We recently decided to purchase a new king-size bed, which not only meant new sheets, and all the necessary bed coverings, but also a new headboard as well. Being the do-it-yourselfers that we are, we did our research then jumped in and made it. I knew I wanted it to be a nice heavy linen, and well padded for sitting up and reading, but I’m still not sure if I want to add linen covered buttons. So far I’m very happy with it and will show pictures of the process below.
Since we were limited to one location for the bed, due to closets, doors and windows, we decided to mount the headboard to the wall. We were also limited by height due to the window and had to allow room for attaching the headboard under the molding. Our first step was to get a sense of size and shape, so we taped paper to the wall and tried out different curves to determine if we wanted to round the corners or to keep it a simple rectangle.
This is the underside of the headboard. The left side is the top of the headboard. By cutting the slant in the attached board, the headboard will slip right over the wall portion of the the mount and rest securely (see below).
This section is mounted to the wall and the slant on the headboard slips into place. The headboard can then be slid slightly to one side or the other if necessary for placement. This is the point where it’s extra important to make sure everything is level when hanging. We measured from the window down, rather than from the floor. The eye will only see the headboard in relation to the window edge. Old houses have a tendency to settle so measuring can be tricky.
After cutting our piece of foam to exactly the size of the board we adhered it with a spray adhesive (outdoors). We then wrapped the foam with upholstery weight poly fiber, pulling the poly fiber around the foam and wood edges, stapling on the back side. We were careful to make sure everything was smooth and even as we stapled everything in place.
We laid the fabric down, then laid the face side of the headboard onto the fabric. We began stapling the fabric across the bottom, leaving the corner areas unstapled. The depth of our headboard worked well with the width of the fabric so we used the selvedge as a strong, sturdy, even place to staple. By not having to cut away the selvedge we didn’t have to worry about fraying. Take extra care to keep the selvedge and the edge of the headboard even so the grain of the fabric will be perfect. There’s nothing worse than completing an upholstery project to see the grain running at a slant.
After securing the bottom edge into place we stood the headboard up and carefully and smoothly began tacking down the upper edge. Working from the center out, we smoothed the front side often. This is definitely a two-person job. It worked best to staple the center top, then the center of the sides, pulling and smoothing. Do the corners last and make the fold as even as possible. Typically on upholstery it works best to make your folds facing down to keep dust from settling in the corners. Cut away excess fabric to keep everything flat. The bottom corners are much less important because they’ll never be seen, but make sure everything is stapled down tightly so the headboard will fit snugly against the wall.
I’m still contemplating buttons, but I think I like the plain contemporary look of it the way it is. If I do change my mind, I’ll be sure and keep you posted. My current decision is which of my pillows most enhance my new headboard. I think these fresh spring ones from my collection are looking quite nice. If you’d like to see more of them follow the link here.
I absolutely love your headboard! I think buttons would be perfect!!
Posted by: [email protected] | 06/05/2013 at 04:03 PM