Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Headboard Makeover

BEFORE


AFTER

The bedding, lamps and sidetables are all the same. I just got tired of hitting my head on the silly metal fleur de lis tie backs that were holding the curtains in place. I found the beautiful-perfect color-just the right size-striped fabric at Target. It was a curtain panel - just one - on the clearance rack just sitting there waiting for me to pick it up. And how much did that fabric cost? Only $6.08. Ooooh, I love a good deal. We purchased a piece of plywood for about $30ish.

Here's how the project went down:
1. I wrapped the wood in some egg crate foam we already had - 2 layers of it to give a nice padded look - and staple gunned it in place. Don't worry, I put the lumpy side to the board so the flat side of the pad was facing out.

2. Wrapped it again with a layer of quilt batting (add about $13 more) to smooth out any bumps from the egg crate foam. And staple gunned it down.

3. Wrapped it again in a white sheet that was also just the right size (and that we also already had and was unused because who really uses the flat sheet anyway? Not us.) to smooth over the quilt batting and staple gunned that in place. (And now in retrospect we could have probably skipped this step - I must have been very concerned about having a "smooth" finish, thus all the extra layers)

4. Wrapped it a final time with the striped fabric and staple gunned it in place - we used A LOT of staples so add about $5 for staples to the entire cost of the project

5. Jeremy screwed a 2x4 into the studs in the wall behind our bed.

6. I screwed 2 very industrial wall hanging hooks (+ $2.50 for those) into the back of the headboard.

7. I also screwed 2 super screws into the 2x4 to hang the headboard from.

8. Jeremy and I lifted that beast of upholstered plywood, foam, fabric, and staples up and onto the screws.

9. Wah-lah! That took about 3 hours total for the project. TOTAL COST: about $56.58 for a stunning headboard. Not too shabby. Or maybe it IS shabby - shabby chic that is.

8 comments:

Kristin said...

Looks great. I LOVE that you found the perfect clearance curtain for the project.

Pollock Palooza said...

Ok someone has FINALLY done it! I LOVE it!!! I have been wanting to do this since we moved in (currently we have no head board) and I've never been quite sure how it would turn out. So I'm still a little unsure if I read the hanging instructions right... is it wall- 2x4- 2 hooks- head board? Does it stick out on the side? I totally want to take the head board off and look. But as for the stapling, it looks fantastic! Love the stripes!

kelly said...

I like it, very pricey hotel look. If you hit your head on it it won't hurt either!

Maria Babin said...

you are so talented! how do you come up with all these great ideas!!! i do like the fleur de lys headboard you used to have, though! if i weren't all the way over here in france, i'd come steal it from you!

threelittlebackseatdrivers.blogspot.com said...

Awesome! It looks so good...and it looked great before too! You are amazing...inspirational...haha...i need to get my butt in gear and start all my projects! Oh, and your last blog with the kitchen..way cute too! :)

sueyado said...

Jennifer, all I can say is WOW! You are so creative! I love all your decorating ideas. I can't wait to get started on some of my own. I might copy some of your awesome ideas, though! Thanks for sharing!

Luna said...

I am so glad you did this. I have been trying to explain this idea to the HUbbs, but he isn't very sure of the idea. Now he can see it, with step-outs! Thank you!

American Homemaker said...

Nice! I don't have a headboard. I've been trying to decide exactly what I wanna do :)