FAQ About my $10 and 10 Minute Window Valances

Wow, this post has been awhile in the making.  I was blown away by the amount of interest that my $10 and 10 minute window valance post created, and even more surprised by the astonishing number of pins (over 153,000 directly from Down Home Inspiration!!!) and emails that I receive about it.  I’ve gotten so many incredible responses, but also a handful or persistent questions, so I decided to address those with this “all you need to know” FAQ post.  Let’s dive right in, shall we?

“Where can I find the foam?”

This is a tough one for me to answer fully as my local Lowes always seems to have it in stock, although in different locations.  I can usually find it in the insulation aisle, and you can occasionally look it up on the website before shopping, enter your zip code and it should tell you the exact aisle in which to find it.  I have seen it in about five different locations just in my one store, so I have been stuck walking the entire store to find it a few times.  The employees never seem to know where to find it either.

I do not have a Home Depot locally, so I’m not much help in where it can be found there.  Sorry!

You can order it online, although you’ll likely pay a bit more for it.  Just search for “polystyrene foam panels” or “EPS foam.”  The panels that I used came in a 6 pack (size was 3/4″ x 13 5/8″ x 48″) and cost $9.

“Wait, how did you hang that?”

As I have since come to understand, I did not give great info on how I hung my valances.  I can’t tell you how many people I have sent a couple of small cell phone photos to, trying to just quickly explain the process, so let me expand on it a bit here.  While holding the valance up (ps: it’s easier to do this with two people, but I did all of mine on my own, so it is doable!), use a small finish nail and push it through the valance and then hammer it directly into the window casing.  (If you need a hole free solution, you can check out this post).  I used two nails per side to hang mine.  This is what it looks like from the side:

A clever reader mentioned that she hammered the nails into the casing first, leaving them out about 1/2″ and then pushed the foam onto the nails.  Great idea!

“My window is longer than the foam panel.  Can I make the valance long enough to cover my window?”

Here’s the thing…I never want to tell you something works if I haven’t tried it myself.  That being said, I did make a valance that was larger than the length of one panel.  Actually, it is the valance that you see in the main photos for them.  I chose to use duct tape to piece two panels together to create a valance that is 64″ long.  I did not reinforce it with anything other than the tape, and it has hung perfectly for almost two years with no issue whatsoever.  I’ve received a lot of questions about making them extremely long, and the truth is, I just don’t know.  I can tell you from my personal experience that my longer panel is just as sturdy as my shorter ones (but be sure to take more care when hanging), but I don’t know if it will work on your 120″ window.  If anyone has tried, I’d love to hear from you!

“But can’t you see the pins/foam from underneath or outside?”

Real question for ya…do you ever stand closer than 3 inches with your back to a window and look directly up?  No?  Alright good, then that answers one question.  Unless you are doing something crazy, there is pretty much no way that you will inadvertently see the pins and foam from underneath.  Could you?  Yes, but chances are extremely high that your secret will be safe.  Remember that the sides are only 3 inches long, so it hugs the window tightly enough that you just don’t have much of an opportunity to see underneath it.

I took this photo looking up by holding my phone directly against the blinds.  Not much to see up there.

If you’re anything like me, I like to keep as much light coming into my house as possible, and make my windows seems larger.  I went out of my way to hang my valance as high as I could, so it just covers the top casing.  If hung this high, there is nothing to be seen from outside.  If you were to hang the valances to cover part of your window, then yes, that would be a concern.  You could just wrap the fabric further up the back of the panel to hide it.

Okay, did I miss anything?  Do you have any questions about the valances that I missed?  Let me know and I’d be happy to add them to the post.  Also, I’d love to see your valances that you’ve created.  Feel free to comment below, email me at downhomeinspiration@gmail.com or hit me up on Facebook or Twitter.

Just look at these beauties that an awesome reader (hi Jennifer!) sent over: