First of all, I’ll just say that I’m not an expert at making upholstered headboards. Or writing tutorials. I forget to take pictures of the process, because I JUST WANT IT DONE. But the hubs and I created a headboard for our bed a couple weeks ago, and I thought I’d share the process. I LOVE how it turned out. However, it was harder to make than I thought it would be (isn’t that always the case?). AND it cost more than I expected. You could make an upholstered headboard very inexpensively, but it generally shows. I wanted it to be very thick and cushy and NOT home-made looking. So I was willing to pay for it.
We made a king-size headboard and here are the materials we used:
-1 sheet of plywood
–Extra loft polyfil quilt batting, king size
-2 inch foam that we had cut at a local hardwareish store
–1-1/2″ Memory-foam mattress topper, full size
–Button cover kit, 7/8″ – used 20 buttons
–Dropcloth 6’x9′, I bleached it to make it a bit lighter in color, following these instructions
-Heavy-duty hot glue gun
-1-3/4″ long waffle head roofing nails (for the buttons)
So, first of all, we measured how large we wanted the headboard to be and cut the plywood to size. We made it slightly narrower than the width of our mattress. And when I say “we”, I really mean husband. Let’s be honest.
Then we measured where we wanted the buttons to go and drilled a hole for each button.
We wrapped the 2″ foam and the memory foam topper around the plywood and stapled it to the back. Since it was so thick, we screwed a thin strip of wood onto the back of the plywood to hold the foam down (see photo below).
Then we wrapped two layers of quilt batting around foam and stapled it to the back.
We wrapped the drop cloth tightly around the foam and stapled it to the back. The corners were a bit tricky, but we folded and messed with it until it looked right (so technical, right?).
Ok, so here is where it got tricky. The buttons. Oh, the stupid buttons. I had made fabric-covered buttons with the button kit, but they were pretty flimsy and we knew right away that they would just come apart. Also, because the headboard was so thick, it was almost impossible to thread the buttons. The thread kept breaking, and it was a nightmare.
So, here was our solution. We used heavy-duty hot glue and hot-glued the covered buttons onto a thick fat-head nail (another technical term). Then we nailed the buttons into the holes we made. We had to bend over the nails in the back so that they didn’t pop back out. This method was SO MUCH EASIER than trying to use thread, and it worked quite well.
Below is what the back of the headboard looked like.
Then husband attached the headboard directly to the wall, and we were DONE. And I LOVE IT. It turned out exactly the way I pictured it in my head, and that doesn’t happen very often when I work on projects.
I figured I might as well totally re-do the room while I was at it (you know me), so I rearranged the furniture, painted the ceiling, and added some new pillows (from Ikea, HomeGoods, Kohls) a lamp from HomeGoods, and some artwork.
I also painted the hardwood floor, and it made a HUGE difference in the feel of the space. It originally was a dark hardwood that was really battered and always felt dirty. I painted one coat of B-I-N primer, then used a porch and floor paint in a slighter creamier color than the trim.
The ampersand print was from the print in my Etsy shop.
I created an earring holder using a corkboard from Target. I just use clear pushpins to hold the earrings. Really easy.
So, there you have it! If you have any questions about the process, I’ll be happy to answer them!
