Vintage brass cornices in living room

These cornices are made out of thin brass,
 stamped with a floral and leaf pattern
 with a scroll top and tassel fringe pattern. 
They caught my eye this summer in the back of an antique shop.

There they stood, leaning up in a corner, waiting for another life.

Anytime I see anything to do with old window treatments, I am interested.

I happen to go crazy for metal stuff too~so this was a great combination.

The price tag was $195, but I offered $125 
and they called the seller to see if he would accept.

I was happy to say he did, and that price is in line 
with a decent curtain rod or two...

My plan was to use them in either the dining room 
or the living room with the white panels.

All the metal cornices were actually made in sections and they overlapped each other.

So they were carefully removed and numbered. 
You can see the small holes where tiny brads were used 
to mount the metal pieces to the boards. I would be reusing all the holes and brads.
 You can also see the shiny gold brass finish under the grey paint job. 
I will say I loved how they looked as is,
 and hoped I could keep the original finish.
 But that was yet to be determined...

 I built a simple cornice frame with angle irons

With any job, the right tools can make your life much easier!

I needed a pair of tin snips and a tack hammer to do this job,

luckily Mr. MD has every tool one can think of.

After attaching the metal to the boards 
I hung one in place and knew it had to be white.

I painted them with Old White chalk paint.

The beautiful finish they had was too dark for this room. 
Trust me.

I will be fine tuning how I mounted the smocked panels underneath. 

They need to have "returns", which means 

they go around the corners to hide the gap.

 I decided to distress it so that some of the golden brass color came through.

The pattern of roses and scrollwork with the tassel bottom is really pretty.

Afterwards I had the taste of metal in my nose and mouth! Yuck!

Wear a mask if you are going to do this, I know I will next time.

The cornices play off the carved element above the fireplace too.

They are more interesting than curtain rods, don't you think?

Before~with old gold 2" wood poles

After~with vintage white metal cornices

Now I can't wait to get my white chandy up!


linking to 
Miss Mustard Seed's Furniture Friday
and
My Romantic Home Show and Tell Friday
and

and
Funky Junk's SNS