Headboarded.

I thought I would take some time to document my adventures in upholstered headboarding. I’m not going to walk you through all the details since there are oodles of tutorials online already, but some photos and stories of my steps should be good and fine.

As you may remember, we have some funny little windows above our bed that go out to the sunroom. I’ve heard that they were initially put there to help with airflow in the early days- our house was built in the 1920s and obviously there wasn’t AC back then (I wouldn’t last- even in MN!). Alas, the windows are a cute little feature and I will admit that when it is open-window season, they do help with airflow in the room.

However, having these windows as a focal point on the wall always kind of stumped me with the question of whether or not we needed a headboard. Would it be too much?

We proceeded just fine without one, but then one day I decided that an upholstered headboard would be just right- it could add some softness to the wall and some “coziness” to our bed. And with freshly painted bedside tables, I thought a simple headboard would only add to the bedroom progression!

First, the color scheme. Check this out:

The headboard would be made of the patterned henna-ish fabric above, which is actually a clearance curtain panel from trusty Target. I paid $14 for it, and as you can see below, it was the 84 inch length. Not bad, not bad.

I also picked up a twin size mattress pad and some quilt batting (I think that’s what it is called) from Joanne Fabric, and super-fabulous husband Bry helped me get the right size and weight of wood at Home Depot. With my staple gun and some spray adhesive, I knew it was time to get started. 

Please take note of Tilly- she is seriously ALWAYS by my side when I am doing random projects. Love that dog so much.

I cut the mattress pad down so it fit perfectly over the wood, but left some edge with the batting so I could wrap it around the wood and keep the edges soft. I did my best to center the pattern, and just wrapped and pulled and stapled until the fabric was good and secure and centered. I was going to try to add some tufts or nailheads, but realized with such a busy pattern, it would be better to keep things simple. So I used some scrap wood to build a bit of a frame, which I also covered in the same fabric. You can see that detail here:

We decided to adhere it to the wall since we don’t have a rug in our room right now and the bed is pretty easy to move around. So we used a simple hinged system from the hardware store- it is made for things like this and what I liked best is that the headboard will lay flat against the wall.

And then, EEEEEEK! The fun part- seeing it on the wall with the bed. I was a little worried I wouldn’t like it, but I did, I did. Now if I could only remember to take off those cheap little roller blinds.

And now came the fun part- styling it. I still haven’t come up with my favorite combo, and truthfully, most days it’s a pile of mismatched pillowcases on our normal pillows, and all the cute throw pillows are on the floor. But sometimes, every once in awhile, I make it up nice and it definitely makes me smile.

Which combo below do you like best?

Sick of seeing all the different options yet? Me too.

Finally, let’s hope that I can someday make a decision about lamps. I would love a simple wall sconce (with a bending arm?) on each side. But that requires some electrical work. Would it be worth it? I’m hesitant, only because I think at some point we might have to do this with the wall and then the sconces would have to go. We’ll see. And perhaps some art of each side as well? We also really need a rug, especially as the weather finally gets colder. Oh, and a new light fixture! But we are making progress, slowly but surely. That’s the beauty of owning a house- there really is no rush and you can continually tweak and change things as you wish. Such fun.

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