How to Make a Canopy Bed With Rope and Tapestry
- 1). Measure twice, cut once. That's the rule all great crafters obey when launching a project. In your case, double check your bed measurements rather than taking the word of mattress makers that singles are all 36 by 75 inches, doubles are 54 by 75 inches and queens are 60 by 80 inches. Measure accordingly if you own a king. Replicate your bed's boundaries on the ceiling (headboard width, foot board width and middle point) with a pencil so you know where to hang your rods.
- 2). Purchase three ornate curtain rods in a style that matches your room, plus accompanying hardware. Sink anchors into the ceiling so the screws you use to hold the rods in place are doubly secure. You could accidentally tug at the canopy for one reason or another, and you don't want it falling on your head during the night. Mount the three rods so they line up horizontally with your bed.
- 3). Shop for tapestry fabric. Match the width of your bed to the width of the fabric (e.g., 36, 54 or 60 inches wide) so you don't have to hem the sides. Next, measure the wall behind your bed from floor to ceiling. Buy at least 20 yards of fabric so you have enough to hang a continuous piece down the wall behind the bed and over the three rods, as well as hand-hemming the end of the tapestry so when it hangs over the third (foot board) rod, the unfinished side of the fabric is hidden.
- 4). Hang the tapestry. Pull the fabric (wrong side against the wall!) up the wall behind your bed, pull it over the first curtain rod, create a swaglike dip and then repeat a second time to pull the fabric over the second curtain rod. Take a breath. This process calls for patience as you adjust the two swags and make certain the wall section of the tapestry hangs straight and the hemmed overhang lies smoothly over the third curtain rod.
- 5). Get creative with ornamental rope. Queen Elizabeth I's bed featured gold and silver ropes that hung from ceiling to floor. Other monarchs used rope for tiebacks to secure the panels hanging from a four-poster bed frame to the posts. Covering this much territory after you've already spent a fortune on tapestry cloth, rods and hardware could dash your romantic dreams, so confine your use of rope to six knots, with or without tassels. Fasten each to the end of the rods for a touch of royalty that won't send you to the debtor's dungeon.
