The Savvy Stylist Daily: DIY Upholstered Headboard

I apologize I have been MIA these past few days! I have been super busy - but I had to show you my latest project. I have been helping a friend with her new apartment a bit lately and trying to do it all on a tight budget. One main piece that she still needed was a headboard... which can certainly be costly (especially a tufted upholstered headboard). But after shopping around - I decided we could make one ourselves! The total cost was about $100, only a couple hours of work, AND it is personalized to exactly what we were looking for!

Here are the steps to make your own:

Materials you will need:

1/2" plywood

2" foam

batting (standard quilting batting is good)

fabric

button cover kits

staple gun

decorators needle (3"-4")

upholstery strength thread

saw (if needed)

mounting hardware (picture below of what we used)

Start with a piece of 1/2" plywood cut to the height and width you want. This one is 62" wide (for a queen size bed) and 42" tall.

If you want a bit more detail, create a template for the corners. You can pretty much use any shape, be creative! Trace the template on to the plywood (I just used a sheet of printer paper).

At this point, it would be SO much easier if we had a circular saw...but we didn't. But it wasn't too bad doing it by hand.

Next, trace the outline of the plywood onto the foam. We used (2) 1" pieces of foam and stacked them together (it is cheaper than buying 1 piece of 2" foam).

At this time, you will also want to measure out the placement of your buttons and drill a hole in the plywood all the way through. I used a 1/4" drill bit, but I would recommend a 1/2" to make it easier sew on the buttons.

Cut out your foam template.

Place your batting on the bottom, then foam, then plywood.

Wrap the batting around all the sides and staple it with a staple gun to hold it all together.

Then, Prepare your fabric to be wrapped and stapled the same way. Be sure you steam or iron out all the wrinkles before wrapping and stapling. My dog, Nylah, wanted to be in a photo since she was 'helping'.

There are a few steps that I forgot to photograph - sorry! But after attaching your fabric to the plywood (and you have used your button cover kits to make your buttons), sew them on through the pre-drilled holes in the back using your decorators needle. Then, staple the remaining string 4-5 times down the back on the plywood.