DIY headboard

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Blogging on a ‘Living’ website makes me want to dig deep for some inspirational decor/craft posts. I know I have it in me somewhere if only I can cut through my randomness. In March 2008, after we moved into our duplex, I was losing my mind over decorating a clean slate of sorts. Truly in my own personal heaven I found my inner Martha and whipped out a few projects and I believe I will share them with you.

My largest craft to date? Our upholstered headboard that my Mom and I made one weekend while she visited us in Our Great Northern Habitat. This project is super easy [I swear!] and inexpensive, while making a regular old bed seem much more regal and dare I say it….more like a grown-up bed? There’s just something about a headboard to make the bed seem….grounded and official. Someday when we own a home with more bedrooms than we can possibly handle [which is when I'll lay around in my pjs all day long while sipping coffee, eating bon bons, and watching Oprah] I can imagine making a different headboard for each guest room. Ah yes, that imaginary mansion of ours. Someday, my friends.

My inspiration from JC Penney:

I wasn’t too happy with the online instructions floating around out there so I’m going to make this post as detailed as possible, to encourage YOU to make a headboard, too. It really wasn’t too hard at all but I decided to skip the decorative ridges in the board and made mine thinner, too. I’ll explain why later.

Total time spent: 3.5 hours
Total cost: $106 [because of some fabulous 40% off coupons at Joann Fabric]

Supplies needed [specific measurements for a queen bed]:
~plywood [cut to 4X5 feet]
~4 2X4s: 2 that are 66″ and 2 that are 53″
~fabric of your choice [ours was 2.5 yards]
~liner of your choice [cheapy 'muslin' is what we used]
~batting [2.5 yards]
~foam [we chose the 1" kind after we discovered the 3" to be VERY expensive. Needs to total 4X5 feet to cover the plywood without anything hanging over the edges]
~buttons to be covered by your fabric [you can buy a kit for this]
~kite thread
~darning needle
~staple gun [or if yours totally sucks like ours, you'll need upholstery tacks instead]
~spray adhesive
~drill and nails

So here was the before:

And the after:

Care to read on? Here we go:

1. Find a handsome boy to construct the actual board part of the head board. What? You didn’t think Mom and I did this from scratch, did you? Said boy also drilled holes into the board for our buttons–make sure to do this before you cover the beast or you will not be happy. Make sure to keep a [creepy] watchful eye on this boy, as seen here:

2. Spray the plywood with your adhesive and stick the foam onto the board. Trim the foam accordingly. Then place your batting, then your liner, then your fabric. You don’t need to use spray adhesive for all the layers here, just make sure to line them up while the board is on the ground….and no wrinkles allowed! Once you have them aligned, you can tilt the board upright:

3. Now comes the part that will make you question your sanity: the stupid buttons! First, you will need to cover all 14 of the buttons with fabric using a kit of some sort. Once you regain consciousness, you need to attach them to the board. Remember those holes the boy drilled for you? Here is where they come in handy. Using a kite string and a darning needle, poke into the fabric from the backside towards the front. At the front, hook the button through the string and pass the needle back to the other side. Make sense? Here is my stellar demonstration of the famous ‘pass back’ technique.

4. You’ll pull tightly on the string and tie it around a piece of batting so it won’t pop through. Each time you add a button make sure to smooth out your fabric to avoid wrinkles. I realize the end result isn’t the most asthetic and I won’t even tell you what this image looks like to me—but nobody will see this part anyway:)

Here it is with the buttons added:

5. Now secure the edges of the fabric to the back of the board. We planned on using a staple gun but the fabric was too thick or something, so we went with upholstry tacks instead.Trim the excess fabric as needed.

And voila, you have a headoard! Nate drilled ours into our bedframe and it’s pretty sturdy….still standing over a year later! And I realize my white color choice was bold…someone once asked if it gets dirty from our greasy heads. Um, no….haven’t had that problem yet but it’s a thought?

This is our current version, complete with a bedspread makeover as well. I did not make that one:) Please note the fluffy white dog playing king of the mountain as well:

So there you have it, a real craft/decor post. Is anyone going to take on the headboard challenge? It will be worth it!