This past weekend I helped out my cousin with making a headboard for her guest room. I shared a photo of my current headboard in this post and thought it would be helpful to do a full tutorial of how it’s done. One of the first things you need to do is measure the width of your mattress and decide how wide and tall you want the headboard to be. There is no rule to how high or wide it has to be but the mattress we were working with was 60″ wide (queen) so we decided on 62″ wide and 30″ high. Now hop in the car and head over to your nearest home improvement retailer, in our case we went to Home Depot. You want to be able to buy pretty thick plywood so that it could hold up to the job and it doesn’t need to be finished wood since it will be covered. The great thing about Home Depot and most lumber places is that they will cut the wood for you. We purchased 3/4″ plywood.
Once the wood is purchased the rest is a breeze! Just grab a hold of your fabric. In this case we used a geometric chenille fabric which you can find here and you can see here…
So purty! Now you just need your batting and foam.
You’ll want to start out with cutting the foam, leaving about an inch extra around the help soften the edges.
Next, lay the batting on top or rather on the bottom with the foam on top of that and then the plywood on top of that. Did that make any sense?? Here’s a picture to give you an idea.
So as you can see, it’s batting, foam, wood. Just like with the chair, you want to start by stapling in the center of each side and then work your way from the inside out. We ended up using mattress topping foam that I bought at Target. You could definitely purchase foam from a fabric store but I assure you that it will be much more expensive so I suggest going with the old egg crate. You may notice that when you unravel it that it will have creases and bumps but I am here to say not to worry because once you add your fabric it will hide and flatten any of those imprefections. Here is what ours looked like to give you an idea.
Now that that’s all done it’s time to wrap the headboard in fabric!
Remember to try and neatly fold your corners so that they don’t bulge out when you go to hang the headboard.
And here she roars…sorry the picture is so blurry, didn’t realize at the time.
In order to attach the headboard you can nail legs onto it or simply hang it from the wall which is my choice. I just screwed in some D rings to the back, making sure to measure the same distance from the top and sides so that they are lined up evenly. Then attach the hooks to the wall after deciding where the headboard will be placed and hang it!
I hope that was helpful and clear if you ever want to give it a try. Remember all you need is:
Plywood
Foam
Batting
Fabric
Staple Gun
D-Hook
Wall Mount Hooks
It may seem like a lot but I promise, once you have the material it is very simple!
WOW! When did you become such a Martha Stewart?? Good job
xo
love it! do you do home visits?????
yes!! home visits to Germany pleas
how much fabric do you need?
It depends how wide your plywood is. Just figure out how wide it is and make sure you add about 2 inches to wrap around. So if your board is 60″ wide then you would order 2 yards of fabric. Don’t forget that the length of most fabric is 54″ so you don’t want to make the board too tall or else you’ll have to double up…does that make sense?
This is a great idea!! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks so much!!
Thanks!! This is a really neat project!!
Awesome!
I am making a bench from an older coffee table and have been holding out until I find the right fabric….well I love the fabric you used! Where did you get it?
Thanks Becky! The fabric is from Mood in NYC. Here’s a link to it! http://www.moodfabrics.com/purple-beige-stone-geometric-chenille.html it’s rather pricey but it’s so beautiful and in this case she paid for it
This might be a silly question, but did you nail the wall hangers into studs in the wall? Do you know how much the headboard weighed when it was all done?
I actually don’t hang them into the studs I use these nails that you can find at Home Depot (http://www.homedepot.com/p/OOK-34-Piece-Professional-Picture-Hanging-Valu-Pak-50918/100039637#.UeCpqMu9KSM) I’ve hung 4 headboards this way and I’ve never had a problem!! It says picture hanger but there are ones that hold up to 100lbs!
What type of staple gun did you use?
Just a regular generic staple gun. You can find them at any hardware store. The important part is to make sure you get nails that are long enough to go through the fabric and wood!
How many yards of fabric did you buy?
I purchased 2 yards of fabric since my board was 60″ wide
Looks great! You’ve inspired me to finally make a headboard. Did you use the egg crate kind of topper or a flat one? I was concerned that even with flipping over the egg crate so the smooth side was out towards the fabric the bumps would show through. Thanks!
Thanks Jamie! I actually did use the egg crate topper mostly because it was way cheaper! But the fabric I used was super thick so I knew I wouldn’t have that issue. If I were using a thinner fabric I probably would have purchased the flat foam sold at the craft stores.
can you use a hot glue gun?
I wouldn’t recommend a glue gun you really need to make sure the fabric stays in place and is pulled tightly.
omg..i’ve been searching for clear instuctions! Thanks! I can’t wait to try this. One question though. Is there a particular kind of staples for the gun that you need?
I would just try to use long staples to make sure it holds well!
How much fabric did you use for your headboard?
Since the wood was 62″ wide I purchased 2 yards!
I love this and can’t to get started. Thanks for the information it is very helpful
hi, made this last night. Hubby just put it up!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!! Wish I could show you a pic…now I want a new comforter!! Lol
This makes me so happy!!
Where did you purchase the fabric? I love it
Isn’t it great! We got it at Mood Fabrics in NYC…they have a website you can order from. I believe there is a link in the post to the site!
I made my headboard using your directions and it is BEAUTIFUL. I never thought I could make anything like that – I am the opposite of do it yourself. You made it look easy. Yes, the hardest part is picking out the fabric. Thanks so much!
So happy to hear you love it! And yes, there are way too many choices out there!!
I bought an extra set of curtains to do mine the headboard matches the curtains and I used the leftover material for a bolster cushion for the bed
Thank you for the ins and outs, in other words using supplies, such as an egg crate mattress topper, fabric, plywood, and idea, which I already have. Your instructions are so easy to follow, all I need is the batting woohoo will get that tomorrow from JoAnns cause I have coupons YES.!!!!!
This is so great! The instructions are the first I’ve seen with pics of how to hang or what to use. Thank you for that! I’ve been hesitant to do because I wasn’t sure how to attach to the wall – now I do so I’m off to make my very own DIY (beautiful – just like yours!
headboard! So happy!!! Thank you!!
I so like this idea,,,, but what would you use to reserve the fabric or to clean it over time?
Well like an upholstered item you can spot clean with a spray and I always take my vacuum hose to it and give it a good cleaning that way!
How many yards of fabric did you use?
Thx!
ADOREI ESSA IDÉIA. COM CERTEZA VOU FAZER.
I love the fabric you used! Where did you get it from?
It’s from Mood in the city. I believe you can order online! There should be a link to it in the post!
How much did the project cost? Are the plywood boards expensive?
The plywood isn’t expensive at all and it can cost as much or as little as you need depending on the cost of the fabric you choose!
Love how it turned out!! I am planning on doing something similar.
Here’s a hint to save money–find a heavy fabric curtain panel in a large size and use that as your fabric–it even has the prefinished hems already!! Plus if you like you can have matching curtains and headboard-bonus!!
That’s a great idea! The only issue might be if there is a pattern going vertically and you have to turn the fabric horizontally but I’m all for using curtains for fabric!