Complement your bed with a comfortable DIY headboard that makes a statement.
You can create any shape headboard you want, just remember you have to cut it out with a jigsaw, so rather nothing too complex. The fabric is also up to you — choose from cotton, linen or even velvet for a luxurious finish.
Project Difficulty: Easy/Beginner
Shopping list
- 610 x 1 600 x 16mm chipboard shelving
- Bosch Jigsaw
- Sandpaper
- Medium-density foam (710 x 1 700 x 60mm)
- Bosch Impact Drill and 6mm drill bit
- 5 x upholstery buttons
- A long upholstery needle
- Strong thread or twine
- 5 x nails
- 2 x 46 x 80 x 1 000mm SA pine for the legs
- 8 x wood screws
Fabric
- 2m backing fabric (calico or similar)
- 2m patterned fabric
What to Do
- Measure and copy the design onto the chipboard then cut out the pattern with a jigsaw. Smooth out the rough edges with sandpaper.
- Centre the chipboard over the foam and trace the design, then cut out your foam with a 50mm overlap all the way around. Repeat the tracing onto the backing fabric with a 10mm overlap.
Trace the same design onto the patterned fabric. Cut it with a 100mm overlap all the way round so that there is enough fabric to stretch over the back of the board.- Drill five 5mm holes spaced according to the measurements on the diagram, through the chipboard where the covered buttons will go.
- Attach the foam to the board using a staple gun. Place the staples on the corners and fill the gaps till the foam isevenly attached along the edges.
- Place the patterned fabric face down on a flat surface then the board, foam side against it. Fold and staple the fabric over and onto the back of the board starting along the bottom edge. As you staple it in place, stretch it at the corners and joins. Add staples in the gaps until the fabric is secure.
- Cover your five buttons with matching fabric. (If your headboard is plain you could use a contrasting fabric.)
Thread your upholstery needle with the strong thread or twine and insert it through one of the holes in the back of vour board. Push it through the hole in your board, through the foam and the fabric and out through the front. Take it through the button loop and then back through the fabric, foam and board, 10mm from the exit hole. Repeat this, making sure you have enough thread or twine to pull the button tightly against the foam. You may need someone to push the button from the other side, while you tie a knot over a nail at the back. Repeat for the remaining four buttons.- Line up your backing fabric and staple it neatly over the back of your board.
- Attach the legs to the back of the headboard 400mm from each end using four wood screws per leg.
NOTE:
The height of the headboard will be determined by the height of your bed. This board is 720mm from the floor and the legs overlap the board by 280mm.
SOURCE
All the fabrics are from U&G Fabrics: headboard, Mangrove, Cayman Collection, colour Strawberry, R205,20/m, the striped bolster cushion, Treasures, colour Strawberry, R205,20/m and plain, Bamboo, colour Ivory, R376,20/m.
U&G Fabrics 0861 44 45 46 or www.ugfabric.co.za
Text and production Ruth Brophy. Photographs Michelle Duguid. This article was taken from the June 2010 edition of Garden and Home magazine.
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