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DIY Headboard Idea

I've been seeing lots of minimal upholstered headboards and bed frames lately, but they're all very pricey. And I can't seem to even find one outside of a queen or kind size bed. Our guest bed is a full. So I decided to make my own. My original plan was to do upholstery around the bed frame as well. I love the look, but they're all extremely expensive. And since I have some DIY headboard experience already, with the other ones I've made - most recently this DIY headboard (arch), I was ready to tackle a do-it-yourself version that would be more affordable. This time, I'm going with a simpler shape, to keep it classic and minimal. And decided to also skip upholstering the bed frame for now. So! That left me with a completed headboard that cost less than $100 and took less than two hours to make. The finished headboard is simple and just what this room needed. Something cozy, that also matches the vintage Moroccan rug I just added in here.
Total Time2 hours
Yield: 1 upholstered headboard
Author: Brittni
Cost: $82

Equipment

  • Staple gun and staples - I've used MANY staple guns over the years and the best one that I've used (and still use to this day) its this Dewalt staple gun. It's not much more than any other staple gun you can find, but it works MUCH better. Trust me on this one.
  • Iron - You'll need an iron to make sure the fabric is wrinkle free before you get started with the project. Some slight / small wrinkles are fine though - they'll be pulled out when you stretch the fabric over the wood panel.
  • Drill - You'll only need a drill for installing the D-rings. If you decide to use a different method to hang the finished headboard, you won't need a drill at all.
  • Saw - You may need a circular saw if you're cutting a panel or panels down to the right size for your bed frame.

Materials

  • Lightweight wood panels or something similar Depending on the size of your bed you may be able to easily find one piece of wood long enough to use as the backer / base for this project. If not, you can put two pieces together to create one larger piece. That's what I did.
  • Fabric yardage The yardage will depend on thee size of your bed and headboard.
  • Upholstery foam Upholstery foam is available in many thicknesses. The thickness of foam you get will make up the bulk of the thickness of your finished headboard so keep that in mind when selecting a size. The thicker the foam, the more expensive. So this wold be a good place to cut cost if needed. I used a 1 inch thick foam. But I would say anything between 3/4 inch and 2 inches would work well. More than two inches and it might need some piping around the edges.
  • Batting Batting helps soften the shape between the upholstery foam and fabric. You won't need much. Just enough to cover the front surface of the headboard.
  • Scissors Fabric scissors work the bets for this but any scissors will work.
  • D rings You can find these at any home improvement store.

Instructions

First, build a frame with lightweight wood/ panels.

  • I made the frame 6 inches wider than the existing bed frame, so it would have some extra visual weight. I used a thin (1/4 inch thick) birch plywood from Home Depot and cut it down to the size I needed, with a saw.

Cut down a layer of upholstery foam, batting, and fabric.

  • Next, you'll cut all the soft pieces for the upholstered headboard.
  • The upholstery foam should be the exact size of the wood frame that was built / cut in step one. And the batting and fabric should be at least 3 inches larger than the frame on all sides.
  • So, you should have the wood frame on the bottom, then upholstery foam, then batting, then fabric at the very top.

Iron the fabric top layer.

  • You may be able to skip this step. It's just to get rid of any major wrinkles. I had quite a few I needed to steam out beceuas the fabric had been folded for a long time before I used it.
  • For any small / minor wrinkles, you can probably skip ironing. The small ones will pulled out when you stretch and staple all of the layers in the next step.

Flip it over and staple everything.

  • Carefully flip over the wood frame with all the foam and fabric layers. Stretch and staple all the layers at once, so you only have to do one round of stapling.
  • Be sure to pull the fabric and batting tight across the frame when stapling. This will keep the upholstery foam sagging later.

Add hooks / rings and attach to the wall.

  • Using D-rings as hooks for the wall is just one way to hang a headboard like this one. There are many other ways it can be done, like attaching the headboard to the actual bed frame, instead of the wall.
  • I just happen to use D-rings because I already had them and I couldn't attached my headboard to the bed frame.