or blinds for added depth and tex­ture. The com­bi­na­tion of dif­fer­ent ma­te­ri­als can cre­ate an invit­ing at­mos­phere that feels both cozy and styl­ish.

Fi­nal Touch­es and Clean­ing

I also take this op­por­tu­ni­ty to en­sure that every­thing is clean and free from dust or de­bris be­fore step­ping back to ad­mire my work. A quick wipe-down with a soft cloth can make all the dif­fer­ence in how pol­ished every­thing looks.

Adding a Touch of Fresh­ness

If I’ve cho­sen a fab­ric valance, I might also con­sid­er adding some fab­ric fresh­en­er for an ex­tra touch of fresh­ness in the room. These lit­tle de­tails can el­e­vate the over­all ap­pear­ance and make my space feel more com­plete.

Tips for Main­te­nance and Clean­ing

Now that my valance or cor­nice board is beau­ti­ful­ly in­stalled, main­tain­ing its ap­pear­ance is key to keep­ing my space look­ing fresh and invit­ing. For fab­ric valances, reg­u­lar dust­ing is es­sen­tial; I of­ten use a soft brush at­tach­ment on my vac­u­um clean­er to gen­tly re­move dust with­out dam­ag­ing the fab­ric. If there are any stains or spills, I make sure to treat them prompt­ly ac­cord­ing to the care in­struc­tions pro­vid­ed by the man­u­fac­tur­er.

For wood­en cor­nice boards, a sim­ple dust­ing with a mi­crofiber cloth usu­al­ly does the trick. Oc­ca­sion­al­ly, I’ll use a wood pol­ish to keep it look­ing shiny and new. It’s im­por­tant for me to re­mem­ber that dif­fer­ent ma­te­ri­als re­quire dif­fer­ent care meth­ods; be­ing mind­ful of this helps pro­long their lifes­pan and keeps them look­ing their best.

Trou­bleshoot­ing Com­mon In­stal­la­tion Is­sues

Even with care­ful plan­ning and ex­e­cu­tion, some­times things don’t go as smooth­ly as we’d like dur­ing in­stal­la­tion. One com­mon is­sue I’ve en­coun­tered is mis­align­ment; if my valance or cor­nice board isn’t lev­el af­ter in­stal­la­tion, it can be frus­trat­ing! In such cas­es, I usu­al­ly take a step back and re­assess my mount­ing hard­ware place­ment.

It might re­quire me to loosen screws slight­ly and ad­just un­til every­thing looks just right. An­oth­er is­sue could be re­lat­ed to weight dis­tri­b­u­tion; if my valance seems sag­gy in cer­tain ar­eas, it may in­di­cate that ad­di­tion­al sup­port is need­ed. In these sit­u­a­tions, adding ex­tra brack­ets can help dis­trib­ute weight more even­ly across the length of the valance or cor­nice board.

It’s all about be­ing pa­tient and will­ing to make ad­just­ments un­til every­thing feels just right. In con­clu­sion, se­lect­ing and in­stalling a valance or cor­nice board can be an en­joy­able project that adds char­ac­ter and charm to any room. By tak­ing care­ful mea­sure­ments, choos­ing ap­pro­pri­ate ma­te­ri­als, and fol­low­ing through with prop­er in­stal­la­tion tech­niques, I can cre­ate a beau­ti­ful win­dow treat­ment that en­hances my home’s decor while also be­ing func­tion­al.

With reg­u­lar main­te­nance and at­ten­tion to de­tail, my new ad­di­tion will con­tin­ue look­ing great for years to come!

If you’re in­ter­est­ed in learn­ing more about win­dow cov­er­ings and in­te­ri­or de­sign, you may want to check out the ar­ti­cle on the World Cor­nice and Pel­met As­so­ci­a­tion’s web­site about the In­ter­na­tion­al Win­dow Cov­er­ings Expo 2025 in Palm Beach. This event will show­case the lat­est trends and in­no­va­tions in the in­dus­try, pro­vid­ing valu­able in­sights for pro­fes­sion­als and en­thu­si­asts alike. To read more about the as­so­ci­a­tion and their up­com­ing expo, vis­it here.

FAQs

What is a valance?

A valance is a dec­o­ra­tive fab­ric treat­ment that is used to cov­er the top por­tion of a win­dow. It can be used alone or in com­bi­na­tion with cur­tains or blinds.

What is a cor­nice board?

A cor­nice board is a hard win­dow treat­ment that is used to cov­er the top por­tion of a win­dow. It is typ­i­cal­ly made of wood or foam and is up­hol­stered with fab­ric.

What tools are need­ed to in­stall valances and cor­nice boards?

The tools need­ed to in­stall valances and cor­nice boards typ­i­cal­ly in­clude a mea­sur­ing tape, a lev­el, a pen­cil, a drill, screws, and a screw­driv­er.

How do you mea­sure for a valance or cor­nice board?

To mea­sure for a valance or cor­nice board, you will need to mea­sure the width of the win­dow and the de­sired height of the treat­ment. It is im­por­tant to mea­sure ac­cu­rate­ly to en­sure a prop­er fit.

What are the steps to in­stall a valance or cor­nice board?

The steps to in­stall a valance or cor­nice board typ­i­cal­ly in­clude mea­sur­ing the win­dow, mark­ing the place­ment of the treat­ment, drilling pi­lot holes, and then at­tach­ing the treat­ment us­ing screws.

Can valances and cor­nice boards be in­stalled with­out pro­fes­sion­al help?

Yes, valances and cor­nice boards can be in­stalled with­out pro­fes­sion­al help as long as you have the nec­es­sary tools and fol­low the in­stal­la­tion in­struc­tions care­ful­ly. How­ev­er, if you are un­sure or un­com­fort­able with the process, it is al­ways best to seek pro­fes­sion­al as­sis­tance.