DIY Tufted Headboard

My awesome sister-in-law Haley and I took on the project of making our own headboards. She was going to buy one from World Market on Black Friday sales but with some help from Sam, I was able to convince her that we could just make our own! They turned out so perfect and was only about 200$ to finish. (They are about 900$-1500$ at World Market, West Elm, Pottery Barn, etc.) Now keep in mind, even though we saved a lot of money, it took quiet some time and patience to finish it all together...Plus we made the mistake of starting it in December so we didn't make much progress till Janurary. Then with her 1 1/2 year old and kitten in the mix, we had a few set backs along the way. Haha. I'd say to be safe, set aside about 2 Saturday's to get it completely finished.

Supplies needed:

-5'x7' piece of plywood (some people use wood and some use peg board, we wanted to use the wood so it was more solid/heavy duty)

-5 yards 4" green foam (we waited to use our cupons for Joanns to buy it because it is pricey and adds up fast)

-5 yards home decor fabric (we did the same with using cupons on this)

-1 bag of 45''x60" batting (the cheapest place to get this is wal-mart)

-cover button kit (the quantity on how many buttons you need will depend on how many tufting spots you place on the headboard, ours ending up being 26)

-fishing line (used to thread the buttons through the foam and wood)

-extra long linen needle (it has to be really long or it won't work properly)

-staple gun

-drill

Steps:

1. Map out the shape of your headboard.

We used brown Kraft paper and rolled it out to the length of the wood and drew out our design. We made grids on the paper using a yard stick and a pencil so we knew it would all be even.

We tapped the paper to the wood (so as we drew it out we could picture it better) and started to design the top shape. We looked up headboard designs online that we liked and drew the curves on one half of the grid, then folded the paper in half and traced the second half so it was symmetrical. Cut out your design on the Kraft paper and then tape the paper back to the wood. (To get the perfect curves, we tied the pencil to a string to make it a protractor.)

2. Cut out the wood.

(We had our husbands do this part)

3. Draw out where you want the buttons to be for the tufting and drill holes.

We used the grid paper again to draw out and measure where we wanted to place the buttons. These are the holes you need to thread the string through to the top of the buttons. Make sure you drills holes that are big so it easy to locate with the needle.

3. Cut out foam to match the shape of the design.

Place the wood on top of the foam and then just cut it out to match. We had to piece together the foam because it doesn't completely fit the length and width of the wood. Then we lifted up the wood and put glue on the foam and placed the wood back on top of the foam and let it sit over night to completely dry.

4. Put the batting over the foam.

We did this part upside down again, just to get it tight. The batting help create a smooth surface before doing the fabric layer. We rolled out the batting on the floor and then placed the wood (with the foam cut out and glued to it) on top of it. Then we wrapped the batting around the edges and used the staple gun to keep it on there tight.

5. Drill holes through the foam on the same spots that the holes are placed on the wood.

This part makes it so much easier to thread the buttons through both layers of the wood and foam.

6. Tufting

This part is the most time consuming. Next, we placed the fabric over the batting layer. Then propped the headboard up on two chairs so someone could lay under it to thread through the buttons. (And keep in mind, we covered the buttons with the fabric so they matched. The cover button kits come with all the tools you need, all you have to do is cut out your circles of fabric) We had someone lay underneath the headboard and push the needle up threaded with the fishing line. Then someone grabs the needle on top and threads the button on. Then send the needle back down to meet the person underneath again. Staple the fishing line down three times to keep it tight and secure. (You can't really tell in the picture that someone was underneath the headboard, but there was haha)

7. Finishing touches

After threding all 26 buttons through the foam and wood, our thumbs were about to fall off, but we finally finished!!! Then we flipped it back to being upside down and pulled the fabric to be tight and stapled it down on the back.

Finished project:

It came out so pretty! We both wanted it

to be a little bit higher off of the ground to see more of it, so we had our husbands and some 2''x4''s wood blocks on both ends to raise it up some. This way we can see more of the headboard (even after I added all my decor pillows on the bed, all 60 of them)

Love them so much!! It was a process but saved a lot of money and we got to totally personalize it the way we wanted it to be!