January 18, 2017

Window Treatment Wednesday: Add Personality With Valances And Cornices

There are so many styles and fabrics available for your window treatments that it’s easy to forget one of the easiest ways to add another decorative touch — at the top. Valances and cornices add style and sophistication to the top of your window treatments, while also concealing the curtain rods or other hardware if necessary.

What’s the Difference?

In some ways, valances and cornices are very similar. They both add style to the top of your window treatments, but a valance is a soft treatment — similar to a very short drapery panel — while a cornice is a hard top treatment.

The style of the customer’s home usually directs our Hirshfield’s Shop at Home designers to use one or the other. Dawn Feda says valances can appear much softer while cornices have more of a hard line. However, she points out that each treatment can be dressed up or down by adding decorative trims, contrast banding or lining, or unique shapes.

 

Cornice Styles

Credit: Horizons Window Fashions
Credit: Horizons Window Fashions

We specialize in custom cornices and valances from our own workroom and we also carry a wide variety of cornices and valances from Horizons Window Treatments. Let your imagination run wild.

 

Credit: Horizons
Credit: Horizons Soft Treatments

Horizons  Upholstered Cornices feature solid wood construction and 10 oz. of uncompressed batting per square yard. They are available in seven decorative styles.

 

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Credit: Horizons Window Treatments

Valance Styles

Hirshfield’s Shop at Home’s Judy Ciaciura likes the way the softer valances coordinate with draperies. She uses them together to create many layers at the window and then adds embellishments like accent banding or decorative trim to tie in with the home’s decor.

Horizons also offers a wide variety of valances. Although the materials are soft, the look can range from smooth and modern to luxurious and embellished, depending on your preference.

Horizons’ 6″ tall classic valance can be finished straight or embellished with scallops or decorative trimmings to match draperies.

Credit: Horizons Window Treatments
Credit: Horizons Window Treatments

Whether you prefer valances or cornices, both styles also have the ability to follow a shape at the window, from soft curves to stepped valances so the homeowner doesn’t lose the architectural feature.

If you have questions, visit your nearest Hirshfield’s location or request a FREE in-home consultation with one of our Window Treatment Designers. Take advantage of their expertise and product knowledge!

Since Frank and Elizabeth Hirshfield opened their first store in 1894, it has been our mission to do the best job possible meeting customer needs and solving customer problems. Hirshfield’s. People and products you can trust.

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I have come to rely on the staff at Hirshfield’s Design Resource for their fabulous customer service and variety of products. The service is always friendly, timely and professional.

As a designer, their advice on window treatments is forever appreciated, and they are always able to show me something new in the displays and samples. They provide quick and accurate estimates, measurements and suggestions when I am struggling with a budget. The final product and installation has been nothing but flawless on every project.

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Want to give a shout out to Madi. Madi took a pretty awful experience and made it right for us. We had ordered cordless blinds and over half of them did not work right or hang right. Madi helped us return all the blinds and reordered a new product for us which we are very happy with. Madi was persistent in helping us get the issues we experience resolved.

She is always so warm and friendly and definitely puts her customers first. Thanks Madi you are a gem! Also want to add that my overall experience with Hirshfield's in St. Cloud has been an excellent experience. They made things right and put their customers first!

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Greg is amazing! We have worked with him throughout the years on both existing homes and new builds and we could not be happier. One of the things I appreciate about Greg is that he gets us to really think about how we will use our space, not just now but in the future when the kids get older. This has honestly has saved us from making some pretty big design mistakes. Finding durable fabrics and pieces is important to us while we have a preschooler running around, yet on the other hand, our teens have a different use for the space.

He is able to make it all work together seamlessly by understanding the space and its function. He has a fresh and distinctive feel to his work and builds in a variety of styles. I HIGHLY recommend working with Greg out of the gate, you will not be sorry. I honestly don't know what we do without his help;)

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