Upcycled Tin Roofing Shingles Headboard Diy

ScavengerChic
by ScavengerChic
I love to make headboards and they are probably my second most favorite thing to make...coffee tables being number one. The problem is, you can only have so many headboards sitting around, so when son #2 said he was actually in need of a headboard my ears perked right up.
To the ordinary viewer this may look like a rusty pile of tin. But this rusty pile of tin originally started out as roofing shingles used some time around the early 1900's. And while tin ceiling tiles are super expensive, you can still get roofing shingles for a few dollars a piece.
I knew that I wanted to use these shingles as the starting point for my headboard.
The headboard I'm building is for a queen size bed. I started my headboard by laying out all my pieces on the floor. Building off of the roofing shingles, I added 4, 60 inch 1x6's and 1, 60 inch 1x8. The 1x8 is the second board from the top. For the sides, there are 2, 1x4's measuring 40 3/4". What you don't see from the front are 2 more 1x4's made of scrap pallet wood positioned so that the horizontal, boards are sandwiched in between.
An eight foot 4x4 post, cut in half will be the support posts for the bed and I used a 69", 1x6 for the top ledge. Two pieces of 1x2's will be sufficient to cover the top and bottom parts of the tins. The blocks in between the tins are there just to see if I can cover the gaps with a 1x4. That works. The scrap piece of molding up against the top ledge was a piece I pulled out of my son's basement that we've been demolishing. It was originally part of a knotty pine club basement straight out of the 50's.
The side pieces are nailed on thru all the layers.
Use a tape measure to make sure the tins are evenly spaced. Cover the tops and bottoms of the tins with the 1x2's and nail into place. Scrap pallet wood pieces were cut as dividers between the tins and also nailed into place.
Everything was given a good sanding then the 4x4's were attached to the headboard with 4, 6 inch lag screws. Predrill your holes making sure the screws go into the area of the headboard where there are 3 thicknesses of wood.
The top of the headboard was screwed on and the little piece of molding I had rescued was nailed on with finishing nails. Fill in any nail holes with wood filler and any gaps with paintable caulk. Anything that still needs to be sanded, now would be the time to sand.
Painted with white semigloss trim paint. After one coat of paint I noticed that a bit of the rust was bleeding thru the paint on the tins where I didn't want it to bleed. I ended up spraying the tins with a coat of polyurethane. So far, I haven't noticed any additional bleed. I also didn't like the gaps around the tins so they got hit with a bit of caulk. Any other wood bumps were sanded off and the headboard got it's second coat of paint. All finished and set up but I still thought it needed something else....
...Topped off the headboard with one more 1x6 covering the top ledge, stained and varnished. Make sure you visit me at the site below for more step by step pictures and building tips. If you don't have the tins you could easily have the horizontal boards go all the way up your headboard for a "shiplap" look. If you liked this headboard, you may also like my upcycled headboard made from shutters. You can find that one here. http://scavengerchic.com/2016/01/04/headboard-made-from-salvaged-shutters/
ScavengerChic
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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  • Cynthia Cynthia on Jun 21, 2016
    Where would you recommend finding old roofing shingles? You do beautiful work! Love it!
  • Sherri Sherri on Jun 21, 2016
    I love this. I've been looking at many upcycled or DIY headboards to get ideas. This is so far my favorite. I love the way bleedthrough too, but I think you did the right thing to prevent it from bleeding any more. Now I wonder where I can find tin roofing shingles?
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