22 October 2012

Sprucing a Guest Room with A DIY Upholstered Headboard

Happy Monday! Hope everyone had a great weekend! We had an amazing time with some family visiting from out of town :) Just before their visit, my honey and I helped my parents spruce up their guest space with a few simple updates and a DIY upholstered headboard!  

 This space in their basement got little attention the last few years, it was mostly home to unused furniture from the rest of the house :) Since most of the budget went to new broadloom and new built-ins (more on that soon!), we couldn't spend a lot on furniture and accessories. So we DIYed the headboard - for about $50 in supplies and less than 2 hours of work - and made a huge impact in the space!   

    
Supplies: 
  • OSB wood board cut to size at the shop
  • fabric 
  • foam mattress pad 
  • quilt batting 
  • staple gun 
  • upholstery tacks (nailheads) and a rubber mallet (optional)
We started by measuring out a size for the headboard. For a queen bed, we went with 62" by 35". We chose an OSB board because it was way cheaper than plywood and easier to staple to, and we had it cut to size at the store.


Rather than buying upholstery foam (which can get pricey!) I used a foam mattress pad. The twin size pad worked perfectly. 

 
First I laid the foam on top of the board and cut it to size - about an inch larger than the board so it could wrap around the sides and create smoother rounded edges.  




Next I laid out the layers of the headboard - fabric, batting, foam, and the board. If your fabric has a right side, make sure it's face down, and if it's patterned you'll also want to line it up. You can also glue your foam to the board - we did this with plain old craft glue since we were working indoors, but I realized afterwards it wasn't necessary. 


With my foam overhang around the board it was harder to staple all 3 layers neatly, so I stapled the foam first. I pulled it around the back of the board and stapled, and trimmed some excess from the corners. Then I just pulled the fabric & batting tight and stapled to the back of board. I started in the middle and worked my way around, one side at a time & saving the corners for last.  


To do the corners, I trimmed away some of the extra fabric & batting that was creating too much bulk. Then I just sort of winged it, stapling as close to the corners as I could and using the little flap that remained to create a small pleat. 

  
Next I added a nailhead trim with upholstery tacks. You can use pre-made strips of nailhead trim like these, but I couldn't find the right colour in stores and was too impatient to order online :) In anycase, nailing them individually didn't take long at all, and I ended up loving the spacing! I kept a measuring tape on hand to make sure my line stayed somewhat level, but for the most part I eyeballed it. I also went back and redid a few. The trim isn't totally straight and the spacing isn't quite even, but you can hardly tell. The hardest part was that the tacks kept bending, but after a bit of practice I got better. The key was to start gently tapping until they inserted into the wood, and then nail harder to get them all the way in.

The last step was adding legs. You could attach your headboard to the wall, but we wanted a less permanent set up. So my sweet husband cut 2 legs from the leftover OSB and attached them to the back of the headboard, measuring the right height and making sure they were level!

Between the 2 of us it hardly took us 2 hours, and the final product makes for an inviting and relaxing guest space :) 

This project was so easy, trust me when I say anyone can do it - I can't wait to do another! It adds a subtle sophistication to the space, plus it's soo comfy. 


We dressed the bed using mostly linens we had on hand, although I added a bed skirt to hide the old metal bed frame. Other little updates to the space include the inexpensive Ikea table lamp, new cushions for the wicker chairs, and full length curtains that help to soften the look of the room.


With a couple updates and an easy DIY headboard, my parents' guest space is totally transformed. Lucky for me my husband I will be the next guests checking in - for Eid next weekend :)

22 comments:

  1. Its beautiful Samaa! Love, love it! I am planning to do one as well for our basement guest room, but I was thinking of hanging mine to the wall, but I guess that one if better since its movable!!!! Thanks for the tutorial and tip about the foam! Can't wait to start on mine!

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  2. Shut up. This look amazing - so posh. So smart about the foam - great idea!

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  3. AWESOME! I didn't realize it was so easy...great idea Samaa!!!!

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  4. Oh wow! Great headboard DIY. Looks super professional!

    Smiles!
    Sammy ~ Renew Redo

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  5. This is another DIY project I want to try....your headboard looks so classic and chic. I'm pinning this for future reference!

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  6. It looks amazing. Thanks for sharing! I will probably do the same project! I am your latest follower! www.fabtwigs.blogspot.com

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  7. You have a lovely blog! This headboard looks amazing! I've been contemplating buying an upholstered headboard, but they are so expensive! I was curious approx how much was all the supplies? Also, did you attach the legs to the frame or, does it just stand alone? Thanks and again lovely blog!

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    1. Thanks so much Nadia, I really appreciate your sweet comment! I love upholstered headboards so much now, we're even thinking of switching to one in our master because it's so much comfier. And it honestly was so inexpensive so make! This one cost me under $50 in supplies, but we already had a staple gun and it depends on the price of fabric you get. Even with a fancier fabric it'll still be cheaper than buying one ready-made. For ours we left the legs standing alone (just pushed up against the wall behind the bed - we were being a little lazy :), but it would be better to attach it to the frame. To do that, just make sure to measure the placement of the legs on the headboard according to where they could attach to your frame.

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  8. I never though of using foam for a headboard, this is a great idea and it seems so easy to be done all by myself.

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    1. Thanks Angela! You could totally do this on your own, it was pretty easy :)

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  9. Is that burlap that you used as your fabric? I LOVE it!

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    1. Thanks so much Katie! I can't actually remember what fabric it was - it does kind of look like burlap, but it was really nice and soft. It had a velvety/corduroy type feel to it, maybe a cotton or linen blend of some sort?

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  10. When your husband attached the legs to the headboard- Did he screw them to the back of the board, or how did he attach them?

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    1. Hi there! Yes, he just screwed them on by hand. A drill would have been even easier but we didn't have it on hand at the time. I think he probably used 2 screws in each leg..hope that helps!

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    2. where did you get the fabris

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    3. Found it on sale at Fabricland, a fabric chain store we have here in Canada!

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  11. Hey there! Great DIY! You have inspired me to try this! Question: how did your husband screw the board in w/o it going through to the other side? how much fabric and batting did you buy?

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    1. Hi Meg, thank you so much! I'd love to see how yours turns out too :)
      In terms of fabric I believe I bought 2 yards. It would depend on the width of the fabric you choose though, and whether it can span the width of the headboard with a few inches extra to accommodate the foam/batting and wrapping around to the back. In this case I think the fabric was 52" wide, and the headboard was only 35" wide, so I just had to buy as many yards as I needed to span the height - hope that makes sense? For the batting I can't quite remember, I think it was a pre-cut size that came packaged, but it would have been at least a few inches larger than the headboard size (which in this case was 62"x35").
      In terms of screwing the boards for the legs, we just had to choose the right size screws - something long enough to go through the leg and into the headboard, but not too long that it would stick out the front. If your screws are a tad longer it's okay though - the foam and batting are thick enough that they won't poke through, as long as they aren't significantly longer. Hope that helps!

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  12. great diy! how much fabric and batting do you need to do this???

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  13. This looks awesome!! My husband and I have been wanting to do this but I just can't make up my mind on the fabric. Quick question though, when you attached the legs do they wobble at all? Like does the head board want to lean over or act weak just being attached to the frame?

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