Reverse Decorating: How I Made a Bed Canopy Window Treatment

I have shown you most of the rooms in my house and have tweaked a few since starting this blog, along with one full makeover of the upstairs hall bath.  Since I don’t know if I will be staying or moving from my house to wherever Ed gets a job – I have felt kind of stuck. I don’t want to do anything to the rooms or my furnishings since they may not work in the next house.  In a nutshell –I am still living in limbo.    My Pin boards are filled with decorating ideas, I just need the A -OK and then watch out – away I will go.  I am sooo looking forward to that day.

Over the weekend, I did get a little bit excited – not to decorate, but to help my youngest, who just moved home on Friday after living in Vermont for the past 4 years – un-decorate her childhood bedroom.  It has been virtually unused except when she came home for the holidays or a weekend visit.

I jokingly referred to it and her sister’s room as museums of their childhood and the Danger Zones in the Parade of Homes 2011 house tour in which I took part.

Now one of the rooms  is going to come to life  – not a full scale makeover, but a few tweaks to make it work for a 22 year old coming to live back at home for awhile.

This is what the room looks like right now.  The turquoise dresser came home with her. I painted that for her to use in her college apartment and posted about it, here - How To Revive an Old Dresser with Paint.   She wants everything gone that she no longer needs and will not be taking with her to her next place of residence – in her words -less stuff.  She lived in a Yurt all summer and found that she truly does not need a lot of stuff to make her happy, but does have the nesting spirit and wants to feel comfy cozy.

When she was in junior high I let her decorate the room the way she wanted.   She chose the current blue scheme.

Before we painted the walls blue, I had painted the walls with pink and lavender stripes when she was little.   This room is over the garage and has a separate roof from the main part of the house which made painting the stripes on the half walls very easy – no up and down on a ladder needed.  Note the purple canopy over her bed. She made that when she was in elementary school using a tutorial she found in American Girl magazine.

I had done a room for a decorator showhouse in the Philadelphia area back in the mid 90’s and when the event was over – I moved a few of the items to her room – window seat, vanity and chair, and the window treatment.

When I let her do the room the way she wanted – she wanted a king size bed that we were getting rid of.  It replaced the twin beds. To make the bed look more dramatic under the window – I made a canopy that acted like a window treatment.

I took it down over the weekend – documenting how I made it in reverse.  Please don’t mind the dust!

It looks a bit worn now, but the tulle used to be nice and white and the blue satin fabric to make the shirred top was perky.  At the center top is an angel doll.

All the fabric was stapled on to the outer edge of a mounted board I cut to fit the space.   The angel doll was attached with Velcro.

I brought the yards of tulle to each side of the window with a piece of ribbon and push-pinned it into the wall.

Here is how it looked when looking up from the bed.  I cut the board in a rounded shape to make the fabric fall more dramatically from it. I covered the board with fabric and stapled it to the top of the board that faces the ceiling.

The tulle and shirred blue fabric were stapled to the edge.

I used large angle irons to attach the cut board to to the wall above the window.

It is as wide as the window.

Having this drill make the take down super easy. Wish I had it when I put it up.

All ready for some new paint and a window treatment – along with a good washing of the windows :)

It is hard to see him amongst all the pillows and dolls, but I am sure Trax is enjoying access to this room once again and the sunny window.

Of all the photos I took of the clean-out process – this one was the most poignant for me.  In a snapshot it tells the story of my daughter’s life from her dolls and Elmo’s that were her world when she was little to the bottles of spirits she brought back from her college apartment.

Lots of stuff to box and bag, but exciting to be able to set the stage for a new look.

Anyone want the canopy board?  – Angle irons included.

Pin It