I was looking to spruce up our bedroom with a new headboard and after realizing that headboards are pretty expensive I decided I would try to DIY my own. It turned out to be a great decision and fun at the same time. For only about $60 in supplies and an afternoon of time, it turned out great!
Supplies:
- OSB wood or plywood (cut to size at store)
- foam mattress pad
- upholstery fabric
- staple gun
- 1x4 or 2x4 to attach headboard to bed frame
I started by measuring out the size for my headboard. For a queen bed, I went with 62" x 35"
(I wanted the headboard to be a little larger than the mattress). For the wood you can either use OSB or plywood. I decided to use plywood, it is a little more expensive but stronger. I went to Lowe's to by my plywood and had them cut it to size.
Instead of buying upholstery foam (which can be pretty expensive) I used a foam mattress pad. I used a queen size pad so I would have some extra, but a twin size pad would also work well.
I laid the foam out and placed my plywood on top. I then stapled the foam to the plywood, making sure my edges were even and round. Since I used a queen sized foam pad, there was excess foam that needed to be trimmed after I stapled. (plywood is harder to get the staples into, so make sure you get strong enough staples for your staple gun)
I then laid out my fabric (if you have printed fabric make sure the patterns all line up how you want before you start stapling). I used 2 yards of fabric for a queen size headboard. Normally you would use batting between the foam and the fabric as an extra layer of cushion. I skipped this step.
When I started stapling the fabric to the plywood I started in the center leaving the corners for last. As I was stapling I was pulling the fabric at the same time to make sure it was tight, you don't want any loose fabric in the middle after you are all done. When it came time to do the corners, make sure they are folded over neatly. There was some extra fabric and foam creating a bulky look so I trimmed that away and then just winged in with my stapling, but getting as close to the edge as I could.
The final step was to add the legs. If you don't want to add legs you can just attach the headboard to the wall. I used 1"x4" wood for my legs. Before attaching the wood to the back of the headboard make sure you measure the right height and make sure they are level. I then screwed the headboard and the metal bed frame together.
This project was so easy and fun, anyone can do it!
