DIY cornice boards...plus, I need your help picking fabric!

I know, I know...this boy/girl nursery needs some testosterone.  In my defense, the little man's side has yet to be shown and it does have quite a bit of blue...a little more time is all I need (and some help picking out the remaining window treatment fabric to add more masculinity to the space) and then I will have photos to reveal.

Now...lets talk cornice boards! Don't you love a well dressed window? It makes a room so much more complete and it definitely makes it appear larger. But, really, who has and/or wants to spend the money for custom window treatments...so darn expensive!  We made cornice boards for the two windows in the nursery over the weekend and spent less than $50 all together.

(This is the cornice board we made in Leila's old room)

You'll need to build the frames (my husband did this, ahem...not me)...very simply, nothing fancy for this project unless you want a decorative edge.  I decided to keep it simple and just went with a straight edge on the bottom...

I found this very expensive looking fabric in the discount bin at Jo-Ann's and I think it was less than $10...you'll need batting, glue gun and a staple gun.

Glued the batting around the edges....

so that it looks like this when done:

Used the staple gun to wrap the fabric

L brackets to hold them up

and done....there are no screws in the actual cornice boards.  They just fit nice and snug between the ceiling and L bracket.  When I say snug, I mean my husband had to pound them in.  

So, no...a cornice board won't come flying down on our heads as I nurse our little man at 2 am. (lets hope)

Now, I plan on doing a simple curtain also to hide the blinds and to add more pattern to the room (and to create a dungeon effect so that our kids will sleep...and sleep....and sleep....you get it).  I would like to also do a ball trim of some kind...not sure yet...still trying to figure it out.

Here are a few fabric samples I am toying with...I'm thinking a stripe is the way to go, but I sure do love this first pattern...what do you think?  Too much?

 

Or maybe I go with something darker like this:

             I need your help....what do you think??