Make Your Own Upholstered Headboard

Guest rooms are often the place where left over furniture ends up. I wanted ours to be a great place for guests to relax, almost like a hotel. I already had some brown stripe bedding left over when we upgraded our master bedroom decor and I added some celery green sheets when I was on a green and brown kick. The effect was nice, but I wanted more. The bed was sitting on a plain metal bed frame and I didn't really want to invest in bedroom furniture for the guest room so I decided to make a headboard. Easy right? Well, kind of. I did this project before I started the blog, so here are the steps to creating your own upholstered headboard:

1. Decide on a size. Measure the width of the bed and add an inch on each size. Then decide on a height. Higher = more drama. Add 1 foot to your height so that the headboard goes a foot below the mattress height.
2. Get a piece of plywood and cut it to the size you need. Or, flirt with the man at Home Depot and get him to get it for you. This works best if the Husband is not around. You will also need some 2x4" as legs. If you have other scrap wood around the garage, use that.
   
3. Gather your supplies. You will need fabric, quilt batting and a staple gun. For fabric, I used a shower curtain. For real. I was having trouble finding the perfect fabric at the cloth store and I found this Nautica shower curtain that was exactly what I wanted. When choosing a fabric, keep in mind that stripes are the hardest to work with because they have to be perfectly straight.
4. Cut your fabric and 2-3 layers of batting large enough to cover your plywood with 4" extra on every side. The more batting you add, the more padded it will look. I did 2 layers but wish I had done 3. It looks more flat once you put the fabric on.
   
5. Lay all the layers of batting down and place the plywood on top. Wrap the edges and staple about an inch in with the staple gun. I did the wrapping, the Husband did the stapling. I am scared of the staple gun. Trim the excess batting.
6. Lay your fabric down and place the plywood batting side down on top of the fabric. Make sure your pattern is lined up how you want it.
7. Start wrapping the edges and staple on the back about every inch. Make sure you are pulling the fabric just a little bit each time, but not too much. Equal tension is key to make it look even.
8. Continue around all the edges. Then, flip it over and see where you have any wrinkles and pull and add another staple.
9. Use a drill to screw the legs onto the back. I painted mine the same color as the wall so they blended in.

Its actually pretty simple. I used the extra fabric to have my Mom make a coordinating pillow. And of course, I did some artwork for the walls. These green and brown scrolls contrast well with the stripes in the bedding:


Now, are you ready to try it yourself? I did the whole project for $85, pretty good huh?