How to make a curtain pelmet

Question

Hi All,So my wife is designing our bedroom and wants a pelmet covering the top of the curtains.  It is basically flat but then she wants an ornate top and then the whole lot painted.  To keep the weight of the whole thing down (it is about 2.4m long) I was thinking of getting 6mm ply/ MDF for the front, sides and top and then use some say 1"x1" battens in the corners to screw the ply to and essentially make a bottomless/ backless box then fix the ornate beading to it.  Looking online, looks like all the ones I could fine use 18mm MDF and just screw them together (e.g. the front board screwed directly into the edge of the sides).TBH the other technique seems a lot easier/ quicker but wanted to solicit feedback here.  Maybe there is a better approach?thanksLee.

newshound · Accepted Answer

I'd agree with you. In the "old days" pelmet front/tops were often hardboard.

tabbypurr · Answer

18mm won't go anywhere. 6mm should be alright but no guarantees long term, it's thin & can go out of whack. Hardboard of course has even worse rigidity - it isn't. ISTR one pelmet bing supported by the rail using clips that miss the curtain mechanism.

NT

Brian Gaff · Answer

How do you hang the curtains. Also would not a top make it less draughty? Brian

Brian Gaff · Answer

Yes ours was and inside of the top and front had some dampening polystyrene on ours, probably not got for elf and safety these days. Brian

Mike Clarke · Answer

Cut a couple of end pieces from 18mm MDF or 3/4 inch pine plank.

Cut a 1"x1" notch out of the front top corner of each end and join them with a suitable length of 1x1. Pin & glue 6mm MDF to make the front and top.

newshound · Answer

They used to use hardboard with vertical "ripples" about an inch wide. I guess that makes it a bit thicker and hence stiffer.

tabbypurr · Answer

I'd quite forgotten that. Hideous stuff IIRC.NT

Steve Walker · Answer

Yes, we had pelmets like that. I used to attach Meccano pulleys there and to furniture and run cable-cars up and down.SteveW

Lee Nowell · Answer

Thanks all. With regard to hanging the curtains I was planning on screwing the rail to the wall rather than hung off the pelmet.

Graeme · Answer

In message      Lee Nowell     > writesThat is how my father did the job, c1953.  The brass rail was fixed to the wall, and the pelmet built around the rail.  Pelmet top and ends were perhaps 4 or 5 inches wide, 1/2 inch thick with a hardboard front. No back.  Pelmet and rail were still there when my parents moved out 30 years later.

How to make a curtain pelmet

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