DIY Upholstered Headboard~Part 2

DIY Upholstered Headboard Finale

A Part Two tutorial

Hello Everyone! I'm very excited to share this part two of the DiY Headboard! It was my first attempt at building an upholstered headboard and I feel like it is definitely a project that a beginner can do! This Linen Upholstered headboard cost less than $100 and I think you can probably do even better than that if you cut cost on the birch plyboard and go with something a little cheaper. Now that I have completed this project, I would feel comfortable with a different material that would cost less. My Linen material was also a little more than $20 for 3 yards, and you might be able to cut cost there as well. I feel like this headboard would have cost me $300-$600 retail, so I feel pretty good about that!

Here is what I spent for this DIY project:

Birch plyboard: $34

1" x 39" x 79" foam: $11.99

Batting: $9.99 (I have about half of that left still)

Linen fabrick: $21.00

Trim boards: $14

If you haven't read Part 1 of this project yet, you can reference the link here to start the project. In part one of the tutorial, we got as far as the headboard being upholstered and the trim boards being cut and stained. Before I move on to the finishing instructions of the headboard, I am going to go over an alternative to using trim on your headboard.

Alternate to putting trim on your headboard:

Now, if you don't want trim boards like this headboard then you will simply cut the foam, batting 1/2" longer than the plyboard and the fabric 2 to 3 inches wider than the perimeter of the plyboard. You will then just secure the fabric around the back of the plyboard with your stapler! Again, work around the plyboard pulling the fabric as tight as you can to get a nice snug fit.

Here we go on the finishing details of our DIY headboard! We took our nail gun and attached the trim boards around the upholstered fabric.

Attaching the Finished Upholstered Headboard to the "Foot" boards:

Once the trim was in place, we attached the "feet" of the upholstered headboard. The feet is the 2, 1x4 boards that the headboard will be attached to the bed frame.

In our part one tutorial we told you to make the foot boards 54" tall. You can choose to make them the entire height of the headboard, which was 58" in height. For some reason, when visualizing the boards I didn't think it would be necessary to make the 1 x 4 foot boards as long as the entire height. I'm not sure why I didn't think about that a little more. It doesn't look bad that the footboards are shorter because you don't really see them except for the sides like the pictures below.

*Notice in the picture above that 12" of the footboard is attached at the base of the headboard in order for it to attach to the bed frame.

Anyway, that would be something I would change in any future builds of headboards; so just a note that you might change that aspect of it from what I did, if it bothers you. After the headboard was attached to the footboards, it was time to see how it looked! We moved the bed out and attached it! Previously, in part one, I was planning to use some decorative nail heads around the trim for detail and attach the upholstery buttons. But after I put the headboard up I decided I didn't really need them.

*Important NOTE: If you do plan on using fabric upholstery buttons, you will need to measure and drill holes before you upholster your headboard. I did not show this in part one but you can check out a tutorial I did on using a wooden coffee table and converting it to an upholstered bench here. It is a very detailed tutorial on upholstering using upholster buttons to get the tufted look.

Although tufting is a little more difficult and time consuming, it looks really nice so I do believe it is worth it if that is the look you want.

Here is our bedroom with the headboard! I love how it turned out, that I did it myself, and that it cost way less than if I would have purchased one retail! The other great thing about doing it yourself, I could be creative and get exactly what I wanted that matched the other pieces I already owned! Yay!

We found these curtains at Hobby Lobby and I made my hubby go with me to purchase one panel with 40% off coupon with me doing the same at another register so that I could get them both at a discount. I told you guys that I'm frugal! I think I saved $10 by doing it! LOL Anyway they match almost identically to my Ralph Lauren floral comforter! I love when that happens!

I made the wooden sign above the bed! I had a walnut stained board in the garage and I made it look worn and aged with paint and wax. I will show you a tutorial on how to age a new piece of wood. I can also show you my technique for transferring the graphic words and hand painting them. The sign reads, "Chateau de la Coeur", which means Castle of the Heart. I think it goes perfect in here and I am working on another one that will go above my dresser and hutch.