I Made It! Headboard Edition

So for my proudest project thus far I tackled making a headboard for our queen sized bed. Our bed is just a mattress set sitting on a metal bed frame. It is so plain and I thought it could be dressed up so easily. As I had posted here, I wanted to tackle some DIY projects when we have a bigger house. I wanted to make a headboard for a king sized bed once we move, so I thought, why not do a trial run for our current bed? I got the inspiration from a reader's post on Young House Love. Armed with the instructions on my iPhone, we went off to buy the needed supplies and tackle the project.

We chose a fabric that would be neutral, a white muslin type with flowers stitched on in black, brown, and gray. We got the 2" foam, batting, button covers, and upholstry needle and thread from JoAnn fabric. I purchased their monthly magazine for $3 for the coupons that were on the back cover. It saved me well over $30, so well worth the purchase.

We went to Home Depot to purchase the plywood, washers, and hanger. Home Depot made the cut for us, so one less thing for us to worry about. We had it cut 30" x 64" so it would hang a little longer than the width of the bed.

We started out by measuring to have two rows of three buttons each and drilled the holes in the plywood.

We then used spray adhesive to adhere the foam padding to the plywood.

Used a staple gun to wrap the batting over the foam and plywood. And then repeated with the selected fabric. (Note, we hemmed the fabric so that if it pulled at all over the years, it wouldn't fray and pull off of the headboard. We put staples on both sides and right along the hemmed sides.)

Next came the tufting part. We had bought a button set that allowed us to cover each button with the fabric we had selected. So armed with a set of three upholstry needles we thought it would be simple to shoot the needle through, thread the button and shoot it right back. It was impossible to find the hole in the plywood on the way back through the layers of fabric, batting, and foam. We ended up taking two needles, one threaded and another facing the opposite way, and shooting both through together. We left the unthreaded needle sticking through the layers. This way we pulled the first needle through, threaded the button, then switched the thread from the original needle to the one waiting to go back through. We tied both ends of the thread to a washer and pulled it tight so it would get the tufted look and then stapled the washer in place.

Once done, we were left with this:

We screwed one side of the French Cleat into the plywood and then took the headboard inside to hang on the wall. The french cleat has a level in the piece that hangs on the wall, so it's pretty simple to get that part right. (FYI, a French Cleat is considered a picture hanger when you are looking for it at the home improvement store)

The finished product:

I absolutely love it against our chocolate brown wall. It took about 3 hours, but was pretty simple to do. I couldn't be happier with the finished result. Hubs' first reaction was that it made our bedroom look so grown up. I can't stop looking at it.

Price Breakdown:
Plywood: $19.97
French Cleat: $14.97
Washers: $0.98
Fabric: $12.99 (after 50% off coupon)
Buttons: $6.06 (After 40% off coupon)
Batting: $5.99 (on sale)
Spray Adhesive: $3.99 (after 50% off coupon)
Needles: $2.99 (after 40% off coupon)
Thread: $1.49 (after 40% off coupon)
Foam: $35.19 (on sale)
Magazine with coupons: $2.99

Total: $107.61

Not too shabby! Gotta love the coupons. Got a whole lotta bang for your buck on this project. All in all, I'm excited to try this again. I think I would do a cut out pattern with a nail head border on the next.

What projects have you been working on?