It is often difficult to harmoniously fit the cornices on which the curtains are attached to the interior of the room. The problem becomes more complicated if it is planned to make stretch ceilings: it is necessary to think in advance and equip the fastening of weighty curtains or curtains. In addition, all these elements will be reflected on the glossy surface of the ceiling, which does not look very nice. The solution may be to install a special niche for plasterboard curtains, which will not only hide unwanted elements, but also add elegance to the room.
Niche options for curtains
First of all, it should be noted that each project of the hidden location of the cornice, associated with the construction of the box from the plasterboard, is unique. When planning a niche for curtains, the features of a particular room are taken into account:
- Window opening width.
- Wall length.
- Necessary distance from the window. It depends on the elements protruding into the room, usually a window sill or a heating radiator. Curtains must be separated from them by at least 2 cm, otherwise during operation they will constantly cling or rub against protruding parts, which is fraught with rapid wear of the material or breakage of the fastening on the eaves.
Therefore, the dimensions of the box, especially its depth, are determined individually for each room. There are three main niche options:
- Spotlights are usually mounted in a box 25–30 cm wide.
- The narrow design, 5-7 cm wide, does not provide for the installation of additional lighting, with the exception of the LED strip to illuminate the curtains. For the beauty and smoothness of the transition, a baguette is glued from inside the room. The height of the structure should slightly exceed its width or be equal to it.
You can implement a beautiful backlight with any version of the niche. The LED strip is placed between the cornice and the plane of the box facing the window, which increases the width of the niche by at least 2 cm. The controls for the LEDs and the power supply are removed inside the box.
- Wide box decorated with a baguette.
The ceiling box can have any configuration and size, the main thing is that it fits organically into the interior of the room and fulfills its main task: to hide the suspension elements. Curtains or curtains that fall directly from the surface of the ceiling look very impressive.
Necessary materials and tools
To build a box with your own hands you will need:
- Drywall. The design will not carry a significant load, so it is quite enough to use a 9 mm thick ceiling plasterboard.
- Rails and ceiling galvanized profiles. An accurate calculation of the required number of them is carried out after drawing up a detailed drawing of the future niche.
- It is recommended to fasten the frame to the wall with dowel-nails.
- Self-tapping screws for metal for fastening frame fragments together.
- If necessary, additional fasteners, such as direct suspensions.
- Reinforcing tape or sickle, putty and primer for finishing the resulting plasterboard surface.
Standard set of tools for the construction of structures from gypsum boards:
- Perforator with a drill of the desired diameter.
- Screwdriver. It is useful to provide it with a special bit for working with drywall.
- Metal shears for profile cutting.
- Roulette, plumb line, building level.
- Painting knife and hacksaw for cutting sheets.
- Spatula, brush and roller used when sealing joints and applying a primer to the finished box.
The assembly processes for wide and narrow boxes are different, so it makes sense to consider them separately.
Mounting the frame of a wide box
Most often, this design has a width of 40–50 cm and a height of 7–10 cm.
markup
At the initial stage, markup is performed:
- The distance from the box to the most prominent element of the window opening should be at least 16 cm. It is laid on both walls and connected by a line on the ceiling. This line will be the boundary of the niche. For drawing it is convenient to use a paint thread.
- Parallel to the line, another one is drawn, which is the inner border of the box. The width between them corresponds to the width of the structure.
- Verticals descend on the walls, limiting the height of the frame.
The following diagram shows a variant of the niche, which is provided in the design of the suspended ceiling.
Frame assembly
Prior to the assembly of the box, all electrical work related to the placement of cables and spotlights is carried out.
Note! The process of arranging a niche for curtains made of plasterboard has an important feature: due to the small distance between the window and the outer edge of the box, it is problematic to fix drywall on it. Therefore, this wall is assembled on the floor, and then it is already attached to the ceiling with drywall attached.
Frame assembled:
- A guide profile is attached to the ceiling and walls along the marking lines. Fastening is carried out using dowels with a step of 40–50 cm.
If the floors are wooden, then the process is simplified: the dowels are replaced with wood screws with a wide hat.
- Profiles are attached to the lower ends of the guides located on the walls, forming the lower edges of the box.
The standard length of the guide profiles is 3 m. This is not always enough to form the structure. In this case, the profile is built up by the overlay method, fastening together with a cutter or metal screws.
- A cord stretched between the lower borders of the box on the walls will help control the deflection of the lower faces. Focusing on it, install vertical jumpers made of a ceiling profile (PP). They will also provide the structure with the necessary rigidity and will be useful when attaching drywall. Therefore, the step between these jumpers is 60 cm.
- With a box width exceeding 30 cm, the presence of horizontal crossbars is mandatory. They are also made from PP-profile. For strength, the elements can be attached to the ceiling using straight hangers or profile sections. In the latter case, the side walls are removed from the profile at the ends. The "tongues" bent at a right angle serve to fasten such a home-made suspension.
Narrow box frame assembly
With this option for arranging a niche for curtains, a single-plane frame is constructed. Drywall is attached to both sides of the profile, forming a narrow box:
- Guides are installed on the walls and ceiling.
- A thread is pulled, showing the lower border of the box.
- The bottom rail is screwed on.
- Focusing on the thread, install vertical jumpers.
Plasterboard installation and preparation for finishing
When cutting GKL fragments, it should be noted that one side of the box, usually the lower one, should be slightly wider in order to close the ends of the two side faces.
Holes for spotlights are recommended to be drilled in advance, before installing drywall. It is also better to make chamfers at the joints of the elements. They will come in handy in the subsequent processing of seams.
The plating process looks like this:
- The prepared pieces of drywall are fixed on the frame with self-tapping screws in increments of 25–30 cm. The process installed on a screwdriver will greatly facilitate special bit: due to its shape, it will not allow you to drive the self-tapping screw too far and flush the GKL.
- As mentioned earlier, it is more convenient to mount the wall of the box facing the window at the bottom. The small dimensions of the niche will not allow you to “crawl” with a screwdriver to the attachment points.
- After the installation of the GCR is completed, the seams are glued with reinforcing tape or serpentine mesh and sealed with a special putty for drywall. She also processes the recesses formed by the caps of the self-tapping screws.
- After drying, the seams are rubbed with sandpaper, and then the entire surface of the box is primed. The primer is applied in two layers. After its final drying, you can proceed to the finish.
Thus, it is not at all difficult to assemble a niche for curtains by mounting a drywall box. This design will definitely contribute to the creation of a unique design of your room. The process is shown in more detail in the video. Ask questions in the comments!
