DIY Headboard, Part Deux

Happy Monday! This past week/weekend, Mike and I finally got cracking on some decor for the guest bedroom. Our biggest accomplishment was getting the new headboard completed.

Awhile back, we had created a tufted headboard for our master bedroom. I didn't go into detailed instructions then, since there are a lot of instructions online, and I lost the photos from the camera - but this go 'round, I thought I'd take a stab at a headboard-making tutorial.

Apologies in advance if these photos are crappy or unhelpful - Mike and I tag-teamed this project, which meant passing the camera back and forth multiple times over multiple days.

First, the supply list:

• One sheet of three-quarter-inch plywood, cut to width of bed, any hardware store
• 2.5 yards of 2" high-density foam, Joann Fabrics
• 2.5 yards of quilt batting, Joann Fabrics
• 3 yards of upholstery weight fabric
• Spray adhesive
• Staple gun
• Wood stain
• 2-4 Bolts with matching nuts and washers (quantity depends on bed size)

Warning: We make our headboards heavy-duty, like the kind you find in home decor stores that mount to the bed. Construction and installation involves power tools. There are lighter weight options that are easy to make and hang right on the wall. If that's what you're looking for, go here.

Let's begin!

Mike kicked this project off by cutting the plywood to our predetermined dimensions, which were the width of the bed (full size), and a height I dictated by oh-so-helpfully holding up my hand to the wall and saying "to here." I'm such a Happy Helper.

He then notched out the bottom of the plywood that will be bolted into the bed. We prefer to bolt our headboards into the bed for one main reason: mobility. If the headboard is bolted into the bed, then it can move if the bed needs to move. If we used a cleat system to hang the headboard onto the wall (which would need to bolt into studs to support the weight), well - let's just say I can picture divorce papers as I moved the bed an inch to the left or an inch to the right for a good hour as is typical with my decorating experiments.

Mike then stained the bottom section of the plywood, since it will be visible after we wrap the headboard in foam and fabric. We went with an ebony stain since the frame of the bed (ordered last week from Overstock) is black.

The next step was to drag the frame inside so that we could cut the foam to fit. We went with a 2" high-density foam (HD foam is green instead of white), which we snagged on sale during Joann's Fourth of July extravaganza for 50% off, PLUS an additional 10% off our entire order. Foam is expensive - I think the @" is $31.99 a yard. The savings helped this project come in under $100.

Cut one long run of foam to the dimensions of the plywood. Then take the leftovers and cut them down to size to fill in the bottom. Use a serrated knife to cut through the foam.

You should have something that looks like this. Don't worry that it's not pretty - it's all going to get covered up. Just make sure every inch of the plywood base is covered.

Next, use spray adhesive to adhere all the foam pieces to the plywood. This stuff can get kind of nasty - as in, flammable fumes. So make sure you do this part outside, or in a very well ventilated area like a garage, wearing a mask. Yes, that meant dragging the headboard back outside to adhere the foam (Mike has lost a lot of weight since we bought the house. I'm jealous. Because when I try to move headboards, it's a lot more dragging then carrying.)

Next, take the quilters batting and wrap it around the foam front, stapling it to the back. You're probably asking, "Can't I just cover this thing in fabric now?" Well, you could - but for some reason, you aren't supposed to put fabric over the foam. I can't remember exactly why, I just remember that from my days working at Joann Fabrics. And, to this day, if I'm in there shopping and the associates find out I'm making a headboard, the first thing I'm always told is, "You know, you can't put foam over fabric, you'll need some batting." Plus, the batting really helps to hold in that foam nicely and cover any of those dents between the pieces - so all around, I recommend it.

Trim the excess batting from the back, leaving around one inch after the staples.

You should now have something that looks like this. It's already looking better, right?

Now here is where I start driving this decorating train. If you remember, I picked out this chenille chevron print awhile back. I have very few goals in life, but a more recent one seems to be trying to sneak in a chevron print into every room in our house.

At this point, it would be easiest to simply wrap the fabric around the headboard, going from side to side to keep pressure even and the fabric taut, tucking in corners and hammering in wayward staples. And that's totally what I recommend you do. Any normal person would do that. But if you think I'm going to keep it quick and easy, you're reading the wrong blog. Come on peeps - you know me - Complicated is my middle name.

I decided that I wanted a tailored look for the headboard - which meant seams around all the sides. Again, this would've been incredibly easy if I just sewed together a pocket out of the fabric and just slipped it over the headboard and called it a day. But that's not what I did.

I realized I only had a limited amount of this fabric and I wanted to save some for another upcoming project. I decided the only course of action was to not cover the back of the headboard in fabric. This sounded logical, right? The back is against the wall, why waste fabric?

So to achieve that tailored look I was after it meant a good hour of measuring and cutting the correct pieces (since this is a directional fabric, everything has to be cut in the right direction), followed by almost two hours of sewing them together (Ever tried to sew crisp corners with heavy weight upholstery fabric? Not on my top 100 things considered "fun.") I didn't photograph the steps, as I think only certifiably crazy people should attempt to do this, but let's just say a few hours and a couple mitered fabric corners later, I had my headboard cover.

Wrap the cover around the headboard (here is where you can see those mitered corners I was talking about), and staple to the plywood backing. Tip: This is a two person job, as you need someone to hold up the headboard as you staple and smooth out wrinkles, so do not attempt alone, on a Saturday morning, while your husband is out moving a Tipi.

Work around the back, holding everything tightly in place as you staple, making sure to keep checking the fabric for tautness and smoothing out any ripples as they come. You could lay the headboard on the ground and do this, but since it is so large and heavy, it's difficult to see underneath if you've got a huge crease in the fabric.

A more helpful tip: With the last headboard we created, we were able to staple the bottom of the fabric on first, going in the wrong direction, so that when we pulled the fabric up over the top of the headboard, the fabric covered the staples giving the bottom a nice finished look. Since I did a tailored cover, I had to do the opposite - start with the top and work my way down, so the bottom is a bit ugly, but thankfully it is completely covered by the bed, so it's no biggie.

The next step is to bolt the headboard to the bed. Mike did this while I was out shopping (on a failed quest to find a lone fitted, full sheet to cover up the boxspring), so I missed taking photos, but it's very easy. If you have a metal frame, the ends should already have holes where you can bolt on a headboard - and then you're done. If, like us, you have a platform bed with no connections to add a headboard, you need to drill through the legs and frame. For our queen size bed, Mike put in 4 bolts, two on each end, and two in the middle. For the full size bed, we only needed two bolts, one on each end. Make sure to put washers on either side of the bolt, they really help stabilize everything.

And there you go - a finished headboard! As always, Leo supervised this project.

Apologies, I always get this accidental fish-eye effect with my camera for some reason...it doesn't look as wonky in person.

This closeup shows more of how the tailored look turned out with the side-seaming.

And that's all, folks! Stay tuned, tomorrow I'll show you how this bed looks all dressed up, and how the guest room is coming together. (You can already see that the walls are no longer pink. A vast improvement.)

Smell ya later!