DIY Shower Cornice with Black & White Shower Curtains

As the Preppy meets Hollywood Regency Bathroom Makeover (that wasn’t supposed to happen) progressed, I had a brilliant idea.

I would make a shower cornice. I had always wanted one, so now was the perfect time.

This would not be just any cornice though.

No, no, no.

It would be a Greek Key Carved Shower Cornice.

I spent hours actually using a ruler and level (instead of eyeballing it) drawing the perfect greek key pattern on my new cornice.

And then I went to carve it out.

Who the hell was I kidding?

After about 15 minutes of trying to follow those lines, I realized it ~~was going to look~~ already looked like sh*t.

Instead of tossing it into the trash though, I flipped the board over and whipped up a little Trash to Treasure Shower Cornice.

The great thing about this project is that you don’t have to screw up and waste countless hours like I did.

Or maybe you are a master carver and could totally carve a greek key into a piece of wood like nobody’s business. If so, please help a sister out.

DIY Shower Cornice & Curtains

Materials and Tools Needed for Cornice:

1″ x 10″ x 6′ Pine Board
Saw (or have the folks at the hardware store cut your board for you)
Paint color of your choice, preferably a Semi-Gloss or Gloss
Paint Brush / Roller
Gold Duck Tape
4 Corner Braces & Screws
Ruler
Pencil
Scissors
Drill
X-Acto Knife

Step 1:

Cut the board down to the width of your shower. Mine was about 59″. Test it out to make sure it fits above your shower. Cut more as needed. I cut it with our miter saw, but a circular saw will do fine. You can even have the fellas at the hardware store cut it for you! Paint both sides of the board a color of your choice. I suggest a semi-gloss or gloss. It holds up better in a bathroom and will help to keep moisture out of the board better.

Step 2:

After the paint is dry, take your ruler and make small tick marks 1/2″ all around the board.

Step 3:

Run the outside edge of your duck tape horizontally and then vertically along your tick marks.

Step 4:

Take an X-Acto knife and ruler and trim up where the edges of the duck tape meet.

Step 5:

How freakin’ easy was that? Your cornice is done and now you just need to hang it. You guys know I’m the queen of easy projects, thus once more, why the heck did I think I could carve a cornice? Seriously?

Ok, sorry for digressing….take your four corner braces and attach one in each corner of your board. After attaching them to your board, recruit help.

No seriously, I mean it. This part is much easier with someone holding the board and someone else drilling.

Place your cornice where you want it to be above your shower and screw it into the wall through the other side of the brackets.

Most likely, you are going to have a stud in the area where you attach the braces to the wall. However, if you don’t, I would recommend using an anchor when screwing them to the wall. The photo above also shows how I hid the shower curtain rods behind the cornice. I used a cheap tension rod and curtain rod rings to hang the black and white shower curtains. I kept my old shower curtain rod and shower curtain and just slid it to one side of the shower and hid it behind the black and white curtains.

If you want to make the shower curtains as well, they are super easy. You just need four yards of fabric (or more if you want to make them longer). I used this fabric. And a side note on the fabric: You may want to go with an outdoor fabric for this. It will hold up better in a bathroom. However, I went with a regular upholstery fabric and then waterproofed it and stain repelled it myself. You can totally do that too and find out how to here.

Lay out your fabric, cut it to the length you want it. I made mine 78″ long.

Fold your fabric in half and cut it down the middle.

When my curtains are closed, there is about an inch on each side where you can still see through to the shower. That doesn’t bother me, because they aren’t meant to be closed. My old shower curtain still functions as the actual shower curtain we use when showering. If you do want to close these, you will need to buy more fabric.

After cutting your panels out, pin all your edges down and then sew.

That’s my easy, breezy, (and ok, a little lazy) curtain hack. I’ve done it for every single curtain I’ve ever sewed. I just hang them with clip-on curtain rings.