I have always been a big fan of HGTV and DIY projects. Besides being inexpensive, they are fun and bring a lot of personal pride. At some point many years ago, while watching HGTV, I saw someone make a headboard and I immediately added that project to the TO DO LIST in my head. My entire adult life, I had never had a headboard, so this is the story of how I made my very first headboard.
During the end of August, while helping me put the sheets on the bed, Scott's side ripped. I was sad and glad all at the same time, because even tho I loved my beautiful ivy-print sheets, they were 11 years old and thread-barren. After much searching, I found some gorgeous green toile print and knew right away that the map prints I had been thinking of purchasing weren't even close to what I really wanted. After shopping around for the best price on this green toile bedroom set, I realized the sheets were not included, so then there was a ton more research on sheets and thread counts and shams and etc. Finally, I found some beautiful 400tc creme sheets in the same ticking stripe as the backside of the green toile quilt. I ordered everything (including an extra set of curtains) and waited for it to arrive.
Of course, everything arrived piecemeal, the rug was back ordered, the sheets were a separate order and coming from India, so I waited FOREVER (until Oct 12) to have the entire bedroom set all together. This gave me time to do some research on the exact steps to making my own headboard as well as purchase all the supplies I would need. When all the bedding had finally arrived, I washed it all and got ready for my first big DIY project since before Eric was born.
We had an extra closet door (since we got that beautiful full length mirrored closet door shortly after we moved in) and that's what I wanted to use as the main part of my headboard. I measured twice and had Scott cut once, lol. Then I made a bunch of measurements so I would know where I wanted the buttons to go (and so that they would be straight).
I laid the door down and sprayed it with adhesive, then put down a layer of foam.
Then another coat of adhesive and another layer of foam. This is going to be a diamond-tufted headboard, so I needed the extra layer of cushion to get a deep set button hole (more on this later).
After the foam was adhered, I drilled holes based on the pencil marks and measurements I had made earlier.
The I flipped the door over so I could see where I had drilled, and started to make the drill holes larger just in the foam portion.
In order to do this, my dad invented and forged a special tool for me which worked like an absolute charm (thank you!!!). If it wasn't such a chore to sharpen the inside of the tiny steel pipe, I would suggest making these by the truck-load and selling them! You can see how perfectly it cut thru both layers of foam. I can't even imagine trying to do this any other way.
Next came two layers of batting and that extra set of curtains I bought. How else could I match the headboard to the rest of the bedroom set -- yes, with the matching curtains used as my fabric! I also used part of the same curtain to cover the self-covering buttons I bought. This was a chore and required an extra trip to the store to buy more buttons as well as enlisting the help of both my parents (thank you!!!) -- you wouldn't think covering buttons would require so much expertise, but its definitely one of the more difficult arts, lol!
And if I thought covering the buttons was difficult, attaching them to the door proved even harder. This was another time in my life that I would have been happy to have at least 2 more arms, but 4 more would have been preferred, lol! First you string the back of the button with some heavy duty upholstery cording, then you pull the cording thru the fabric, two layers of batting, and two layers of foam and push the button down into the hole in the foam while you knot and staple the cording to the back of the door. I had 17 buttons and had to do them in two different days because my hands were so sore from holding the door up while trying to push the button down into the foam and knot and staple the rope to the back of the door, lol! This is what the rope looks like on the back of the door, its stapled and knotted three times to keep it secure forever.
This is what it looks like on the front -- worth the effort, right? :) The diamond tufting is super deep and makes for a really luxurious look.
Once I got all 17 buttons in place, it was time to staple down the batting and fabric, being sure to get it all flat so it could sit flush against the wall. I purchased a special leveling hanger so the door would remain in the wall even with over 200 pounds of pressure and/or an earthquake, and so that it would be straight.
I had Scott help me get this special leveling hanger screwed into the back of the door and he also helped me hang the whole thing on the wall. I'm so pleased with the way it turned out! Here it is with the matching shams, pillow cases, comforter, quilt, sheets, and throw pillow.
Here are the matching curtains and curtain rods (thanks to Heather for helping me pick out the curtain rods!) This was an extra trip to the store because the ones i bought initially didn't look quite right. The curtains look so nice with our new blinds!
With the extra set of curtains I bought I only used one panel for the headboard, so i cut the other panel in half and used them on our night tables.
The coordinating rug sits in front of my hope chest at the base of our bed, and completes our awesome new look! I smile every time I walk into our bedroom!
