Checking things off the list…headboard done!

After planning to make (and having most of the supplies for) this headboard for around 2 (!) years, it is done!

I don’t know why I waited sooooo long.  It really was pretty easy, apart from wrestling with the fabric around those curves.  There are so many tutorials from various blogs for making one of these that I won’t write an in-depth tutorial, but suffice to say I mainly used this one from Thrifty Décor Chick and this one from Pneumatic Addict to create this.  I started with a piece of MDF measuring 76X35 (we have a California King) and cut out the corners plus a gentle curve across the top.  I then laid it out on the kitchen floor.

(I use this old waterproof tablecloth for everything…you can see some paint from the living room stenciled curtains still on it!)

Then I used the board as a template for cutting the layers of foam.  Two years ago I snagged these new XL twin foam mattress toppers from Goodwill (originally from Target).  I sandwiched them together and then cut them.  I have heard of people using an electric carving knife to cut the foam but I don’t have one (do people really actually still use those for cutting meat??) and I improvised with a cheese knife.  It worked SO great!  Now, this wasn’t just any cheese knife…this was one my husband got me for a present and it is super duper serrated with areas cut out of it.  Here it is in action:

Then I stapled batting around the foam and board:

and started stapling the velvet.  I was originally going to use a dropcloth that I had bought ages ago for this project, but then when I brought it up to the bedroom to visualize how everything would look together, I realized that it was almost exactly the same color as the wall and would blend right in!!  Oops!

That kind of put a damper on my enthusiasm…until I was out thrifting last week and came across this drape that was originally from Target and was still brand new in the packaging.  It was a navy velvet blackout drape.  It was more than I normally would spend on thrifted things but it was just perfect so I splurged.

As I got to the curves, it became rather difficult to make the fabric look good on the front of the headboard as the velvet had absolutely no stretch or give to it.  I had to take it out and re-staple several times to get it to look good.  In the end I think it looks fine, especially after I got the tufts put in it.  Then I used quarters to decide where I wanted the tufting to go, and marked those places with chalk. 

I used the tutorial from Pneumatic Addict for this part…instead of tufting with a needle and thread, I used screws and washers to make the little indentations.  I simply put the screw through the washer, poked it in the chalk mark and through the foam, and screwed it in until I liked how the tuft looked.  It seemed to work great, though I wish I had used larger washers (the ones I used were only 1/2 inch or so).  I covered some buttons (from a kit from Joann Fabrics) with more velvet and glued them on over the washers/screws with E6000 glue. 

I made little legs for it out of other pieces of MDF as it is pretty huge and heavy and covered them with leftover velvet and attached them to the headboard. 

Then it was time to see how it looked!!!  (My favorite part!)

 

It is also reading-husband approved : )  I like to read in bed too and it so much more comfortable now to do so!! 

I am really liking how much more grown-up looking our bedroom is with the headboard!  This is the bed before

and now!

(Please tell me I’m not the only one who procrastinates on projects for years before finishing them!!!)

 

Linking up with Home Coming's The DIYers, House on the Way's Twirl and Take a Bow Party, DIY by Design's Winter Blues Party, Savvy Southern Style's Wow us Wednesdays, Remodelaholic's Anonymous Party, The Idea Room's "Party Bunch Linky Party, and Tatertot and Jello's Link Party Palooza, Be Different Act Normal's Show and Tell, The DIY Showoff's That DIY Party,