Curtain Pelmet with Integrated LED – Motorized Track Box

A curtain pelmet that does two jobs at once: it hides the track, and it carries the light. The motorised track sits inside the box, the LED runs along the underside, and the curtain is washed from above instead of lit from the ceiling.

Nothing about the hardware is on show — no track, no gliders, no motor housing. What the room sees is a clean horizontal line at the ceiling and a curtain that appears to be lit from within.

Pelmet, box or cornice — the same object

This product has three names depending on who is asking. In the UK and much of Europe it is a pelmet. In Asia and in a lot of contract documentation it is a curtain box. In older American specification writing it is a cornice. Interior designers will sometimes call a fabric-covered version a window pelmet and the rigid version a box.

They describe the same idea: a rigid enclosure above the window that conceals the track and finishes the top of the curtain. Worth knowing when you are comparing quotes, because two suppliers can be pricing the same object under different words.

Why the light belongs in the pelmet

Lighting a curtain from the ceiling above it flattens the fabric and throws a hard line across the top of the window. Lighting it from inside the pelmet does the opposite: the LED sits close to the curtain and runs parallel to it, so the folds are grazed from above and the whole drop reads as textured rather than flat.

That is the argument for pelmet lighting over a ceiling wash, and it is why the detail shows up in hotel rooms and bedrooms where the curtain is the main soft surface in the room. A curtain pelmet is the only part of the window that can do this without a visible fitting. Warm output on a heavy fabric reads as a lit wall; cooler output on a sheer reads as daylight.

The track is inside the box

The profile, the gliders and the drive are all concealed within the pelmet. The curtain hangs from the internal track and exits through the open underside, so the only visible parts are the fabric and the light.

Because the drive is enclosed, the pelmet has to be designed around the track rather than added afterwards — the internal depth, the position of the track within the box, and the gap the curtain passes through are all decided together. That is why a curtain pelmet from us is supplied as one system rather than as a box plus a track from two suppliers who have never spoken.

Surface mounted — no ceiling recess

The box fixes below the ceiling rather than being set into it. That is the practical difference from a recessed track: a recess has to be built into the ceiling before the plaster goes on, whereas a curtain pelmet can be installed in a finished room.

It also means the pelmet becomes a visible design element rather than a shadow gap. Matte white for a ceiling that disappears; a dark bronze or timber finish where the pelmet is meant to read as a deliberate line above the window — both are made to order.

Light and motor, specified together

Two things have to be decided at quotation, because they are built into the same box: the light and the drive.

• The light — colour temperature and output, chosen against the curtain fabric rather than from a swatch chart, because the same strip reads warm on a heavy drape and grey on a sheer.
• The drive — the motorised track runs inside the pelmet, and the control arrangement (handset, wall switch, module) is agreed with the project’s wiring rather than assumed.

How the light is switched — with the room lighting, or on its own — is part of the same conversation, because it is wired inside the box rather than added later. Both are settled before the box is made; changing either afterwards means remaking the pelmet, not swapping a component.

Where it is specified

• Hotel guest rooms — the pelmet finishes the window wall and the light doubles as the room’s night light.
• Bedrooms with a dark ceiling — where a ceiling wash would look like a stain and a grazed curtain looks intentional.
• Refurbishments — a finished ceiling with no recess, and no appetite for opening it.
• Contract interiors — where the curtain box is a line item the designer has already drawn, and the curtain pelmet has to match the drawing rather than the catalogue.

Pelmet, recessed track or open track?

• This product — surface-mounted box with the light built in. Choose it when the ceiling is finished and the client wants the light on the curtain.
• The recessed LED track — set into the ceiling, so the top of the curtain disappears into a shadow gap. Needs to be designed in before plastering.
• The light integrated track — the track itself carries the light, with no box around it. The lightest version of the idea.
• A plain motorized track — the standard ceiling track, when the pelmet is being built by the joinery contractor and only the track is ours.

A pelmet is one of four approaches to motorized curtains. If the ceiling is finished and you are weighing a pelmet against a recessed track or an open lit track, the comparison is here: motorized curtains explained.

Is the pelmet made to measure?

Yes — it is made to the opening, not cut from a stock length. Send the width, the ceiling height available for the box, and the curtain drop; the internal depth follows from the track and the fabric rather than from a fixed size.

Can it be fitted to a ceiling that is already finished?

Yes, that is the point of a surface-mounted box. The only requirement is a sound fixing at the ceiling line and enough projection for the curtain to hang clear of the wall.

Does the light need a separate switch?

That is settled at quotation, not on site. Tell us whether the light should come on with the room lighting or on its own switch, and we will confirm how the box is built to suit — the wiring is inside the pelmet, so it cannot be changed once the box is made.

What happens when the motor needs service?

The motorised track is inside the box, so access is designed in rather than assumed. How the pelmet opens for service is part of the specification — worth asking about on any curtain pelmet with a motor inside, because it is the detail most suppliers leave until it matters.

Can I use my own curtain fabric?

Yes. The pelmet is rigid and finished in a painted or timber finish; the curtain is yours. If you want the pelmet fabric-wrapped to match, that is a different construction and is quoted separately.

Will the light be visible from the room?

The LED sits inside the box, facing the curtain, so from normal standing height you see the wash on the fabric rather than the source. From directly below, close to the window, you can see into the underside — which is why the diffuser detail matters and is specified with the box.

Request a quote

Send the opening width, the ceiling height available for the box, the curtain fabric and whether the pelmet should read as part of the ceiling or as a deliberate line. Every curtain pelmet enquiry comes back with the box, the internal track and the light specified together.