I've been wanting to make a headboard for my bed for quite some time now. I had a queen size bed before I got married that had a headboard, but I put several pillows on my bed and you could never see it. Well, when my honey and I got married, we decided to get a bigger bed. He is 6'2" and his feet always hung off the end of the bed. And the mattress on my queen was a lovely, soft mattress, but it had very little support. When I slept in it alone, it was great. In fact, my daughter, Jess, inherited it and when I hang out with her in her room, it is super comfy to sit in and watch tv together or play video games. But when my hubby and I tried to sleep in it together, we just rolled to the middle. We did that for at least six months, so I was definitely in the market.
He also has some back trouble once and a while. Nothing serious, I just knew we needed not only a bigger mattress, but a better mattress. So we purchased a California king bed and I am (actually, we are) in heaven. It has adjustable head settings and underbed lighting which I didn't even know I wanted until I had it. But it didn't have a headboard or sideboards with it. And they are pretty pricy to purchase through the company. I had already been planning on making a headboard, I was just really waiting until we got settled in the new place and the bed arrived before I got to serious about it, so I knew what I had in mind.
I don't like anything to elaborate. Every once and a while or here and there, it looks fantastic, but I don't want it everywhere in my home. With that in mind, I knew it wouldn't be hard (and didn't think it would be too expensive) to just make one for OSB. Since we've been working on the basement, we have pieces of it everywhere downstairs, but the man said I should just get a new piece and make it the size I need instead of trying to make the size work for my headboard. We purchased a 4 x 8" piece and he cut it down to the dimensions I needed.
I had already picked up the materials I needed at Hobby Lobby which you can see below. I already had the wood glue, so I was off and running, dragging the hubby along with me.
We bought the Poly Foam already in the size I wanted. 1 x 39 x 76" was perfect for our size bed which has dimensions of 72 inches wide by 84 inches long. We had two inches over on each side which looks really nice framing the bed. The Poly Foam was even on sale 30% off when I purchased it, so it only cost me $20.
I also purchased these French cleats to mount on the wall and the back of the headboard. If you have never used them, they work great. One set of cleats can hold 100 pounds. We used two because of the size of our headboard more than the weight. These were not on sale; however I did use the 40% off coupon that Hobby Lobby offers every week which brought the price of one from $20 to $12. If you lived closer than I do, you could always purchase them one at a time for some extra savings.
Next, I used wood glue to adhere the Poly Foam to the OSB. Like I said before, we already had the wood glue, so it was more out of convenience, but you could use liquid nails or E6000 or a similar product. I let that sit for about two hours to make sure I had a good bond.
Now I was ready for the fabric. I had laid it out on my guest room bed and just placed the OSB with the adhered Poly Foam toward the fabric. I cut the fabric to fit, but was not precise about my cuts. Just cut along the edge with about a four inch edge to staple to the back of the headboard.
My next step was to staple it all together. I tried to be careful on the edges to not pull to tight as the corners could poke through, but not too loose either as it would not look smooth in the front. I also didn't pull the fabric too tight as I didn't want those little bumps that can form between staples if you pull too hard.
Here is a picture of the headboard before attaching it to the wall. I did just leave the back uncovered and raw. That doesn't bother me as no one will know that it is raw on the back and it will never show until taken down, but if you wanted a more finished look all around, you could cut another piece to fit and hem it and then glue in place or use those Velcro strips. You could even purchase tack strips from furniture upholsterers and tack it down. I'm sure there are many other methods for those of you with creative juices flowing through your veins.
Finally, we attached the French cleats to the back of the headboard and the wall, mounted the headboard and Viola...
I thought the end result was very impressive from what it looked like before the headboard addition. It added balance to the room giving the bed more presence. It also makes if feel more finished. All in all, I was very happy with the end result.
Here is the before picture.
I makes quite a difference, don't you think?
If you have any other ideas for headboards, please feel free to share or comment. My sister made a headboard from an old door. It is a beautiful piece. Maybe I can get her to post a blog on here showing you her process. I'll let you know. Thanks for tuning in and please let me know what you think.
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