DIY Simple Tufted Headboard

January 18, 2010

Greetings all, how was your weekend ?  It was rainy and wet here in Northern California, but I say that’s perfect weather for watching football and a good DIY project.

You’ve seen tufted headboards in boutique hotels, everywhere in interior decor, in designer bedrooms, and lately even in Betty Draper’s bedroom, as a flashback of course.  Fabric covered headboards are a great way to add an elegant touch to a bedroom with all kinds of different fabrics.

This weekend I decided to tackle a simple tufted headboard for my teenage daughter’s bedroom.  We didn’t want anything too fancy or formal, just some soft curves, a few buttons, and a little tufting for some subtle sophistication.

It took about five hours from start to finish, with the tufting taking up most of the time, but I’m really liking the final headboard in her room, especially how tall it is !

Sneak peek:

tufted headboard final from side

There are plenty of tutorials to be found online for fabric covered headboards, and for tufting, including my own how-to from this bench project, but here’s the step by step on how I created this this casual look for a fabric covered headboard.

tufted headboard final

  

How to Make a Simple Tufted Headboard

Supplies: 1/2 inch plywood, cut at the home improvement store to your bed’s specifications for width and height; 2 inch foam to cover plywood; batting; 1.5 inch finish nails; ‘D’ ring hooks; button cover kits; embroidery or upholstery thread; decorator needles.

Tools:  Jigsaw (if your design is not square); drill and drill bit; staple gun and staples; sawhorses (if available, for convenience).

Step One (optional): If you want to add curvature to your headboard, create a template and mark it on your plywood.  I used simple paper, then marked it with a pen.

paper template

mark with pen

Cut out your design with a jig saw.

cut with jigsaw

Step Two: Mark your holes where you want your buttons to go.  I spaced mine ten inches apart.   For more drama, mark for buttons spaced closer together.

measure and mark holes

Use a drill and drill bit (between 7/32 to 5/16) to drill holes where indicated.  Make sure you have a clean hole all the way through on both sides.

drill holes for tufting

Step Three: Cut your foam to the size of your plywood.  I chose to use 2” foam squares since it was more cost effective than paying for 2” foam by the yard.   You can use 1” foam too, but I wanted a really thick headboard so I went with 2” thickness.

two inch foam

Result using 2 inch thick foam instead of 1 inch:

two inch thickness tufted headboard

Here are my new sawhorses that hub bought me for Christmas.  Isn’t that romantic ?  Seriously !  How did I ever ever ever live without them ?

trim foam

If using squares like I did, I think it helps to turn your foam flat side out to guarantee a smoother edge around the sides.

turn flat side out

Thicker foam and the flat side out gave me a very smooth edge.

thickness from side

Step Four: Use your batting to secure your foam to your plywood with a staple gun.  I didn’t use any spray adhesive to secure the foam to the wood.  In my opinion, it’s not necessary if you use good batting.

batting duo

Step Five: Attach your fabric to your headboard using a staple gun.   For this smaller degree of curvature, I was able to get away without sewing a slipcover with seams.  For these specific cutouts, start in the middle of the curve, secure with single staple, then slowly work your way out.  Then secure your fabric on all four sides.

start in center of cutout

Use the natural corners to pinch fabric and create and attractive edge by overlapping the fabric.  Secure with staples.

wrap edges

 

The gray/blue fabric I used is an upholstery grade fabric called ‘Bedouin’ in Blue Smoke from Calico Corners.

Step Six – Tufting: Use button cover kits to create fabric covered buttons.  Thread your decorator needle with embroidery or upholstery thread.

button cover kits

I do not recommend these metal ones for thick fabric – they just don’t work.  I found that out too late.  I’ve used the plastic ones from Joann’s before, and they work much better.

These ones are better:

tufting supplies_thumb[5]

Because the metal button cover kits were too flimsy for my upholstery fabric, I had to hand stitch my fabric to each of the buttons – bummer.   That little setback added an entire hour to this project.

hand sew buttons

Push your threaded needle up through the pre-drilled hole, leaving plenty of thread underneath.  Then attach your button to your thread.  I recommend running your thread through the button twice to get a really secure button.

needle up

needle through

Push your needle back down through your fabric and foam and pull needle out on other side of pre-drilled hole.  Pull your thread taught, then twist it around a finish nail to hold it in place against the plywood.  Staple thread to plywood, and criss cross across several times and staple again.   Sorry no photo, I forgot !

Repeat for all buttons and holes in headboard.

tufting complete

Locate the wall studs on your wall, then determine placement of ‘D’ ring hooks.  Drive nails into studs, secure ‘D’ ring hooks to back of headboard, then hang on wall.

D ring hooks

Stand back and enjoy your handiwork !

curve detail tufted headboard

tufted headboard final from side

tufted headboard final

Stay tuned for more scenes from her bedroom remodel !  I just need to hang some art, add a chandelier, and find the perfect lamp.   I’m also looking for the perfect accent above this headboard.  A starburst mirror ?  What say you ?




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68 Responses to “DIY Simple Tufted Headboard”

  1. Cathe Holden says:

    Are you kidding me? Kate, you blow my mind. I am looking forward to coffee with you on Thursday. My bags will be packed, because I’m going home with you and moving in. That’s that.

    (Will you make my headboard like that? Or I’ll just take that one, your daughter can sleep on the couch.)

  2. Julie says:

    Beautiful! So well done…question: If you were looking at the headboard from the side, where does hang in relation to the mattress? Does it hit just below the mattress, below the box spring, just above the mattress? Just wondering how it looks from the side view? Thanks so much for all your awesome tutorials and inspiration!

  3. Nicole says:

    This is beautiful!! Your daughter is very lucky to have such a great room.

  4. Tammy says:

    I just informed my husband as he walked through the room that he will probably be making one of these for our bedroom soon! He’s my DIYer. The day I stumbled on your blog, you had made the guest bedroom headboard, and I loved it. Seeing your latest creation has added to my desire for one. I move much slower than you, but your blog has definitely had an impact on me and therefore on my home. Instead of being just clean and uncluttered, I have been adding little touches of personality and beauty here and there. I hope to improve and do more as time goes on. Thanks for your tutorials and inspiration, as well as your fun, interesting, and witty writing!

  5. Wow that’s great! I told hubby that I wanted an upholstered bed and headboard. He said we could upholster the waterbed frame that we have now and add an upholstered headboard. What do you think? Have you ever upholstered a bed??

  6. Rachel says:

    Yay! When I made one of these I think I read 867,000 tutorials. I love reading all that I can before I start a project. Seeing the different ways people make the headboard gave me so many great ideas and kept me from making mistakes. Thanks so much for this, I’ll be linking.

  7. Great tut. This can be such an overwhelming task for any DIY’er. Definitely on the “to do” list.

  8. Elaine says:

    thank you so much for all your great posts! Thanks to you I can actually create a look without spending all my money!! Love this post and have linked it to my blog, go check out what I made!! Thanks again Centsational Girl! ;)

  9. Kara says:

    This is great! I’ve been looking for an affordable upholstered head board and have so far been unsuccessful. Thank You for this post – I’ll be trying it out as soon as the weather warms!!

  10. Oops ! I don’t have a staple gun and jig saw but I have a good option to bookmark this post, when I will have all these DIY hand tools , I will reopen the post to do this project by myself, a great do it yourself project , love it.

  11. Momma Bear says:

    I can’t wait to try this. I have been wanting one of these for my master for so long. Lots of ideas just not much dough! I am going to do it!

  12. Ryan says:

    I was searching around the net for do-it-yourself headboard tutorials and yours is by far the best finished product I have seen. You spent a little more on materials than most of the others, but it paid off. Well done!

  13. Tina says:

    This is just so great! It is exactly what I was searching for the last few hours….something with clear and specific pictures. Thank you!

  14. Erika says:

    So nice! Look forward to trying this out. thank you!

  15. [...] out this headboard Jenny made after following this tutorial [...]

  16. [...] my DIY simple tufted headboard from back in January.  Fabric is ‘Bedouin’ in Blue Smoke by Calico Corners.  Full [...]

  17. Danielle says:

    I LOVE this!! We’re redoing my SIL’s bedroom for her 16th birthday and I will be making her one of these next time I’m in town :)

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