Ever since I found an upholstered headboard featured in Notebook Magazine (their second issue), I’ve been wanting to make one. This weekend, Av and I made one and I think it turned out really nice!
We’re in the midst of redecorating our master bedroom – top to bottom. Previously, three walls were silver and one wall was royal blue (it was pretty masculine, but then again, those walls were last painted when Av bought the house, a year before we met). We just repainted, and I chose “Baked Brie” by Behr. I was hoping “Baked Brie” didn’t come out “Boring Beige” – and it didn’t – it’s a really nice color!
We’ve also moved our previous furniture suite into one of the guest bedrooms, and sort-of started all over with the master bedroom. We have a couple of nice armoires that we inherited, and I finished making those over this weekend (that’ll be tomorrow’s post).
I’m just not into the idea of having a whole room full of furniture in the bedroom anymore. We have pretty nice-size closets (I’ve always dreamed of having one of those huge closet-rooms with the huge mirrors and super-plush carpet, like in Mommie Dearest!!) and I believe in hanging up rather than folding almost everything, so we don’t need a great deal of drawer space. Really, the only furniture we’ll have in our bedroom now is the bed and two armoires. I like that soooo much better! The only thing we’re missing now is a chaise lounge to go in front of the big window between the two armoires – and I’m shopping for that right now! I think I’d like one similar to the ones at the Alluvian Hotel in Greenwood…hmmm….
Anyway – back to the headboard! The idea with this is that I can change the fabric with the seasons…so this time, I started out with a really Autumn-y fabric – it’s a nice chocolate color with pretty teal embroidered vines. For Winter, I think I’ll go with something more dramatic, and then for Spring and Summer, something sweet and playful. The fabric is just stapled on, so I’m thinking it won’t be a big production to replace it.
Here’s what we used:
* A sheet of MDF 2″ wider on each size than our queen-size bed, and 48″ tall (I think 48″ is the largest piece they had at the hardware store).
* Staple gun, staples
* Cotton batting from the fabric shop (this goes between the fabric and the MDF to make it soft)
* Fabric big enough to fit the MDF and overhang on each side by 6″ or so (so it’s easy to staple on the back).
Here’s the sheet of MDF:
We stretched the cotton batting over the front of the MDF, and pulled it tightly to staple it to the back. We stapled every three or so inches.
Here it is, with all the batting stapled on. We found the easiest place to do this was on the bed:
Av had the idea to start stapling the fabric on to the back, then lifting the MDF up and pulling the fabric along the front. This was SO much easier than us picking up the whole sheet of MDF to do the fabric! We just had to lift the wood a bit to peek underneath to make sure we were keeping everything even and nice & tight. On the corners, I made gift-wrap edges.
Here’s what the back of the board looks like with everything stapled. I took a pair of scissors after this and squared everything up.
Here’s the headboard! We just placed it behind the bed and we were all set!
