Works for Me Wednesday #33: Homemade Headboard

The summer before we got married Richie and I spent a lot of time watching Food Network and HGTV. Our TV habits definitely inspired us Richie to start cooking more and actually decorating our place. Last summer when we moved to DC, we bought all kinds of furniture from IKEA but couldn't bring ourselves to spend hundreds of dollars on a bed set.

So we decided to make a headboard to make it appear like we had a bed and not just a frame with wheels that holds our bed off the ground.

We bought all of the necessary materials right before Thanksgiving and planned to get it done then. Enter full-time job and law school. The materials have been sitting in the same place since we bought them back in November.

Until last week.

So my Works for my Wednesday post today is to make your own headboard instead of going out and buying an expensive one.

Materials Needed:

1. Measuring Tape
2. Plywood measured in the headboard measurements
   
3. Enough fabric to cover the plywood plus fold over all the sides
4. Enough batting stuffing to cover the plywood with at least one layer
   
5. Staple gun with staples
6. Two 2x4s cut in to the same height of your plywood.
7. Nails that are long enough (but not too long) to go through a 2x4
   

Step 1: Measure the length and height-from the top of your bed to how high you want the headboard to be above the bed. This is measurement #1.

Step 2: Measure the height of the bed from the ground to where you want the top of the headboard to be. This is measurement #2.

Step 3: Go to Home Depot (or other home store) and buy plywood in measurement #1, two 2x4s in measurement #2, and a staple gun.

Step 4: Pick out and buy fabric that you want to use. Buy enough to cover the wood and have some leftover to fold and staple over the sides. Buy enough stuffing/batting to cover the plywood at the same store.

Step 5: Put everything in your guest room and leave it for seven months.

Step 6: Line the 2x4s up on opposite sides of the headboard (as demonstrated below) and nail into place on the top and bottom of the headboard until 2x4s are securely fastened to headboard.

Step 7: Flip over the headboard and lay the stuffing/batting on the other side. You can staple in place if you like. Place the fabric over the stuffing and fold over all edges of the plywood.

Step 8: Pull the fabric fairly tight over the edges and staple into place. This is much easier with two people so someone can be holding down the other side at the same time. Staple the fabric evenly around all edges of the headboard.

Step 9: Stand the headboard up and put behind your bed.

Step 10: Admire your beautiful new headboard.

Richie did this all on his own while I was at work last week. All I did was tell you about it. Check out his beautiful handiwork. I was impressed.

Before
After

For more great Works for Me Wednesday tips, check out Shannon's Rocks in My Dryer.