Upholstered Headboard - Beginner Project

13 Materials
$100
4 Hours
Medium

This is the first headboard I ever made. It's super simple.


Make The Frame

We made our frame from 2x2s and a couple of pieces of MDF (mainly because the MDF left in one sheet wouldn't fit in the car!).

Lay out the top, bottom and side rails with the middle support according to the diagram.

Nail the top and bottom rails between the side rails. The bottom rail sits at about 18" (455mm) from the ground but you will want to measure this on your bed. It needs to sit at about the bottom of the mattress.

Turn the frame over and nail the two pieces of MDF onto the frame.

Next we covered the frame with foam. I bought a king size topper pad. It wasn't long enough so I had to cut it and put it back together. 

Lay the foam on the floor then lay the frame on top, facing down.

Wrap the foam up and around the frame, stapling it as you go. You may need to trim the foam to fit around the legs. Put the staples quite close together.

After the foam comes the batting, this makes it nice and soft as well as smoothing out the staples, etc. 

Wrap it in the same manner as you did the foam. Take more care with the corners to ensure they sit nice and flat. Trim off any excess with your scissors.

Once that's all nice and neat, it's time for the fabric which is probably the trickiest part, just because you need to get it on straight and looking pretty.

You repeat the process for the fabric but this time when you staple on the fabric you need to be a bit more careful.

Start by putting a staple in each of the centres - centre top, bottom and each side. Then work your way around, pulling the fabric nice and tight but not so much that it pulls everything out of shape.

To get the corners looking nice, you will need to mitre the fabric. All this means is that you are aiming to have a diagonal seam. To do this staple the fabric tight one way, then pull it down and staple it tight the other way.

Trim away excess fabric as you go. This is what the corners should look like from the side.

We also stapled the fabric right down inside the frame as this stopped the foam bulging up at the back and it gives extra strength.

This is what you are aiming for.

Once you have completed the front, make the back tidy by covering it with a piece of calico. We folded in the edges and nailed this down.

All done! We had fun making this and I'm really pleased with the outcome. It doesn't really go with the blue walls and yellow drapes but we're house hunting so we're not worried about that just now.

For the full tutorial visit my blog post https://www.livingareallife.com/posts/upholstered-headboard.

You might also like this  upholstered headboard with nailhead detail.

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Frequently asked questions
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  1 question
  • Beth Beth on Dec 03, 2020

    You went to all that trouble to make a nice headboard. So why didn't you make it fit the bed?!

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  • Happy Days Hometalker Happy Days Hometalker on Dec 02, 2022

    You did a great job, if memory serves, hotels have oversized headboards that look magazine worthy as this one does. It makes the room look luxurious to the max.

  • Aro90084973 Aro90084973 on Dec 04, 2023

    Time moneymotivationskill effort.

    buy thick foamwrapit in layers of old bedsheets with final layer of your favourite fabric.measuredimenionscarefully.

    attached to

    a wall with double sided tape.easilyremovable.

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