Team BennyGrace Vs. Window Cornice

Prepare for picture explosion. Benny doesn't understand why I need so many pictures of our projects, but I told him to be a real blogger I need to have step-by-step directions and picture documentation. Now if only I had any photography skill what-so-ever. We set out to make the most adorable window cornice and I'd say we accomplished our mission. And let's remember that Benny and I are the two least handy, least crafty people on this planet - so this is a project that ANYONE (including a caveman) can do! I'd get you step-by-step instructions, but you can find those here: DIY Cornices .. we changed up a few things (we have an excessively large window) but this will give you the idea and if you have any questions, my darling husband will be more than willing to answer them for you! I made him measure the window at least a thousand times... Enjoy!

It all started with a not-so-little board. We loaded up in my dad's truck one rainy Saturday morning to make the 20 minute trip to Menards. As we were leaving town, I looked at Benny and said, "Maybe you should measure to make sure this will even fit in dad's truck." He groaned, pulled the truck over, got out in the rain & measured and looked at me and shook his head -- 1 Point for Grace. So we headed to our local Bomgaars and picked up a 1x10 pine board (you can also use plywood or even foam I've seen..)

 Benny insisted we measure it out rather than just cutting it on the nice crease so that I wouldn't have to worry about cutting straight...

 And then I ironed the fabric with our tiny ironing board (this was the first time it had EVER been used) and the iron we borrowed from my dad (also the first time this iron had EVER been used)

 We wrapped batting around the small board and then wrapped it in fabric & I went to town with the stapling gun!

Benny was being all Martha Stewart and had to make it all perfect... 

 Almost done with side #1!

 Yay!! We have two sides .. and an adorable Benny in the middle!

 Once again, the famous Benny "hmm.." look!

 We connected the boards using "L" brackets - you are supposed to use the bigger ones, but Benny thought I wouldn't notice that he went cheap .. I noticed.

And... crash! If you remember earlier where I had mentioned that I wanted to just cut the fabric on the nice crease and Benny insisted we not waste ANY fabric and measure it all out ... well, he realized that this being our very front window in the house - everyone would see a board with a bunch of staples on it and batting/fabric from the outside .. so we cut the fabric TO the crease and stapled it on the back. 2 Points for Grace.

This is where Gpa John came in..

 These were the roman shades that were on the window -- and they were VERY expensive ones, let me tell you .. they came with the house. But they just weren't going to do with our adorable new window box.

 We've made quite the mess in Poppy's room!

 Benny's pottymouth definitely came out during this ordeal .. apparently his drill doesn't fit behind the window box. And also, the cord doesn't reach the outlet. 10 minute break while Grace finds the extension cord.

 Doing some measuring..and figuring..

 Gpa John & I got bored so naturally he put on a Chicago Bears wrestling mask... I put it on, too, but you'll never see proof of that!

 Where'd Benny go?!

 Putting the new roman shades up (a MUCH less expensive version...) And this is about the point where Benny bled all over the brand new white roman shades. You may be thinking, "Well why did you get white for a kid's room anyway?" Good question - because it matched and is highly impractical. But, the blood wiped RIGHT off so I think we're safe...

This was about the point where I said, "So does it make you mad that we'll only keep the room like this until Poppy's like 2 and then we'll redo it based on what Poppy likes!" I got a death glare and then, "Poppy will live in this room with this window box FOREVER."

 Never give a drill to a pregnant woman... it's dangerous! I did, however, avoid the ladder!

 I think we wore daddy out...

 But we still really love the window box!

 I'm in LOVE with this! Although, I DID tell them to put the box a few inches down to cover up the window and not have a gap .. Benny will be fixing that because he doesn't want to deal with the sun waking Poppy up!

I can't wait to get the crib skirt that matches the window box. And don't you love the adorable swing I bought that morning at a garage sale -- $10 and it looks brand new! However, grandpa John already claimed it so I guess we'll be buying one after all! Just waiting for Poppy's chair to arrive to take up that corner.