If you follow me on Instagram (Kylieh23), you saw my DIY tufted headboard last week. Now, there are a million and 1 tutorials on Pinterest on how to make your very own tufted headboard, and there are many that are going to be 10 thousand times more detailed, with much clearer pictures, and you will like theirs much better. I am just warning you.
Since I know I'm fighting a losing battle in this blog post, I will tell you what I can do to beef this up a little. I will tell you what wen't wrong, and if I could do it over, how you might be able to fix it!
Deal? Deal.
(I know my bedding is wrinkly...we're working on it)
What you're going to need
- Plywood- (I wanted a TALL headboard so ours measures 5 feet long, 4x5 feet tall)
- A drill
- buttons and a button making kit (this may sound like chinese to you, it did to me...just go to your craft store...they know whats up)
- material that you love-I used a white canvas...and I bought 4 yards and had plenty leftover
- upholstery twine (again...ask your craft store)
- a gigantic terrifying upholstery needle
- 1-3 inch foam (I suggest splurging on the 3 inch..we didn't, and I wish we would have)
- high-loft batting
- spray adhesive
- a sharp knife
- a sharpee marker
- staple-gun
- a shit-ton of staples
- a measuring tape
- 100 pound-capable hanging anchors/hooks
- a good looking husband to help you while you take all the pictures.
Got it? Great. :)
Step one:
Make your work space. We used 2 stools to hold our large piece of plywood. From there, we took our measuring tape, and drew a grid. This helped to insure that our buttons were spaced evenly.
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| Cue Handsome almost husband drawing the grid |
Step Two
Place your buttons where you think they will look best. We did 3 rows of 5, and 2 rows of 4. I liked to see the buttons to make sure it looked decent and the spacing was correct.
** Don't buy too many buttons. I had some crazy idea we were going to tuft 45 buttons, and ended up with WAY too many. That's a waste of money!
Step Three
Remove your buttons and place a giant "X" where they were sitting, so you know where to drill. I don't have a picture of this part, but Jake just put a large bit on his drill, and we just did a quick hole through the plywood. This part is simple. Blow all your sawdust away!
**Don't try to wipe the sawdust with your fingers. You will get splinters, and they will hurt.
Step Four
Take your spray adhesive and spray the shit out of your plywood. I mean it. Spray the crap out of it. Use the entire bottle if you have to, because it's horrible. After you literally use the entire can, place your foam on top. We then pressed really really hard to make sure it stuck (it didn't) and then we used even more adhesive. You will get frustrated at this part. Flip your foamed plywood so you can see where you need to trim the access, and cut it with your sharp knife. It will not be a smooth cut, but relax...you're covering it. Its okay if it looks messy. **We used really cheap foam that was only an inch thick, because we wanted to save money. -Mistake. Spend the Money. The tufts will be deeper, the headboard will look nicer.
Step five
Flip your foam-board back over. Don't do anything stupid and mark on your foam where the holes are. This is a waste of time. What you are going to do, is send your husband under the headboard and have him poke holes with the drill through the foam. Do this quickly, or the foam will rip, and that just creates a mess you don't want to deal with. Now you're covering it with batting. We used 2 bags of full-size high loft batting.(Craft-ese again...ask your craft store). We placed both layers over the foam, and stapled our hearts out. (Ehem..Jake stapled his heart out). We wrapped it like a gift around the plywood, then I came in with my handy dandy scissors, and cut the extra batting.
Step Six
This part is almost scary...I thought at least. Take your fabric, and drape it over your now (almost) complete headboard. If it's wrinkly iron it...(or ask your handsome husband to while you take pictures) Get ready to tuft your life away! This is how it worked best for us. A) send your man under the headboard with a pillow...he'll be down there awhile. B) Thread your large upholstery needle, and push it up through the foam, batting, and material. C) Wife standing up top, grab needle (carefully...it's sharp and terrifying) and thread your button, and push back down through hole to hubsicle. We found it easiest to just let the threads hang until we finished threading all of the buttons.
Step Seven
Pull your threads TIIIIGHHHHTTT and staple them like crazy. Like absolute crazy bonkers staples. You can not use too many staples. Trust me.
Step Eight
Time to staple your fabric. Pull it tight, and wrap like a present, just as you did with the batting. Staple it until it can be stapled no more, and trim your extra fabric...ta-da! You're almost there!
Steph Nine
Resist the urge to cry, as you become so proud of your DIY Job. Now you need to buy some hanging materials from the hardware store, attach 'em to the back of your headboard, and find some studs in your wall to screw into. Hang your headboard, and admire!
Even though thats 9 steps, and it includes a small amount of power tools, it wasn't so bad, right? I actually found that it was pretty darn easy! Time consuming for sure, we spent about 4 hours of our Saturday making it.
Price Breakdown:
- Plywood-15.99
- Needle/Thread-5:00
- Fabric/Buttons- 38.00
- Foam-20.00 (we already owned it though so it was free!)
- Staple gun/staples (Already owned)
- Batting- 30.00
- Hanging Hooks-3.00
- Spray adhesive (already owned)
I highly suggest you attempt this. Just don't hate me if you eff it up. No worries though, you won't. And then you'll love me!
Have a great Thursday, friends :)
Until Next Time,
Kylie
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