DIY Upholstered Headboard

So I completed a DIY!!! And a tough one.

This post has been a long time coming. I actually started discussing this project Oh 3 months ago and we attempted it the end of January.

There were a few bumps, bruises, and spats throughout the process, but we finally finished this weekend and if I must say so myself I am pretty impressed with the outcome.  

There are hundreds of DIY tutorials on upholstering a headboard out there but from my experience many make it look easy.

I am here to tell you the exact opposite. First things first, I am a beginner, amatuer DIY'er. I will admit I went for the toughest shape out there - of course. However, this project was challenging & very trying at times. But in the end it was totally worth it. If you have patience and put in a little extra work, you will be impressed in the end. If I can do it, you can do it!

If you get frustrated easily or have a tendency to throw things, pout, cry, yell...you may just want to start with a square shape! Just want to keep it real.

Enough talk, here is a step by step process on how we upholstered a headboard for our guest bedroom.

First things first, project necessities:

-Bottle of Wine
-Jigsaw
-Measuring Tape
-Level

-Plywood
-2 inch foam
-Queen Batting
-3 yards of fabric
-Spray Adhesive
-Staple Gun

Now here are the steps we followed:

1) Draw Outline. I used bowls & place mats to help with curves and scallops.

2) Set up shop. Check your measurements & make sure everything matches up on both sides. Of course mine were off.

3) Double measure & mark the top circle. That is the focal point & all.

4) Let husband work his manhood and cut the shape using a jigsaw.

5) Shape complete. Smile, jump up and down, kiss your man on a job well done!

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Side note: Do the following steps yourself or with a friend if your husband is a perfectionist and doesn't like bumps and imperfections.{see perfect shape above}. The following steps caused quite a few cross words and heated discussions due to lack of complete perfectness.

You've been warned!

6) Put foam on the ground, headboard on top, trace shape.
(Note I didn't buy the proper foam & as you see I had sections. Would have been easier & neater to have one large piece)

7) No pic included but cut foam & use spray adhesive to attach foam to plywood (easy).

8) Lay headboard (foam on bottom) on top of batting and cut batting ~5in from plywood outlining the shape, cut & staple.

9) No pic included but lay fabric on the floor, headboard on fabric & cut accordingly and staple.

Very Important: Iron your fabric.

10) Flip over shape smiling & anticipating excitement...Insert frustration and a sense of failure. Bunchy, Messy, Horrible.

11) Take some time to re-evaluate & re-vamp. Unstaple your staples & go for it again.

Tip: Start from the sides and pull fabric tight, tight, tight. .

Even better Tip: Cut small slits in your fabric {sorry no pic} where the shape scallops to help staple where shape curves.

12) Flip over shape hoping for the best & smile.

We have yet to mount on the wall so as you can see it slightly hangs off the bed to the right and is currently leaning against the wall. Hopefully, hanging shouldn't be too tough. I have to wait a few days until the husband is talking to me again. Kidding!

All in all, this was a very rewarding DIY. Although challenging at times it was fun to take it step by step and see the final product in the end. Also knowing we spent a mere $100 instead of $1,000 getting a custom headboard makes all the frustration easily forgettable. I'll try and get a budget breakdown soon.

We have a lot more to do in this guest room hence the bare walls, but hopefully our guest will enjoy sleeping in style.

Have you completed a DIY headboard and it didn't go as planned? Please tell me someone else out there found it as challenging {& rewarding} as I did?