Today's guest post was written by my friend, Jan, who decorated her basement using an African theme:
I have really enjoyed redoing our basement in an African theme. My husband goes to Africa every year to do dental work. I went with him the first year for a pleasure trip to Kenya and Rwanda. We did a couple of safaris and took many beautiful pictures. From that trip came the desire to go over and do dental work for the people in our church. From there, it expanded to teaching some of the dentists in Rwanda to do some more modern procedures. There are only 12 dentists in Rwanda. They don't have a way to get supplies from the west, so they are very limited in what they can do. He has been able to get dental companies to donate supplies, and he takes as much as he can carry every year. Now he is starting a foundation to try to get some funding to get more dental equipment and supplies to the dentists there in Rwanda. He is just in the beginning stages of that process.
Not so long ago, we were shopping for a new recliner. I noticed that every time he saw a room decorated in an African or safari theme, he was very drawn to it. He brought several things home from his travels and I didn't have anywhere to display them, so I decided to do our basement for him. Now, there is only so much "African" you can do with beadboard paneling, but I have re-accessorized the room to display some of our treasures. Some are from Africa, some from local stores. Hobby Lobby and Pier One and Home Goods were great places to get some of the accessories. I don't think I got anything that wasn't 1/2 off. Even the fabric from Joann's was 1/2 off. I just waited for a sale. The fabric I used for the cording was on the sale table for $3 a yard. The only real expense was having two pictures blown up to 16 x 20 and having them custom framed. The framing was 50% off, but was still a little pricey. However, it was an important part for him. He just loves the pictures.
I did redo the bedding in the room. I found a ready made set at Domestications, on sale for 1/2 off. They didn't have a bedskirt that had a deep enough drop, so I ordered 2 curtain panels and made the bedskirt from them. I wanted the look to be somewhat subtle, so I just used the elephant fabric as a feature. I put it on the cornices, two big pillows on the bed, and on a couple of other small pillows in the family room. The bed pillows use the same instructions as the
bistro cushion from the breakfast nook, except I used a box pillow form instead of foam. I then covered 4 buttons for each pillow and tied them through the pillow so that it can be used on either side.
I will include instructions for the covered cornice here. Normally, I would make a cornice box that has a top on it, but our windows go all the way to the ceiling and there is crown molding right up to the trim. The blinds on the window didn't leave room to put a top on the cornice box, so this one needed to be a little different.
Supplies:
Directions:
Measure your window and decide how wide you want the cornice to be and then decide how tall you want it to be. Normal is from 12" to 18". I made mine only 10" because one of my windows is very short and I didn't want to block the view outside on the other one. I used a 1x10 board. You could also use plywood or MDF. I decided I needed it to be at least 3 1/2 inches deep to clear the window shades. Normally, I like the cornice to be 3 inches wider than the window on each side. But this one was going to be tricky to install, so I made it to fit exactly so it could be screwed directly to the window trim. Cut the front board to the measurements you have decided, and then cut the side pieces. You can also have the lumberyard cut the wood for you. Ours doesn't charge extra for this. Mine were just 3 1/2 inches pieces cut from the board. Pre-drill holes and screw the sides to the front board. You could use L-brackets if you need extra support, but I didn't think it needed them. I then cut out a place to go around the crown molding. Normally you wouldn't need to do this.
Wrap the cornice board with quilt batting, bringing it around to the back 3 or 4 inches and staple every few inches. Just be careful to pull tight and not leave any tucks or pleats.
Cut a strip of your decorator fabric long enough to wrap around your cornice box by about 3 inches top and bottom. If your cornice is too wide for one width of fabric you will have to piece strips together. Depending on the pattern of the fabric, you can piece it or "railroad" it. That is buying enough fabric to cut the strips on the lengthwise grain and then there will be no seams. But this elephant fabric needed to be seamed. I didn't want the elephants to go sideways on the cornice! So I cut 2 widths of the fabric about 16 inches long. Allow enough to match the patterns. Then cut one of the strips in half and pin one on each side of the other full width piece, matching the patterns. Sew and press open.
Wrap the fabric the same as the batting, being careful to keep the pattern straight along the top and the bottom. Staple every few inches. Trim the fabric and the batting even. If you don't want to put cording on the bottom, you could skip to step 7.
Cut strips about 6 inches by the width of the fabric from your contrast fabric. This was for a size 150 cording. If you use wider cord, you will need wider strips. You really don't need to cut on the bias unless you are going around any kind of curve. Sew these together to make a strip long enough to go across the whole bottom of your cornice. Place the cording on the strip so that you have about a ½ inch allowance on the top and a much larger allowance on the bottom. This is what will wrap around to the back of the cornice. Sew the cording inside the fabric using a zipper foot.
Hot glue the cording to the cornice with the short seam allowance to the cornice board. The longer one should be on top. Then lift up the wider seam allowance and staple the trim to the edge of the cornice board. You can use a cardboard upholstery strip to make it a crisper edge, but I have made many without this strip. (Cornice 7) At the end of the returns, I usually open the seam and cut the cording off even with the board and then wrap the extra fabric around to the back and staple. Wrap the long seam allowance to the back and staple. Trim evenly.
Cut a strip of lining fabric wide enough to cover the back of the cornice. Press under an inch or two on the top and the bottom. Hot glue to the back of the cornice to make it look finished on the back. If you don't have a blind or shade, the back of the cornice will show from the outside. You also want it to look good if you look up at it from the bottom.
Install. Normally you would install using L-brackets. I just made a tiny slit in the fabric and screwed the cornice directly into the side of the window trim. I then pulled the fabric back over the screw. It doesn't show at all.
I have made many covered cornices. They are always fun and give the window a nice neat appearance. Sometimes they are straight on the bottom and sometimes curved. Either way, just give it a try!
Thanks, Jan, for sharing your gorgeous African-themed basement!
Thanks for stopping by!
Ingredients
and 3/8 inch staples
