Example Project: Inlaid Rope Cornice

A window cornice is a fundamental design feature that adds stature and style to any interior space. Cornices come in all shapes and sizes, and when it comes to crafting attractive, customized cornices, Precision Draperies is the best in the business.

But don’t just take our word for it. Have a look at a recently completed project where we were shown a magazine clipping by a designer and asked to develop something similar but also unique in itself.

This project is a shining example of how an inlaid rope cornice can complete the overall look and feel of an inviting, stylish indoor space.

The Inspiration

We love when designers come to us with special requests. In this case, we were asked to use white inlay rope (pre-welt) shaped in a curling, decorative configuration. The white rope would be featured against a light blue background.

The rope needed to also act as a border for each of two cornices, which challenged us to answer the question, “How are we going to create this?”.

All we had to go on was a picture from a magazine, some ideas from the designer, and our own ingenuity.

And so, we got started with the design phase of this project.

Designing the Inlaid Rope Cornice

At Precision Draperies, every custom-made window cornice starts with a computer-modeled draft of the material dimensions.

For this project, we used AutoCAD to generate this project blueprint:

When using AutoCAD, every design detail needs to be fully hashed out. As we were working through this design, we realized that the patterns for each of the two cornices needed to be different. This was because their centers needed to be offset to accommodate the center of the windows they would be installed onto.

The result was two full-scale patterns for the left- and right-side windows.

The next step was to fabricate the cornice ‘boxes’ for each side.

A Cornice Boxing Match

To create the cornice box for each side, we used the AutoCAD design template as a guide for cutting each box face. Because we didn’t know exactly how we would be affixing the rope just yet, we made an extra face for experimentation.

After a few rounds of trial and error, we realized that the best method for making room for the rope would be to etch a groove into the box faces using a palm router tool with a beveled bit.

This project was coming along well. The next step was to add cloth and batting as a foundation for each box face. This turned out to be pretty straightforward. The more time-consuming step was using a staple-in-ditch technique to follow the groove lines, effectively sinking the cloth along the pattern.

At this point, the front-facing box panels looked like this:

Using industrial-strength adhesive and painstaking focus, we carefully laid each piece of rope along the grooved cloth. We had to take care to ensure that the ‘lay’ of each rope fragment flowed with the rest of the design. This is where the ‘precision’ part of Precision Draperies comes into play!

With the end in sight, all that was needed was to complete the rope pattern and then perform the same treatment to the opposing side.

Prior to mounting, each cornice face looked like this:

Bringing It All Together

The time had finally come to make some final adjustments and then mount each cornice face onto the fabricated cornice boxes.

The overall project turned out perfect. The flat Roman shades behind each cornice were arched at the top, adding depth and elegance to an already gorgeous design motif.

The draperies were motorized using the Glydea system from Somfy.

For simple operation, we programmed both sides on one channel remote to make it as easy as possible for the end customer (an older couple) to enjoy their indoor space.

When all was said and done, here’s how it looked. Beautiful!

We really enjoyed this project!

If you’re a designer or builder looking for truly unique, high-quality drapery solutions, reach out to us. Our team of professional drapers are always happy to help.

We look forward to working with you!