Easy Bed Canopy for Your Romantic Bedroom!

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This romantic bedroom is the result of my daughter asking me to pull off a do-it-yourself decorating surprise for her husband while they were both on vacation to Cancun.

Thanks to both mine and my daughter's mothers-in-law, my friend Garet, and my son-in-law's uncle John, we pulled off a fabulous surprise... for both my daugher and her husband.

What makes this a beautiful and romantic bedroom is the bed canopy and its flowing fabric along with the coordinating walls, bedding, and pillows.

Our Do-it-Yourself Decorating Project Cost: Under $350.00

The cost of your bed linens will directly affect the cost of your romantic bedroom makeover. Therefore, always remember to create a realistic budget before beginning any do-it-yourself decorating project and stick to it.

If your bedroom décor budget is small, don't fret ... get creative with your funds, as we did!

Linens Needed to Recreate this Romantic Bedroom:

• Coordinating Bedding, Pillows, and Sheets

• 2 Coordinating Dust Ruffles (same size as the Bed, such as Twin, Full, Queen, King) - use one for the bed canopy ruffle and one between mattress and box springs).

• 3 Flat Sheets made into curtains as shown in bed canopy instructions below. (Purchase your sheets same size as bed in either plain or coordinating fabrics - we used designer queen-size sheets from a local discount store).

• Quilt/Upholstery Batting (enough to cover surface of bed canopy board) - We used Infant Quilt Batting. (Optional)

• Inexpensive, but elegant looking fabric that either matches ceiling color or coordinates with canopy - (used to upholster canopy board) - we used a little less than 2 yards for a queen-sized bed.

Find Romantic Bedroom Linens at:

DirectlyHome

To build the bed canopy structure, you will need the following supplies:

• 1 - 1" x 10" x length cut the width of the bed. The queen-sized bed we used was 58 inches wide making our board measurements: 1" x 10 x 58".

• 1 - 24" wide half-round made of either particle board, MDF, or plywood the same thickness as the 1" x 10" board. (If you can't find a half-round, check with your local building supply if they sell 24" diameter rounds and have them cut it in half - that's what we used, which cost $3.49 for the whole board, now we have an extra half-round for another project).

• 2 - Flat Brackets (sse to secure half-round to 1" x 10").

• Small Wood Screws (sse to attach bracket to both the half-round and 1" x 10")

• 4 to 6 1-12" Wood Screws (sse to attach canopy to ceiling)

• Wood Glue

• Thread - if sewing (same color of fabrics) or No-Sew Iron-on Hem Adhesive - if you prefer not to sew (Make sure there is enough length to hem across each of the 3 flat sheets and down the length of 2 sides).

• Upholster Buttons (used to cover up screw heads and give a tufted look to upholsterd canopy board)

• Twine or Heavy Yarn (use for gathering curtain and canopy fabrics).

• Tape and or Safety Pin (use to strenghten twine or yarn to feed through curtain and canopy hems).

• Heavy Duty Stapler and Staples

Additional Bedroom Décor Supplies Used:

• Wall Paint to coordinate with the bed linens (Our red room matched the deepest red in the bed fabrics).

• White Cotton Decorator's Rope - measured long enough to apply along ceiling edges around entire room, plus extra to make corner tassles (add 5" per tassle).

• Glue Gun and Glue Sticks (for attaching rope to ceiling edge).

• Curtain Rod and Rod Brackets (sized to width of bed and used to hang sheets behind bed).

(To cut down on expenses for your romantic bedroom, check to see if you have some of the above items already on hand or similar items that can be used instead.)

Step-by-step instructions for creating the Bed Canopy:

Step 1 - Center and attach the half-round to long side of 1" x 10" x width of bed.

To get an exact center, measure the length of each board and divide that measurement in half. Put a pencil mark on the edge of each board and then line each one up separately.

To attach the half-round to the 1" x 10", first apply a line of wood glue to the straight edge of the half-round, then join it up to the edge of the 1" x 10" on center. Next, secure both boards together by attaching the brackets with small wood screws, wipe away any glue drips and let dry at least an hour.

Step 2 – Upholster the Bed Canopy Board:

First, staple the batting to the face side of the canopy board (opposite the bracket side).

Next, size, cut, stretch, and staple the upholstery fabric to cover the canopy board evenly over the face side pulling up and over edges to underside.

Hint: To prevent puckers and wrinkles, put one staple at the center of the board towards the back underside, pull to stretch the fabric under the board around the front underside and staple directly across from the first staple. Work your way out from the center to each edge pulling to keep the fabric stretched evenly over the bed canopy. At the corners, fold under as you would when gift wrapping and staple to secure.

Step 3 – Create the Bed Canopy Curtains and Ruffle:

Curtains draped behind bed: Take two of the three flat sheets and create a rod pocket by using either a machine stitch or iron-on hem tape. Curtain length (after rod pocket is made) should be made to drape down from bed canopy to floor. Therefore, measure

Use the bottom edge (small hem edge) of each sheet to create rod pocket side, keeping the top of each sheet (larger hem edge) should be left as is (don't sew) for the bottom of the curtain.

Top Edge of Sheet (Don't Sew)

Bottom Edge of Sheet (Make Rod Pocket)

Bed Canopy side curtains: Take the remaining flat sheet, fold it exactly in half lenghtwise and then divide it in two.

To divide in two evenly, at the bottom edge of the sheet, with scissors, cut along the fold-line just enough to cut through hem. With each hand hold one side of cut and pull evenly to rip all the way down length of sheet – when you reach the wider hem (top edge of sheet) stop ripping and cut along fold line to finish dividing sheet . You should end up with two exact sized sheet halves.

Next, fold each half again lenghtwise and either sew or bond together with iron-on hem tape down the entire length of the sides to create a curtain that looks finished on both sides.

Make sure side curtains are same length as the curtains behind bed; shorten if necessary, but leave a couple inches to create a small rod pocket at the top of the side curtain that's large enough to feed twine/yarn through.

To create rod pocket, turn curtain inside out and press so that the seam side lays evenly to one side. Turn under a small straight edge (about ¼") to hide the raw edge and press with an iron. Next turn the freshly pressed edge under again giving enough room to insert the twine/yarn and safety pin plus an additional ¼" to 1/2" for the seam.

Finally, either sew or bond the rod pocket hem and then insert twine/yarn and gather enough to stretch across one short side of the canopy board. Repeat the same steps for the other side curtain.

Bed Canopy Ruffle:

Using the dust ruffle selected for the canopy, remove the seam to separate the ruffle from the box-spring cover fabric.

Sew a narrow pocket - leaving enough room to insert twine/yarn - along the raw edge of the ruffle (edge where seam was removed).

Feed twine/yarn through pocket and gather to make even ruffles long enough to run along both sides and the front edge of the canopy board.

Step 5 - Attach Bed Ruffle and Side Curtains to Bed Canopy:

Staple ruffle to bed canopy board after positioning for a sure fit. Work your way from left to right, staple the ruffle on the underside of the board (bracket side) so that it will hang down evenly over the front and sides of the canopy board.

Step 6 - Attach Bed Canopy to Ceiling:

Decide exactly where the bed will be placed within the room. Find the appropriate ceiling joists and attach the bed canopy to the ceiling directly over where the bed is to be placed using 1-1/2" wood screws, or appropriate size to fit your specific project.

To keep the batting and fabric from being taken up by the screws, cut a small "X" in the upholstery and snip out a small amount of batting.

We attached the bed canopy to the ceiling using three screws along side the back wall at an angle and one screw in the center of the half-round.

To easily find ceiling joists, use a battery powered stud finder. Try to place your screws evenly so that when you glue on the upholstered buttons to hide the screws your upholstered board will look professionally tufted.

Step 7 - Attach Back Curtains to Wall:

After attaching canopy to ceiling you will need to hang the curtains that will be draped behind bed. Center and attach curtain rod so that the curtain top will fit snugly to the bed canopy making sure there is no gap for the wall to be seen.

Step 8 - Add Furniture and Accessories to Complete Your Romantic Bedroom Decor:

• Make Bed and arrange decorative pillows, throws and such.

• Bring in soft lighting, such as candles and/or lamps with low watt light bulbs.

• Don't forget a stereo or portable CD player with soft romantic music playning.

• Add Potpourri (light scented) to an elegant basket or dish.

• Add special memorabilia, photographs and/or artwork around your romantic bedroom that reminds you of your love for one another.

• Arrange furniture, accessories, and bedside tables to make the room warm, inviting, and un-cluttered.

  Now, those are just a few things that will truly help you accomplish easy deocrating for your romantic bedroom!

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