This Retro Living Room Staple Actually Belongs in Your Bathroom

Valances are like the ~spice~ of window treatments: When they’re styled with curtains or shades, they add that perfect extra oomph. And let it be known they’re not limited to just your living room or bedroom. One TikTok DIYer proves a valance can actually work in — drumroll, please — your bathroom!

Marissa Zingg (@onecrafdiygirl) shared a video creating a valance above her shower curtain, where she used a white fabric for the panel and added red ricrac trim along the bottom and sides. She then fed it through a tension rod and styled it at the top of her shower, close to the ceiling. Zingg also re-created the same ricrac border on a pair of white curtains, which she hung up on a separate rod just below the valance — and voilà!  

This simple project instantly gives a typically unglamorous bathroom spot a cozy, homey vibe (that honestly looks cuter than most window treatments). The red-on-white pairing also plays up Zingg’s existing color palette, matching her wallpaper, bath mat, and red showerhead. 

To get the look, you can similarly pull colors from your bathroom decor, even going for a simple single striped border against a solid-colored shower curtain (use your existing one, and just buy a second!) instead of the ricrac used here. Or, if you’re a skilled sewer, skip the trim altogether, and pick out a pretty patterned fabric to DIY the valance and curtains. 

You can also play around with the formality and shape of the valance, too — cut the fabric into subtle scalloped divots for more of a laid-back look, or keep it straight-edged and high-end. Either way, you’ll just need a few yards of fabric and/or a set of matching shower curtains, plus a sewing machine. Zingg even posted another video with slightly more in-depth details on how she pulled off the style. Here’s to not neglecting good bathroom design!