DIY: Headboard!

When I moved a few years back, I purchased a new bed frame with the intent of making my own headboard. This idea didn't come to fruition until a month ago with an idea from pinterest and help from my handy dandy dad. I don't have any pictures of the process (well, I have a diptic that I made) but I vaguely followed this tutorial except that I made mine better.

So first, the general design. Pinterest called for a piece of plywood cut to the size you were desiring, 1 or 2 inch foam (I went with 2), batting, and fabric. I have a queen-size bed so I was aiming for a headboard that was 60wX36h. I COULD NOT find 2 inch foam in a size that wouldn't have involved me buying a bunch of squares ($$$) and cutting them to size so I opted for a roll of foam that was 27 inches high and decided to shorten my headboard. We tweaked the frame design because plywood isn't sturdy, it's often warped, and it's expensive. It's wood! I'll cut my own wood, thank you very much. Instead, we fashioned a design that would create a frame out of 1x3s and a couple slabs of 1/4 MDF because I am all about the cheaps and the goal was to make this for under $100. Also the big fat frame would contribute to me having a super thick headboard..

After cutting the 1x3s to the correct length and screwing them together (or was it nails? it doesn't matter, just get them attached) we cut the MDF boards down and screwed/nailed them on top to create a slab I guess. It turned out like below.

The frame!

BTdub, my dad cut all the wood down with a table saw. As if he'd trust me with doing that and not severing an arm.

We then attached the foam using some kind of spray adhesive he pulled out of his toolshed. I would say this is necessary but it wasn't a step in the original post. All I'm saying is you don't want it sliding around. We then laid the batting over the foam and staplegunned it to back of the frame.

Then came the fabric. I used canvas because I wanted it to be durable. Turns out canvas doesn't iron well, which you'll need to do before you attach the fabric. We had to stretch that shit super tight to get out all the wrinkles. After you staple it to the back and trim the excess fabric off, you'll have a giant pillowy headboard.

The last part was to attach the buttons. Pinterest said to drill holes through the board and sew the buttons on (AFTER covering them with fabric. What?!) but I was like, no way. A staple gun probably won't work here either, at least it didn't for me. We drilled some screws through the layers, gently of course, to make the divots and then I hot-glued the buttons right in because I wanted this to look real nice.

 The finished product!

All in all it cost:

Fabric and buttons: $29
Batting and foam: $47 (COME ON)
Wood: $25
$101 total. So close.

I also stained and attached legs to the back of it. Another idea is to hang it on your wall which I think gives it a really modern feel. My only problem with that is then spiders and shit could crawl from your wall onto your headboard and then down to your bed and I spend an unreasonable amount of time trying to prevent insects from getting near or onto me.