Thursday, February 28, 2013

DIY Headboard and Bed Make-Over


The bed in Max's room at the moment is uggg-lllly. It's functional and actually used to be Sean's bed when he was (a lot) younger, but there is absolutely nothing attractive about it... For ages now I've been planning on making it over, the Pinterest Challenge was just the kick in the butt I needed to get it done.



I ambitiously gave myself a day to do the make-over and even thought to myself 'I might whip up a new doona for the bed if I have time'. Ummm no... It took me two days to get the whole thing done, but now that's it's finished I'm so glad I finally tackled it!

Here's what I started with...



A king single ensemble. Like I said, functional but not exactly stylin'.

I split the project into two parts. First up I covered the base of the ensemble and added legs, then I made a headboard. I got my inspiration from these three pins below.

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Materials:
  • linen
  • cheap white poplin 
  • batting
  • 2inch thick foam
  • mdf board
  • button covering kit
  • furniture legs


Tools
  • screwdriver
  • drill bit
  • staple gun and staples
  • embroidery needle
  • embroidery thread
  • nails
  • plyers
  • hammer

I started out by covering the base of the ensemble with my cheap poplin, which I used because I didn't want that bright pattern showing through the loose weave of my linen. I pinned each strip in place and then went around with my staple gun to secure it to the underside and top of the base.



I then did the same thing with with the linen, only I paid a bit more attention to the detail and made sure the corners looked neat and tidy.

As I was going around securing the linen I noticed the staples weren't holding the fabric to the top side of the base. Underneath was fine because the staples went straight into plywood, but on top they were only going into fabric which meant they came out really easily. I ended up using nails for the top because they went through the fabric and back down into the ply. In other words I made things up as I went and wished for the best!!


Once that was all done I attached the legs and moved on to the headboard.



I measured up Max's bed before hitting up Bunnings and decided that I wanted my mdf to be 1100 x 1100 and got them to cut it in store for me. Lucky I did, there is no way I would have fit anything bigger into the back of my car :).

To start off the headboard I measured out where I wanted my buttons and then drilled holes through the mdf (gorgeous hand model used as I was behind the camera, thanks J!!).




    I though about using spray adhesive to stick the foam to the board, but ended up using fabric glue. It was raining outside and the house was full of people so I didn't want to fume up the place. No biggie though the fabric glue worked just fine.




    Then it was just a matter of covering the board and foam with batting, then my el-cheapo lining and finally my linen (I used the poplin underneath the linen again because I didn't want the batting poking through the weave of the fabric).



    Then came the most time consuming and difficult part. Covering the buttons and sewing them onto the headboard to get that tufted look that I love so much! Soooo much harder than I expected, but so definitely worth it!

    Covering the buttons was just a matter of following the instructions on the packet, attaching them was a whole other ball game... After a fair bit of trial and error I worked out the best way to do it.

    I threaded the needle with embroidery thread and then tied it into a loop. Then I tied it onto the button. I didn't take a photo, but if you can picture the needle with a decent amount of thick thread on it and then a button tied onto the very end of the thread.

    To get the buttons in the right place I pushed a nail through the pre-drilled holes in the back of the board, felt where the point of the nail touched my fabric and then pushed my needle and thread (with the button attached) up through the the fabric, batting and foam etc until it came out the back of the board. With one hand pushing my needle through, and pliers in the other hand I grabbed onto the needle and pulled it right the way through. Then I would tie a big knot in the thread, pull it as tight as possible and secure it with staples.



    That probably made no sense what-so-ever... If you want to give this a go and have no idea what I'm on about email me and I'll try and explain it better :)

    I'm sooooooo happy with how it turned out and Max absolutely loves it! He knows it's the same bed, but he still likes to call it his 'new bed' and he's so excited to go to bed in it tonight. The real test will be whether or not he stays in there the whole night I guess!






    Phew, now that I finally have it finished I'm linking up with Katie, Sherry, Megan and Michelle (and checking out all of the amazing projects that have been shared).

    Thanks for reading!!











    {If you would like to see any of my previous pinterest challenge projects you can see them below}

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    51 comments

    1. This looks great! Such an ambitious project!! Love it!

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      1. Thanks Laura, I loved your project so much too!! I seriously need to get some of my instagram photos printed too.

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    2. Oh my goodness, that hand model! Is she available for hire? :oP

      This looks AMAZING!! Worth every ounce of hard work and time you put in to it :o)

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      Replies
      1. Of course she is, let me give you my bank account details and I'll hire her out to you ;) Love you!!

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    3. I knew you would make something awesome! This looks perfect! I would have never thought of linen but I love that look! So great that Max loves it too! I will have to take note for Eli's big boy room! xo

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      1. I love the linen too, it's so soft but still looks a bit rustic.

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    4. I knew you would make something awesome! This looks perfect! I would have never thought of linen but I love that look! So great that Max loves it too! I will have to take note for Eli's big boy room! xo

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    5. This looks awesome! I've been looking for a way to give my toddler a (cheap) big boy bed! How did you attach the legs?

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      1. Thanks B, the base already had holes drilled in it so I think it must have had castors in the past. I just screwed the legs into those holes :)

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    6. That's great! I've been wanting to ditch our bed frame and skirt and go with upholstered box springs for awhile now. Yours looks really nice! Love the headboard too!

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      1. Thanks so much Ashley. I'm thinking about doing something similar in our master bedroom too :)

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    7. I love how this turned out! I'm a sucker for tufted headboards. I love the linen! Seriously beautiful outcome!

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      1. Me too Amber, I can't believe it took me this long to finally make one!

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    8. Oh I love how this looks! Having once tufted something I promised myself NEVER to attempt it again, but this headboard is so beautiful, I might just have to!
      Sarah

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      1. I can understand why you wouldn't want to do it again. The tufting part was so tedious!

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    9. I love that! I've always loved the look of tufted headboards, but I've always been too timid to try. Dare I? And P.S. I luuuurve your whole blog - I subscribed in my Google reader, can't wait to see what's next!

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    10. This looks amazing!!I love the linen too it looks so clean. I absolutely despise covering buttons with fabric but you're right, it's totally worth it in the end but I don't know if that's as bad as trying to find where the hole is with the needle HA!!
      Great great job!!

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      1. I know what you mean, going into this project I would never have thought that the tufted part would be the hardest... Definitely worth it though!

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    11. This is SO stinkin' cute! You did an amazing job. Great tutorial on how to do the tufting and it makes such a difference. Pinning this so I can give it a try sometime soon.

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      1. Thanks Danielle! I am in love with the tufting, I want to do it to everything noe!

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    12. Get. Out.

      What a handywoman you are!

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    13. Great job. I've been trying to decide if a tufted headboard would be something that I'd like in my bedroom or would I rather a wood one. Maybe if I don't do this on my headboard I'll use it on a spare room bed one day.

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      1. Oh tough choice I love wooden headboards too :)

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    14. It looks amazing. I'm considering doing a tufted ottoman here soon, thanks for the thorough explanation on the process. The bed really looks terrific.

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      1. Nice, I would love to do an ottoman too :)

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    15. I've read a few of these DIY headboards and yours is seriously the easiest one I've found. When I do mine, I'm gonna follow your instructions. Thanks so much!
      I would be super excited if you came and visited my blog Angela Says.

      Have a fabulous day,
      Angela

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      1. Thanks Angela, I'll head on over and check out your blog now :)

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    16. Great project! And very entertaining tutorial, too =)

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    17. Love it. An upholstered headboard is on my to do list for my daughter's room.

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      1. It's definitely worth doing, I love how it turned out!

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    18. That's awesome!!! Love love LOVE it!!! You are seriously too clever:)

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    19. I have all of the stuff to make one of these, but I have no clue how to attach it to the bed. Is it attached or just resting behind it?

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      1. I struggled with attaching it to the wall... I tried a few things that didn't work and ended up with it just resting against the wall. It's nice and secure, but I'm still looking at other options. Maybe a french cleat?

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    20. Oh! It's so nice to see inspirational bedroom photos on the internet. It makes me want to remodel my whole house every time I see something that I like. But of course, I can't do that (I'm not rich!). Haha! In fact, I already did this headboard before and it's real easy to make. When my wife saw it on the web, she loved it so much that I surprised her with it! Now, we moved on and I made a new headboard for our master bedroom. Haha!

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    21. Hi Tamsyn,
      I just wanted to let you know that I featured your headboard in a blog post of my favorite DIY headboards at this link: http://www.lilikoijoy.com/2013/04/15-favorite-diy-upholstered-headboards.html
      Thank you for inspiring me! Sharon

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    22. It's a great post Sharon, thanks so much for including me :)

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    23. Ohh we both made tufted headboards for our little guys. Awesome! I love yours. And I LOVE that you covered the base as well. Looks so good!

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    24. Hi I am loving your tutorial for doing this soon! How did you attach the headboard to the bed frame?

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    25. well this is one of the most outstanding blog. i have ever seen. feeling really exiting to see such kind of stuff.
      Best place in UK for Beds and mattresses

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    26. Hi there,

      This is so wonderful! I would imagine it's much cheaper than buying a bed set. I have my old twin bed that I can re purpose for my son. Can you give me an idea of how much this project cost?

      Sincerely,

      Katherine

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