You can try implementing the Qt::AlignmentRole for the headerData() method, but this only permits you to left / right / center. You could possibly derive your own class from QHeaderView and replace the virtual QHeaderView::paintSection() method for the columns where you want a customized appearance, and call the base class implementation otherwise. You would then replace the standard vertical or horizontal (I forget which one is for the columns) QHeaderView instance with an instance of your derived class.