A quick and easy DIY weekend warrior project to upgrade your bedroom! A king headboard under $100!
As I mentioned in a previous post- my folks bought us a king bed for our new apartment- allowing our queen bed to be used for guests and to serve as a Moroccan day bed in my studio. And during all this- we discussed making a king headboard for our new bed. Many instructional emails were shared- and as always adjustments needed to be made during the building process. But in total the entire headboard with fabric cost us $70!
And now here is the how to:
NOTE- this headboard is made to attach to a metal standard bed frame, and not to be attached to the wall behind the bed.
1) measure the width of your mattress- ours was 77" inches wide thus we had the folks at Lowes cut our plywood to 78 inches.
2) Supplies: purchase one 4x8 ft piece of plywood 3/4" wide. Have plywood cut to the width of your mattress. Also buy 1 2x4 12ft long for the legs- have them cut the piece in half- 1 for each leg. Buy another 2x4 cut to the width of your headboard(78")- this will go along the top of the back of the board- to allow for increase support and for the fabric slip cover to lay/hang evenly.
Hardware: purchase 4 bolts, 8 washers and 4 nuts- they will be used to attach the 2x4 legs to the metal bed frame so purchase bolts that are long enough. You will also need long drywall screws to attach all the pieces together.
ABOVE is the husband attaching the 2x4s legs to the plywood headboard.
Once the legs and back piece are attached to the plywood using your drywall screws. Pre drill large holes at the bottom of the legs that will be the channels for the bolts to attach the headboard to the frame.
COVERING the headboard: My mother brought us batting and an old pink quilt (as seen on the bed beneath the headboard) to create a little cushion and softness to our headboard. However- after the quilt was attached to the headboard- using a heavy duty staple gun, she concluded that the batting would not be necessary for this particular headboard. So she continued with the next step of covering the quilt with muslin. The muslin acts as another layer while also creating a neutral color for underneath your final fabric. For best results- while stapling the layers of fabric to the headboard- have the headboard standing upright. Start along the top center and work your way to the edges then do each edge and finish up along the bottom. NOTE: We also glued felt to the bottom of the legs to protect the wood floors- especially when moving the bed.
For Fabric we went to Jo-Ann's and purchased the paisley print seen below for $30. We saved money on fabric by only buying about 3.5 yards to cover the face and sides of the headboard but not the entire back. Down the road in so many years if and when it comes time for a new cover I will make a slip cover with an open slit up the back and tie the slit together with fabric ties- to allow for an easier time to put the cover on the headboard. You can also get fancier with your headboard by cutting your plywood into a fun shape.
And voila the final result! My mother sewed the pieces of fabric together and then attached it to the panel with the staple gun while taking care in folding and tucking each corner. One adjustment that was made along the way- was to shorten the overall length of the legs- in order to make the entire height of the headboard 58 inches tall. With the original height of the legs- the headboard looked enormous in our bedroom and my mom was afraid of it being too heavy and falling on us in the middle of the night! The final step was to attach the headboard to the frame by slipping the bolts through the pre-drilled channels and the corresponding holes in the metal frame- a washer was put on either end of the bolt and each bolt was sealed with a nut.
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