Project of the Week

Make your own Disney Princess inspired crown canopy

Sweet Chloe has been asking for a “princess bed” in her room for some time, especially after competing in (and winning!) her first pageant this summer.  She’s out of her mind if she thinks she’s getting a new bed, so I thought a nice compromise would be a “princess canopy” over her bed.  Sounded simple… but it wasn’t.

t looked around online and was met by serious sticker shock.  First, there aren’t a lot of options.  Then, the options I found weren’t really what I had in mind and were crazy expensive.  Crazy as in, why would we pay $100 for a crown to hang on the wall in a kid’s room?  Seriously, am I the only one who thinks that’s crazy?  For all I know, next month she’ll be into unicorns or rainbows or soccer.  Plus, there had to be a better way.

Finally, I found something I liked on eBay.  For a mere $75 + some outrageously unresisting shipping charge, this plastic Disney Store crown wall canopy could be mine.  There had to be a better way.

Then I thought about the TWO large tubs of pageant what-nots from my pageant days and a ridiculously impractical crown I had won at some silly pageant.

Boom.

Now, how in the heck can you make a big, round, metal crown into a wall-mounted bed canopy?  Easy, right?

Then I thought back to that pageant we just found ourselves at earlier this summer.  One of the staff was repairing a broken crown with a soldering iron.  We have one of those.

How to re-configure a pageant crown into a wall canopy

You’ll need:

• A full round metal rhinestone tiara
• A wooden dowel that will fit through the design
• Soldering iron
• Solder
• Picture hanging wire
• Picture hanging hardware hooks
• 2 pairs of pliers
• A wire or bolt cutters
• Two metal jewelry loops, if needed, large enough to fit small picture hanging hardware (see step 4)

The crown was a little mangled from being shoved into a tub, stored in odd places, and moved from place to place.  I picked the best half and planned where I could separate it from the other half.

Step 1 – Half a big, metal, full-round crown

(or make a tiara into a half circle by removing only those stones that are in the way of making a half circle)

Take care because soldering irons get HOT.  If you haven’t ever used one before, it’s worth it to get a quick lesson from a friend or family member or even YouTube.

Basically, the soldering iron will melt the metal so you can separate pieces of a pageant crown.  Crowns are made with chains of rhinestones, so the best place to separate them is at an intersection instead of the middle of a design.  Use pliers to pull part of the crown apart from the rest after melting the metal because the heat will spread.

Note: the heat can also melt cheap “stones” on many pageant-style tiaras

Step 2 – Cut the band

After separating the part of the design that will make your half crown, you’ll need to cut the metal band…

I did this by melting-slash-moving a stone out of the way, then softening the metal band by heating it with the soldering iron, then cutting it with a wire cutters (a small bolt cutter would have been easier).  If you’re using a tiara, you’ll need to cut the band as well.

Just what you’ve always wanted… half a crown!

Step 3 – Use any discarded design to make a ring that will fit the wooden dowel

(if the design doesn’t have this already)

I had to use all 3 of my hands for this step, so I only have after photos, but I used part of the discarded crown as loops to run the wooden towel through.  I removed two of the top loops (and stars) from the discarded side of the crown and soldered them into the bottom rear of the crown.  The solder is mostly on the inside so it won’t show much later.  You can see the solder in singer here.

Note: On “gold”-plated crowns & tiaras like this one, you will end up with silver spots where the plating melts away and reveals the cheaper, silver-toned metal underneath and anywhere you add solder.

Step 4 – Add jewelry rings to use as hanging hardware

I also removed two bobby pin loops from the band part crown and soldered them to the top-most part of the raw edge (where it will attach to the wall) of the half-crown.  If your crown doesn’t have them, you can pick these up in the jewelry section of your hobby store.  One on each side will work great.

Now you’re done being a jeweler!

Step 5 – Cut & drill the wooden dowel

You’ll want to make sure that your dowel & crown are compatible size-wise.  Our dowel holes in the crown are larger than the dowel because they won’t be at a perfect 90-degree angle to the dowel and it can be secured later.

Stick the dowel through the crown and allow about 3/4″ overhang on each side.  Mark where to cut the dowel along with two holes, one at each side, on the outside of the crown.  These will be used later to secure the dowel to the crown.

After the down is cut and drilled, test it to make sure that it fits as shown above.

Step 6 – Add a curtain

I used a LILL “lace” (let’s get real here, Ikea, it’s tulle) curtain pair from IKEA, purchased for a whopping $3.99.  Since we had everything else on hand, that’s what this project cost us.

With one side of the dowel in place, add the curtain to the dowel and then move the other side into place.

Step 7 – Secure the dowel ends

Next, I secured the dowel ends with picture hanging wire by stringing it through the hole I drilled in the dowel and then twisting it around the back part of the crown.

You can hide this later with the curtain, so tuck it in but don’t fixate on how neat it looks.  This is just to keep the curtain & dowel from sliding out.

Step 8 – Hang picture hanging hardware hooks

An easy way to do this is to make a template of where the hoops and dowel are.  I used the packaging from the LILL curtains and just traced where I could feel them under the card stock.

Then poke holes in the card stock and marked on the wall where the dowel & hoops will be hung.

I bent a medium-sized hook to fit around the dowel and made sure that the center, where the dowel will sit, lined up with the mark on the wall.

Then I hung two smaller hooks for the crown hoops, making sure the hooks (not the nails) were lined up with the marks for the hoops.

Step 9 – Hang the DIY crown canopy

Take care to carefully place the middle of the dowel, between the curtain pairs, on the lower hook and the upper hoops in the upper hoops.

Then bring a bit of the curtains through to cover the end of the dowels.

Step 10 – Enjoy!

Our little princess is IN LOVE with this bedroom upgrade.

Chloe loves to have the curtains draped over her bed like a true canopy.  🙂

Is this a project you want to try to take on?  Want any suggestions on how to adapt it to your space?  Comment below and I’m happy to give you some feedback & advice.