DIY Long Valance

We have this amazing window in our sun room. It is HUGE and lets in all of this great light. Unfortunately, it is facing the street and while we don't get a lot of traffic, we do want some privacy. We also thought it was a little awkward that the windows to the backyard are about 5 inches higher than the big window. Our third issue was that since this window is so big, it was going to be really expensive to get appropriate curtain rods. After considering all of our options, we decided to make a valance. 

This was a pretty inexpensive project because we had a lot of scrap wood from previous projects (that we actually moved down from MA). We needed a piece of wood that was 96" long which by some miracle we had in the garage. We ripped the wood so that it was the correct height. Then we used some 2x4" to give enough depth to put our cheap (aka 1" pvc pipe) curtain rods. We drilled holes about halfway through the 2x4 so that the pvc pipes could be attached.

Now the great thing about this design is that the pvc pipes are bendy. Therefore, we can have them attached in their little holes, but take them down at any point to change the curtains or whatnot. The one negative to this is that since they had to be so long, they sagged in the middle. To fix this, we put another piece of 2x4 in the middle and using eye hooks and some small rope, hung the middles up so they would hang straight. 

Here's a pic of the whole backside so you can get an idea of how everything went together.

To take care of the front, I first stapled batting all around

And finished it off with some remnant fabric. I had to sew two pieces together but it looks pretty seamless...

And here it is hanging up above the window. Pics of the curtains to come later, but I already like how it makes the awkward empty space above the window kind of disappear. Also, we were super lazy and did all of the hanging around the elliptical instead of moving it.... don't worry though, it is being moved.

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