How To Make An Upholstered Headboard With Legs

DIY - Upholstered Headboard

If there is 1 thing that can make your bedroom wait amazing, it'southward an upholstered headboard. I accept been wanting ane for so long, but a quality piece can toll hundreds of dollars. And then me being me...I decided to tackle making one of course!

And it'due south fair to say I'm absolutely in love with the results. The headboards I've made await totally gorgeous and brand the room and so inviting, at a much more affordable price than buying new.

Cheque out this video for the instructions:

This blog has literally been months and months in the making (where did this yr go?), because not only have I been crazily busy, merely I've fabricated three prototypes and a final version, then four in total which all takes time. I've washed this and so that I could exam and refine my technique and supplies, to brand sure it's as achievable and affordable for y'all to make as possible.

Cost-wise, it was about $170 for all the supplies (including the staple gun) plus the cloth on pinnacle of that. That likewise assumes you have basic tools like ruler, scissors, drill etc. And then depending on the fabric yous chose, you could make one of these in $200 or less, how great is that?!

The consequence is that anyone tin make their own DIY headboard with these instructions. The finished headboard is lovely and definitely gives the 'luxe' wait in your room. I tin't promise you'll get the perfectly smooth textile finish that an experienced upholsterer would accomplish, simply so long equally y'all aren't a perfectionist (which I definitely am NOT) yous will brand something you beloved for certain!

Ok, allow's get into it. First of all, just annotation I made my headboard for a Queen Bed, and it is propped up with legs (rather than stock-still to the wall). It literally only leans against the wall. The legs are good because information technology means you only need to make a headboard slice that is visible higher up the bed (which saves on the cost of the project). You tin make any size you want, but measure up the width of your bed and think about how high you want information technology to sit and how many buttons you want to add. Or don't add buttons for a simpler await.

Here ARE THE SUPPLIES YOU'LL NEED

MDF Board - nosotros have a queen bed and so I bought a piece of MDF from Mitre 10 and asked them to cut it to the following size: 1.five thou wide x 0.5 m high. You lot could likewise apply Plywood or any other similar material.

Legs - I also got the team at Mitre 10 Mega to cut a couple of legs off the same piece of MDF. These were approx 0.8 m long x 0.15 grand wide.

Foam- You want some nice thick foam to make the headboard plush. Yous tin become foam cut to the verbal size you want at a store like Para Rubber. Simply I establish that purchasing a foam mattress topper was the well-nigh affordable option, which I cut to size with a stanley knife. I bought a mattress topper approx 5cm thick. Para Safe sell mattress toppers as well, but I likewise establish a more affordable i on Trademe. Note yous can apply 1 that has a flat tiptop-side with a wavy underside - simply make certain the flat side is confront!

Foam Wadding (or batting) - I purchased 2m of this off the curlicue at Para Prophylactic - it's 1.5m wide and described as '170gsm bonded fibre' (link here). This gives extra softness and a more rounded advent (perfect for wrapping foam earlier upholstery).

Fabric - Upholstery type textile will piece of work best - it's thicker and so will sit meliorate. I used a couple of different fabric types for the headboards I made. Kickoff was a lovely linen from The Fabric Store. And so I likewise tried velvet from Martha'due south Furnishing Fabrics. Both of these stores have gorgeous options in a lovely range of colours, so I'd definitely recommend going in to choose the one that suits your room the about. You'll demand material that is broad enough to wrap around your headboard, plus extra to embrace the buttons, so to be safe I got 2m of the fabric length.

Staple Gun - Ideally you would use an air powered staple gun, but I didn't have access to one, and plant that the standard staple gun I purchased from Bunnings did the job well (I just needed to push it with both hands to go it to staple firmly into the headboard). I used the Fuller Pro Heavy Duty Staple Gun with 14mm staples.

Buttons - You desire shank buttons that you can cover in the same fabric as the headboard (they'll be completely covered so information technology doesn't matter what they look like). I bought ones about 35mm wide. It pays to shop around for these because they can get quite pricey - in the finish I found a packet of 16 on Trademe for almost $12.

Upholstery Needle - you need a long directly needle that can poke right through the headboard, which most arts and crafts stores will have. I used i about xx cm long.

Thread - You need stiff thread to necktie on the buttons with. I used thread from the jewellery making section at a arts and crafts store (link here). I'm sure you could also use a potent thread from a sewing centre.

Small needle- A plain sewing needle is required for covering the buttons.

Hand drill - I used this to drill the button holes and to screw on the legs.

Screws - These are to spiral the legs on, you'll demand 8.

Sharp Pair of scissors

Sharpieor dark pencil

Ruler

Stanley Knife and Cutting lath(if y'all are cutting your foam yourself)

Hammer

STEP ONE:

The first step is to drill holes in the board for the buttons (which we will put in at the finish). Measure out evenly where you lot would like them to go, depending on how many you want. I did ii rows of 4, and I placed them a flake closer to the top than the bottom (I find when the headboard sits on the bed the pillows etc embrace the lesser of the headboard and so the buttons are more than visible placed a bit college). The holes only need to be big enough to thread the upholstery needle through.

STEP TWO:

Then lay the wadding flat on the floor, place the cream in the centre, and lay the board directly on peak of the foam. You tin spray glue the foam to the lath here, but I didn't observe information technology necessary. Cut the wadding and so it overlaps well-nigh 15cm.

At present we staple the foam and wadding to the lath. If your foam isn't cutting to size, apply a stanley knife to cut the foam and then that it is the same size every bit the board.

At present wrap the wadding upwardly effectually the other two layers and staple it to the lath. Start past stapling forth each side, stopping about 10cm from each corner.

For the corners, the idea is to fold the wadding in by making lots of small-scale folds and stapling those downwards (this creates a smoother look than a big fold). Here'due south a video I made, plus I found the second video below really helpful to learn the technique. When you're washed, cut away any backlog wadding around the corners (leave a couple of centimetres and then the staples can still concur).

STEP THREE:

Fourth dimension to staple the fabric to the board. Lay the foam and board in the centre of your fabric (make sure the fabric is right side downward).

Wrap the material firmly up effectually the board and staple along the sides, once once more leaving the corners. Pull the fabric firmly upwardly merely don't stretch information technology out of shape or you'll go more creases.

Nosotros apply a dissimilar technique with the corners than we did for the wadding, because this time we do desire a prissy tidy fold. I watched a agglomeration of videos on Youtube to perfect the technique. You lot'll see a video I made of the technique beneath, plus I've linked in the one I plant near helpful online (sometimes it helps to see a couple of different ones!).

Basically you desire to fold the fabric tidily down from the acme and secure it with a staple. And then you fold the fabric in from the side, to create only one visible fold. The video is key hither!

Repeat for all four corners. Make sure you fold both top corners in the same direction (i.e. and then they accept folds which mirror each other).

Step Four:

Now it's fourth dimension to cover the buttons in the same textile equally the headboard, which will give a professional expect. I did this by hand, but you lot tin get push button covering kits at sewing and arts and crafts stores - they don't tend to work well with thick upholstery material though.

So here is the manus sewing technique, which is nonetheless super easy:

1. Cut out round circles of fabric, large enough to fold up around the button with a bit of a border.

2. Hand sew effectually the border of the fabric circle

3. Place the button in the heart and pull the fabric tight so that information technology overlaps around the button.

4. Knot off the thread. If you lot take any bits which haven't pulled in tight and so go around over again, tighten and tie if off.

STEP FIVE:

Next up, we will tie the buttons on to the headboard. There are various ways you can do this (like with wire tied to another button on the contrary side), only I found this technique the easiest and cheapest:

1.   Position the headboard upright by leaning it on something.

two.   Grab your upholstery needle, thread information technology with a long length of thread, and push it through from the back to the front of a button hole. Attempt to thread information technology every bit directly equally possible (it helps if you lot look at the headboard side on), and brand sure in that location is a large tail of thread left on the back side (it'due south such a pain if you lot lose the thread during this process!).

3.    At present thread the button on and poke the needle back through the same hole (front end to back this time). This can exist tricky to get it back through, because you lot have to feel for the hole over again.

Here are some tips:

• Endeavor to position yourself on the same angle as when yous pushed the needle through back to front.

• Over again, attempt to keep it as straight as possible.

• Feel around until it finds the hole.

• If you are really struggling, start again (sometimes it'south easier on the second go).

• If you still tin't find the hole, take the needle off and thread it back to front once more but don't pull it all the way through. And then advisedly tape the thread to the pointy stop and pull the needle back through. This is a last resort because the thread is tricky to secure to the pointed end without coming off as y'all push it through, but it can work if y'all are desperate!

4.   Tie off the thread on the back, so that the push is hanging off the front end side. Now lay your headboard face down and pull the push tight to created that tufted await (take a look at the underside to check you lot're happy), then staple the thread confronting the board. My staple gun didn't get a tight hold, and then I pulled it tight and hammered the staple in. So opposite direction and do the same again.

5.   Repeat with all your buttons.

Pace SIX:

Lastly nosotros need to add the legs to the headboard. I measured how far up the wall I wanted the headboard to sit, and this gave me the effigy of how long the legs needed to be. And so I lay the headboard face side down and measured out where the legs needed to become on the back side. Make certain the legs are sitting evenly from each side and the bottom, so that your headboard will sit straight when you put it behind the bed. I plant tracing effectually them a adept mode to keep rails.

And so choose where you'll screw them on, and mark the holes on the legs and headboard. I did four screws per leg.

Drill the pilot holes, being careful you don't drill correct through the fabric (I found it fine, simply make sure to stop drilling every bit soon as you lot feel the drill bit go through the MDF).

Lastly screw the legs on, and you're all done! Your headboard is ready to put behind your bed as a statement piece in your bedchamber.

I hope you found this project really inspiring and that you lot are now keen to give one a get! If you have whatsoever questions merely go in touch, and please share photos of any finished pieces because I would love to run into what yous make.

Savor :)

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