Online I found a few fun ideas on what to hang above the bed; stained shipping pallets, old antique doors, or Christmas lights. Then I found the idea that I wanted for my bed, a blush headboard! When you buy a headboard, you sometimes are paying an arm and a leg to add this accent to your bedroom, but when looking at the supplies to do it yourself, it didn’t seem too expensive.
I looked at a few websites on the internet (I cannot remember the sites) and found some good ideas on what I should do. I didn’t follow anyone’s instruction on what to do for this headboard, but I did get some good tips.
What you need:
· Particle board (I would use about a half inch thick board, and don’t go for the super cheap board as well. The better quality of the board, the longer life of your headboard. If you are getting it from Home Depot or Lowes, the employees working in the lumber yard are super helpful and will even cut the board to the dimensions you need)
· 2’’ thick foam padding (You can find it at any craft store, I got it at Hobby Lobby)
· Quilting Batting (Again, craft store, mine was from Hobby Lobby)
· Fabric
· Ribbon
· Staple Gun (This may not seem like a necessity, but it is STRONGLY recommended!!)
· Small ½ inch or less screws
· Washers
· Flush mounts (these are perfect because it doesn’t leave a gap between your wall and headboard)
· Screwdriver
· Fabric Marker
· Glass beads (optional)
1. Alright, the first step is getting measurements and estimation of materials. This is very important!! The way I measured how big I wanted my headboard to be was by taking the length of my bed (it is a king, so it was about 72 inches) and using that as the length of my headboard. Since I have a lot of pillows and I wanted the headboard to be tall enough so it wouldn’t be hidden, I made it 3 feet tall (or 36 inches). 76’’x 36’’ was decided as the dimension of my headboard. I used this measurement to get my fabric, to know how much foam and batting I needed, and how many screws and the length of the ribbon. The way that I estimated the screws and the ribbon was to draw out what I wanted my headboard to look like. I have a “fencing” pattern on mine, but you can do whatever design that you want. I estimated how far apart I wanted the ribbons to start (I divided the top into 6 equal parts, and I divide the side into 3 equal parts). From this I was able to draw out where the ribbons were going to go, and also how many screws it would take (I placed screws everywhere the ribbons crossed).
2. Once you have the estimating done, you can now go out and purchase the supplies. I loved this part! Picking out the colors is always my favorite part of any DIY project. I love color coordination. My colors in my room right now are purple, grey, and black. I LOVE purple, and I think that grey and black are great compliments to it. My bed has a dark purple duvet with grey, dark purple, and black pillows. I needed a color that wouldn’t clash with what I already had. I decided on a light purple headboard with black ribbon. I also found gorgeous glass beads at Wal-Mart that I decided to sew where the screws were placed. A note on the fabric: They are usually 48’’ wide which is perfect for a 3’ wide headboard. You want the fabric to be able to wrap around the board even with the 2” of foam padding. Make sure you have enough fabric on each end of the headboard!! You need this to be able to staple the fabric on the back.
3. Now comes the fun part of actually putting all of your planning together!! What you want to do is start out with the particle board and place the foam on top. This is just to measure everything out and you want to make sure that the foam covers the ENTIRE particle board. Now that you measured everything, remove the foam and the particle board, and just lay the fabric on the floor (I do not suggest cutting off any unwanted fabric until after it is attached to the board. It is better to have too much and not need it than need it and not have enough! ). Once you lay the fabric down flat, top it with the batting, the pre-measured foam, and the particle board. This is the part that I suggest you have a staple gun for. I did not own one and didn’t want to buy one and I regret it!! If you don’t want to buy one for just one project, many places rent out tools to use. You need the staples to attach the fabric to the back of the particle board. This would be an easy step with a gun; I used individual staples that I bought at Lowes and a hammer. This was a very time consuming and painful process. Small staples are not easy to get into a board without hitting your fingers a few times…and by a few, I mean A LOT!! Another thing to look out for is making sure the batting is completely flat and doesn’t have any creases. If it does, you will see this through the fabric. It doesn’t look pretty!
4. The next step in this project is to add the ribbon. Now the ribbon isn’t a necessary step, but I think that it makes it look less homemade. Now what you want to do is mark the edges of the headboard where you want your ribbon to go. This is an important step in making sure that all the ribbon is the correct spacing. You also want to make sure you leave a lot of ribbon at the end. If you can help it, do not cut it off the spool yet. Once you have a few strips of ribbon attached, you want to mark where they intersect (see picture below). This is the part that you screw into the particle board. This helps the headboard have some texture to it; it almost creates “poofs”. You want to continue screwing in the intersecting ribbon. This is why I mentioned not cutting the ribbon too short. If you start adding the screws, it uses a lot more ribbon than you think. There were a few times that I cut the ribbon too short and had to start that row over again. I have a picture below of the headboard in this stage as I was securing the ribbon.
5. Once you finish all the ribbon, you are nearly done!! One step, which is optional, is adding beads to the headboard. I found very nice glass beads that I have attached. I love how the beads look, and it covers up the screws and washers. When you are done attaching beads, you are done with the headboard! Only thing left now is to attach it to the wall. I used the flush mounts for hanging the headboard. It works very well and it keeps it securely attached to the wall.
Currently I do not have a completed picture of my headboard. I will get one as soon as I get home. I really hope this helps you if you want to make your own headboard. I loved this project! It was a lot of fun to do. If done right, no one will believe that you made it yourself!!! J
I will get some more projects up soon!
In the meantime, I hope you have enjoyed reading this and good luck to those of you who are going to have a go at it!!!
God bless!
Lex
