The Headboard

We did it!  We made the upholstered headboard!  Granted, it’s lying on the floor in the office – but I’m going to call this a win even if it isn’t on the wall quite yet.

A few months ago, we decided to go the route of just about every DIY/HGTV program on TV and make an upholstered headboard for our room.  I am here to report back: we made it out alive.  We are still married.

There are great instructions all over the web for this project.  However, I wanted to take the time to round up a few links that helped us out and add a few notes.  Some of this is probably just common sense, but this is one of those projects where I think selecting the best materials might be more important than how talented you are with a staple gun.  (Although, I’m sure that helps too.)

Here are the links that got us started:

• DIY Tufted Headboard via Apartment Therapy
• Upholstered Headboard via Apartment Therapy
• What to do with your leftover homasote board: Bulletin Board Project

Materials:

• Homasote Board: cut to size at our local lumber yard.  Homasote is made from recycled materials and is much lighter weight than plywood.
• Foam: I wrestled home some 2” deep foam from JoAnn Fabrics which came in rolls 24” wide.  The foam was regularly $30/yard, so waiting for a sale or coupon is critical.
• Batting to cover the foam
• Fabric: I used upholstery-weight white micro-suede (also at JoAnn’s, also on sale).

• Hardware: Buttons –  We wanted the buttons to complement the hardware on our bedroom furniture.  After searching through the button department, I decided to use these simple metal cover buttons (the same kind you would normally wrap in fabric).    Since we wanted to leave the metal exposed, I cut small felt circles to wedge between the front and back of the 2-piece buttons.  The buttons feel sturdy, and although they aren’t as nice as brushed nickel would be, they were drastically less expensive.
• Backing buttons, Soft-sculpture needle, and upholstery thread – To create the tufted look, we used a long soft-sculpture needle to cinch the buttons through pre-drilled holes in the homasote board.  This was easily the most challenging part of the process.  All of the threads were anchored to simple shirt buttons on the back.
• Hardware: Flush Mount Hanger-Fastener (see above)

Other Notes:

• We decided not to adhere the foam with spray adhesive, and it worked out fine.  The only adhesive I could find was high in VOCs, so we decided to skip the toxic stuff.  The foam did slip around a little bit in the beginning, but once all the buttons were cinched everything felt very secure.
• Keeping it simple:  I did find some instructions online for diamond tufting where you actually create deep pleats in the fabric, but we liked the simpler look of the mock tufting.  Not to mention, it seemed a lot easier.
• It is by no means perfect.  These pictures really seem to highlight every single wrinkle.  However, in person, it looks fantastic.  I can’t wait to see it up against some soft gray-blue walls!  (Maybe next weekend?)

[Updated 8/23/2010:  Would you like to see the finished version of this project?  More photos and an update are right here: the DIY Upholstered Headboard (Finished).]