Bedroom Renovation: Headboard

Today, Jason and I spent a total of 2 hours and $41.00 on a headboard that I absolutely LOVE. After a little bit of coercion and promising my wonderful husband that this would not be a complete disaster, he agreed to try it. We probably spent three times as long deciding on a fabric as we did on everything else combined (I wanted something fun that would not look too childish and Jason finally just told me to get what I liked because who cares if other people think it's childish? So I did). I could not believe how easy it was, and if I could do it then you can too!

And so here is my tutorial, complete with pictures.

Before and After

1)      1) Measure the size you want your headboard to be. If you have trouble with this, try putting painters tape on the wall to give you an idea of how it will look, then just measure the tape! Mine was three feet tall (36 inches) and 5 feet 1 inch long (61 inches) for a queen bed. It should extend to the bottom of your mattress (I’ll talk about this later).

2)      2) Measure how far off the ground you want it to be. This can be a rough estimate. Mine was about a foot from the bottom of my mattress to the floor. Add this height to the height of your headboard from step 1 (so mine was 12 inches off the floor and my headboard from 36 inches high. My 2x4s were approximately 43 inches.)

Assemble the supplies!

You will need:

*A piece of plywood or particle board  that is ¾ inch thick (I used particle board)

Price: $20.00

*Two 2x4s cut to the estimate you got in step 2.

Price: $2.00

*A Staple gun (I used half-inch staples).

Price: Free (If you don’t have one, you can buy them for about $10.)

*A mattress pad (I used a full size from Walmart. Get the egg-crate type, not the feather type.)

Price: $10.00

*Fabric of your choice (I used 2 yards and it was the perfect size.)

Price: $9.00 from Hobby Lobby

*Drill (I used 2 inch screws)

Price: Free (These can be kind of pricey but if you don’t have one or can’t borrow one, you rent them from Home Depot.)

*A small level (This isn’t 100% necessary, just makes things a little easier.)

Price: Free (You can buy them pretty cheaply at Home Depot.)

Total Price: $41.00

3)      3) Now that you have everything, congratulate yourself. You’ve done the hard part (and the long part – choosing fabric took us 3x longer than making the headboard!).

4)      4) The nice people at Home Depot cut our particle board and 2x4s for me. The first 2 cuts are free and each additional cut is $0.25. If you prefer to cut it yourself, then get your wood cut.

5)      5) Lay the board down and put your fabric on top to make sure it’s going to fit. You should have at least 3 inches on each side. Iron the fabric.

6)      6) Now move the particle board and lay the mattress pad face up on the ground.

7)      7) Lay the particle board on top of it.

8)      8) On the long side, pull the mattress pad up and stable it down about an inch from the edge. Stop 6 inches from the corner.

9)      9) Repeat step 8 on the other long side (do not do the short sides yet).

1010)   Now do one corner. For these, you want to give it a wrapped Christmas present look. I did quite a bit of trimming, and it is easiest of you staple one layer then staple another on top of it. Once this is done, staple the rest of the long side (you should have left about 6 inches unstapled in step 8 to make it easier to pull the corners).

1111)   Once you’ve stapled all four corners, staple the short sides in the same way you stapled the long sides. Trim off any extra foam. Now, your head board should look something like this:

1212)   Pick up the board and lay your fabric wrong side up. This means the part of your fabric that has the design on it should face the ground and the back side should face up.

1313)   Lay the board on top of the fabric the same way you did with the mattress pad.

1414)   On a short side, put one stable in the middle and staple across (it is okay to staple through the foam but it may be easier to staple directly onto the particle board).

1515)   On the other short side, pull the fabric as tight as you possibly can and put a staple in the middle again. While pulling the fabric as tight as possible, staple across the short side and stop 6 inches from each corner.

1616)   Now staple all four corners the same way you did with the foam.

1717)   It should look something like this:

1818)   Congratulations, the headboard part is done! Now all you need to do is attach the legs!

1919)   Take those 2x4s and hold them against your mattress and mark where the bottom of your mattress is with a pencil (the level is helpful here to make sure they’re straight).

2020)   Line that pencil line up with the bottom of one of the long sides and screw them into place. I used four screws in each one but that is not a magic number. Jason thought it would be best to be sure they wouldn’t move.

2121)   Now lift it up and admire your work! Looks good, doesn’t it? Almost done! (if you see any wrinkles, don’t worry – you can steam them out. If your fabric puckered, you can play around with it and get it straight. I’m not a perfectionist so it was good enough for me!)

2222)   Put the 2x4s flat against the wall behind your bed.  Push the mattress against the head board so the headboard is sandwiched between the mattress and the wall. And you’re done! 

A couple notes…

You can staple the mattress pad and the fabric at the same time. However, I did them separately so that I can take out the staples that are holding the fabric on and add a new one if I get bored of this one. I love versatility.

You can screw the 2x4s in before you upholster it. However, I intentionally did it this way so that I can take them off when I move. Also, this way is easier to re-upholster later.

You can add scotchguard to make sure it doesn’t get stained.

You want to make sure you have at least 3 inches of fabric on each side because if you  pull it too tightly then the fabric can tear. 

There are a lot of things you can use instead of a mattress pad. This made mine really soft. Way softer than I would have thought. But, you can also use batting, carpet padding, or any combination of these things.

You can upholster the 2x4s to match, but I didn’t care that much since you can’t see them.