How To Make an Upholstered Headboard With a Drop Cloth

This past weekend I decided to make a new headboard out of a dropcloth I picked up at the hardware store.

 
I really love the way it turned out, and for about $10 worth of dropcloth, it's a great solution until we can upgrade to a king bed.

I got the idea to use the dropcloth on our headboard after doing this project earlier this month.

You remember from my previous master bedroom posts, I already had a homemade upholstered headboard. 

While I loved my first version, I wanted try try out a different shape. So, I enlisted Jesse to cut it down to size for me.

Here's the shape of the template I cut out of some posterboard and then traced onto the plywood. (I forgot to capture a picture of this step, so bear with my sad little drawing!) I simply traced it one one half of the plywood, and then flipped it over to the other side so the headboard would be symmetrical.

Now that you have your plywood in the shape you want your headboard to be, (You can create any shape you want in this step. I kept it simple for Jesse's sake. Don't bite the hand that is willing to help you with your headboard.) the next step is adding the foam and batting.

 I attached some foam padding and old pillow foam (only because I ran out of foam and am super cheap.) using some spray adhesive.

Many tutorials I've seen say to cut the foam in the same shape as the headboard, but I actually chose to wrap the foam over the top and sides and staple it to the back before I added the batting. I'm glad I did too. I did it the other way on my first attempt at a DIY headboard and this one looked so much better! Wrapping the foam around the edges gives it a much comfier and more finished look.

The above picture is after I already had the batting on, but you can see how the foam is wrapped over the top and stapled on the back.

After I had my foam in place on the plywood, I wrapped the batting around the entire thing, pulled it as tight as possible, and stapled it around the back. The batting holds everything down and smoothes it out to give it an even shape. Batting is fairly inexpensive and can be found at most fabric stores usually for about $7-$10/yard.

Here is a picture of the headboard once the foam and batting is on. Since I ran out of foam and had to fill in some spots with pillow stuffing, the batting was very important, as it did a great job of securing everything in place. Hopefully, when you make your own headboard, you'll have enough foam. Plus, that bottom part goes back behind the mattress, so no one would see it anyways.

Now that everything is in place and ready to be upholstered, it's time to bring in the drop cloth! I chose a drop cloth for my upholstery fabric because it's basically a thick, durable cotton canvas and it was the perfect color. And it was $10 for nearly 5 yards.

I cut the drop cloth material to size and wrapped it around the entire headboard, stapling in the back. Since my headboard is hanging on the wall with D-rings, I wasn't too worried about how the back would look.

Basically you just want to pull as tightly as possible and check the other side every so often to make sure everything is even and being pulled smooth. I put a little more care into the edges. Folding them over like the below picture seemed to work best.

Now that the upholstery part of the headboard is done, it's time to affix the nailhead trim. And here's a little secret I've figured out. You can buy nailhead trim by the yard. The nailheads come in an attached strip, and you only have to hammer in every fifth hole. It's so much easier than hammering in a million individual nails, and it keeps them all in a straight line. I know many people prefer the look of individual nailheads, but for me this was such a timesaver!

I was able to purchase nailhead trim by the yard really cheap on eBay. I've also seen it at craft stores, but for a higher price.

Oh, and if you're wondering about the sock....I couldn't find my mallet and since I didn't want to scratch my newly spray painted nailheads, so I put a sock on my hammer.

I realize how ridiculous that is.

So, that's it! My DIY dropcloth upholstered headboard...so easy and inexpensive! And it looks great in our bedroom. 
(For a good laugh, you should see all the decorating mistakes I've made in this room in the past few years here.)

Thanks so much for stopping by!

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Our Master Bedroom: The latest changes

 I am not equipped in any way to tell you how to decorate a bedroom, but what I can tell you is that decorating is a process. At least for me. I create, I tweak, I redo, I tear down, I repaint, and then I put it all back together. I've done this many times, and I'll probably do it many more. 

I started a couple of weeks ago by redoing our headboard, and it kinda snowballed from there. I'll do a quick tutorial on the headboard for you tomorrow, so today I'll just show you the entire bedroom and all of the bazillion little things I've changed since you last saw this room here.

First things first, I was tired of my first attempt at a DIY headboard. It was gold, a little too large for our queen bed, and quite frankly a little sad. So, I decided to use the leftovers from this project, and use a dropcloth to reupholster my headboard. So, I ripped all of the old stuff off and had the husband cut the plywood into a different shape. This lil' guy was soon created. (Again, more details to follow tomorrow)

I also brought in the tufted ottoman from the living room to try it out in here. I really want a bench at the end of our bed, and decided to try this guy out for a while so I can figure out what size/shape/material will work best. He works best in the living room, so he'll go home soon.

Most of the bedding stayed the same....white striped duvet cover and shams (P.S. everyone always asks me if all of the white drives me nuts. Answer: Nope...not at all. We have 2 cats and things definitely get dirt on them all the time. That's what bleach is for!)

One thing I did change though, was the bedskirt. The old one was gold, and very pretty, but I'm done with gold. (Which is funny since last month I was literally spray painting silver things gold. Sigh.).

I also put the new drop cloth chair and ottoman in the 'office area'. See that giant gray splotch of paint in there? Yes, that's me testing out the paint in that room. I don't think I'm going in that direction anymore. But I had to test it out to see if I liked it. Turns out I don't. 

I also brought in the rug that was once in the office. I'm thinking that won't last, as I like the other one better. I'm just trying things out. :) One day there will be dark hardwood floors in this entire room with a big giant cushy rug on top....so my teeny rug switcharoos are short term. 

I also reupholstered the vanity stool with leftover blue taffeta that I used for the living room pillows here, and then also spray painted the table hardware black. I spray painted all of the hardware in the room black.....even the curtain rods! Oh, and I switched out the curtains too, opting for solid white rather than sheer ivory.

Speaking of hardware...

I spray painted the handles on my favorite dresser black, and those icky brass doorknobs are about to get the same treatment. *Update: see what I did to the doorknobs here. They're so much better now!

Then I spray painted the lamp and mirror silver, too! 
See my tips on spray painting here.

Oh, and I also added a couple little silver trinkets my grandmother gave me. (above)

Then, I brought back in my $7 Florida thrift store lamps, spray painted silver and spruced up with modern drum shades. You never know what treasures you will find on vacation.

Oh, yeah....and  forgot to mention the pillows. We all know I'm obsessed with pillows, so here goes: 

I brought in those green & aqua embroidered pillows from the old living room, and then made that striped bolster pillow. I used plain white fabric and painters tape and painted those stripes on with some leftover interior paint. 

Not bad for a free pillow. If you sand the paint after it dries, it's really soft.

Now let's take a quick spin around the room, looking towards the sitting room (behind those french doors). I haven't even begun on that room yet. I'm rather puzzled about it. One day soon I'll post pics and see if any of ya'll can give me some advice!

and now back the other way. Behind those double doors (in the pic below) is our closet. I have them closed because it is one of my current projects I am working on....no peeking!!!

Okay, so really quick, let's compare where it was and where it was now, so you can see how far it's come.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER. Notice I finally had Jesse take down that awful track lighting above the bed. Hallelujah. 

and now for some real fun...this is the same wall.

BEFORE (when we first moved it):

AFTER:

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