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When I was planning our master bedroom refresh, a new bed was at the top of the must-have list. Our old bed was my husband’s growing up and was easily 20 years old. To keep costs down, I decided to order a simple queen wood platform bed (unfortunately, a king won’t fit!) and planned to build and upholster my own headboard. Here is how it turned out!
How to build your own upholstered headboard
This project is actually very simple and anyone can do it! I built a simple wood frame to upholster (I referenced Young House Love’s method to build the frame), but you could also use a solid sheet of plywood cut to the dimensions of your headboard. I would recommend ½” thick plywood, so it is sturdy to work with. Just keep in mind that a solid sheet of plywood is going to be much heavier and will take a little more work to mount securely to the wall.
Before we get started, figure out what size you want your headboard to be. My finished headboard was 60” long and 28” tall (sitting in front of a queen bed). I used painter’s tape on the wall to eyeball how tall I wanted the headboard to be. At 28,” I could have a few inches of the headboard tucked behind the top of our mattress and it was still tall enough to be seen with pillows stacked in front.
Gather your supplies
So let’s get to it! Here are all the supplies I used to build the headboard for our queen bed. Just keep in mind that you may need to adjust your quantities if you are building a different size.
- 3 – 1×2 pine boards at 6’ long
- Kreg jig and kreg jig screws (you can also just use regular screws if you don’t have a kreg jig)
- Batting (I used this)
- 2 yards of fabric
- Staple gun (if you don’t already have one, here’s an affordable option)
- ¼” staples
- D-Ring picture hooks to hang
Build a simple frame
Cut your boards to your desired lengths. I cut 2 boards to 60” long and 4 boards to 25” long (2 for the sides and 2 support pieces for the middle). Why 25” and not 28” you ask?? Well, the actual width of a 1×2 board is 1.5.” Since each piece will be in between the top and bottom boards, I subtracted the actual width of the top and bottom board from my total height. So 28” minus 1.5” for the top board and minus 1.5” for the bottom board, for a total of 25.”
To assemble, I used a Kreg Jig to drill pocket holes in the 4 shorter pieces. Since I already have a Kreg Jig, I found this to be the simplest way to assemble the frame – it keeps the screws hidden. However, you don’t need a Kreg Jig to assemble this if you don’t own one. You can use regular screws to screw through the top and bottom pieces and into the shorter pieces. Since this will be upholstered, the screws won’t show in the end. If you do buy a Kreg Jig and it’s your first time using it, be sure to check out the Kreg Jig website for helpful videos and tutorials.
After building the frame, it’s time to upholster your headboard!
Upholster the new frame
Lay the frame face down on your batting and cut, leaving 2-3” overhang on all sides so you can wrap the batting around the edges of the frame. Staple the first layer of batting to the frame, pulling somewhat taut as you go.
TIP: You don’t need to use a ton of staples on this first layer. Since you will be doing 2 more layers, the staples from those layers will help hold this one in place.
The corners can be a little tricky. Try not to make them too bulky, so that your finished headboard will sit flush against the wall. I pinched the fabric together at the corners and trimmed the excess to help keep the corners flat.
After you staple your first layer of batting, repeat the same process for the second layer. I was going to try to do 3 layers of batting to make my headboard extra plush, but I didn’t quite have enough batting. Only using 2 layers still turned out fine and plush in the end.
After you staple your batting layers, it’s time to lay out your final fabric. A couple of tips when it comes to choosing a fabric:
- Choose a fabric with a little bit of weight to it. A really thin or super stretchy fabric may show more imperfections and be harder to work with when stretching it over the headboard frame.
- Keep patterns in mind. Fabric with one large design may be difficult to place on the headboard and ultimately be covered up by pillows in the end. Fabric with an intricate pattern could also be difficult to keep level or straight when mounting it to the frame.
- Iron your fabric before attaching it to the frame to make sure you don’t have any strange creases after you staple it.
I found a cream-colored linen fabric (similar to this one in the papyrus color) at my local JoAnn Fabrics. It had a slight pattern to it that was easy to get straight on the frame, but also not noticeable enough if I didn’t get it straight.
After choosing and ironing your fabric, lay it face-down (on a clean surface) and lay the batting covered frame on top of it. Repeat the same process as the batting – trim the fabric leaving a 2-3” overhang on all sides (enough to wrap around the batting and staple easily). You’ll want to be a little more careful when attaching this final layer and try to keep it taut as you go. I started in the middle of one of the long sides, did a few staples, then went around to the other long side, pulled it tight and added a few staples in the middle. Just try to keep the fabric smooth and taut as you staple. I also put the staples a lot closer together on this last layer to keep the front smooth. Again, the corners can be tricky, but just try to get the fabric to lay as flat as possible before stapling. And that’s it! You now have a custom headboard!
Mounting your headboard to the wall
When it comes to mounting the headboard to the wall, there are a few different ways you can try. If you used a solid sheet of plywood, I would recommend either buying or making a French cleat to hang your headboard because it is going to be pretty heavy. For my headboard, I found that 2 D-Ring hooks (1 on each support post on the back) hanging on 2 screws in the wall worked the best. We have solid wood paneling in our bedroom, so I could really put the screws anywhere and they were secure.
For drywall, try to put your screws into studs or use drywall screws to make sure it’s secure. I found that mounting the frame in 2 places helped keep the headboard level and secure instead of just hanging it from one screw in the middle. I feel like the ends would tilt easily if you did it that way. I will say that I tried to hang it with 2 picture hooks and 2 nails in the wall first. That sort of worked, but did not pass the toddler test and within a few days, my toddler had knocked it off the wall while playing on our bed. The D-Ring hooks with screws proved much more secure! I also tucked the bottom of the headboard behind the mattress to hold it in place.
I just love how the headboard turned out! And it cost me less than $50! This is a great way to create a custom headboard that fits your style and space, but also saves you money – what more could you ask for?!
Eventually, I’ll add some matching nightstands, wall-mounted lamps, and some artwork above the bed, but I’m not rushing the process. Creating a home you love, especially one within a budget, takes time – just enjoy the process each step of the way!
