I live in a very small old house in Virginia. All the bedrooms are tiny. The master bedroom isn't large enough for us to have a bedframe or headboard. But a room just doesn't feel complete to me without a headboard. So I came up with this.
To do this project you will need the following:
1) A cut of medium wieght, or heavier, home decor fabric of your choice that is at least as long OR wide as your bed. I have a California King, which is 72" wide, so I got Two and a half yards to make sure I got enough to center the pattern on the fabric. Because mine is wider than the standard home decor fabric, I also was limited to a pattern option that could be turned on its side without affecting the intended pattern. Florals are great for this. If you have a sewing machine and want something like a stripe you could sew two pieces together to keep the stripe vertical. However, this requires twice as much fabric.
2) Quilters batting. I got 4 crib size quilters batting because I wanted mine to be extra coushy as I like to lean against the wall while I am in bed. But if this is just for looks two should suffice.
3) Four cuts of window trim casing. I chose a wooden fluted casing, but you may choose whichever you prefer. You will need two cuts whatever hieghth you want your headboard and you will need two cuts that are about four inches wider than the width of your bed.
4) With the wooden trim you will also find rosettes. You will need four rosettes for this project.
5) Next you wil need a wood stain in the color of your choice. I chose oak because I have hardwood floors throughout my house that are oak.
6) A paint brush to apply the wood stain. Plan on only using this brush once.
7) Wood filler to fill in the nail holes.
8) Next, A hammer:
9) Several 1.5" inch nails.
10) A heavy duty stapler.
11) Scissors to cut your fabric to size.
12) A level and pencil to mark where you will put the headboard.
Instructions:
1) Decide what width and heigth you would like your headboard to be. I recommend four inches wider than your mattress for the width.
a) cut your fabric and batting to this measurement.
b) cut your length and width trim with a saw to the specified width and heigth being sure to miter your corner as well so they fit together when placed on the wall. Sand edges.
2) Using your paint brush and stain, stain the wood trim, including the rosettes. Use a paper towel to soak up any puddling stain as that will create a darker patch of color where the puddling is occuring. Allow to dry completely.
3) Deciding where to place the headboard: I recommend six to eight inches below the highest point of the bed. I have outlet plugs that prevented me from putting it exaclty where I want to. So be sure to take these things into account when deciding on heigth.
I also recommend about two extra inches on either side of the bed. This is the matress plus four inches I was talking about earlier.
a) Use a level and pencil to outline where you want the headboard.
4) With your heavy duty stapler staple the batting to your wall inside the pencil marking you drew with your level one layer at a time until it is the desired fluffiness you want.
5) Staple the main fabric over the batting pulling it tightly across the wall and batting.
6) With dried wood trim, use your hammer and nails to hammer the trim in place over the edges of the fabric and batting, or over the pencil markings you made with your leveler.
7) Hamer and nail the rosettes over each mitered corner of the trim.
8) Fill the nail holes with wood filler.
9) Touch up the wood filler and naile holes with your wood stain.
10) And let's call it a head board!
