The DIY Tufted Headboard

Some of you have had the opportunity to come over to our apartment at some point or another. If you have, you know that our bedroom is for sure the eyesore of our apartment. It's also managed to become the messiest little room that I never get around to fully cleaning. I finally got sick of it and have been able to stay on top of keeping everything else in the house organized and gave me some time to start working on cleaning out our room and make it look presentable. We never really did anything with it to make it look "cutesy" like the rest of the apartment. Not even a picture on the wall. 

Jim was already going to be getting a new desk and computer through some connections and I really wanted a headboard to spruce up our sad little room. But who wants to pay for one? The kind of headboards I like are the tufted upholstered headboards...which of you get a small one on clearance, you're lucky if you get one for less than $150. Typically they range between $300-$2000. Ridiculous right? I got on Craigslist on the off chance that someone was trying to sell one but I wasn't very successful in finding one.  Instead, what I found was something better.  Introducing...

[Side note: I'm not super big on writing tutorials...but since so many people have asked me how I did it, I'll do my best.  Just bear with my ramblings, okay?  I suggest if you're serious about doing this, to read through the entire tutorial on how to do it before you go and buy supplies so that you know what everything is for and can make your own judgement calls on what works best for you!]

Anyway, it all started because some lady in Provo was just giving away what she had started to make for her headboard. It wasn't anymore than a piece of plywood attached to two 2x4s but it was a good start. I decided to contact the lady, borrow a van to pick it up, and use it as a good start to my DIY tufted headboard. 

I did some research, reading several different tutorials on best methods and suggested tools. I combined a few different techniques and made my own. My total came to about $51.50. Prices and costs will vary depending on what stores you shop on, what you already own, the quality of the product you want to buy, and any sales you can find.  

Here are the things I used for mine:

• Base (made of plywood and 2x4s)- Free

This headboard is for our Queen size bed.  The plywood was 62 wide x 33 inches tall attached to two legs which were the 2x4. I also bought another 2x4 to screw in along the top of the board between the other pieces for added support. (If you want to make one though, I have also seen people use pegboards and hang them with D rings on the wall for the base- this seems to work well.  If I didn't have my base for free, I may have gone with this option like explained on The Little Green Notebook)

• 3" thick foam to cover board - $20

Foam for upholstery tends to be very expensive.  Instead of opting for this, I bought 2 twin size foam mattress toppers (1.5 inches each @ $9.99 a piece) from Walmart and stuck them together. Better than what could be the $60 some odd dollars for it other places! It's also easier to cut and work with.  As long as one of the sides of the mattress topper is flat, it will work! (With that said, it doesn't have to be 3" thick, but it may look a little cheap if it's too thin.  I figured... I'm going through the trouble of making it, might as well spend the extra $10 to make it look quality, right? Use your judgement)

• High Loft batting - $10

You will need enough to cover the board.  I used 2 pieces of high loft batting to cover ($4.99 each). Got it from Walmart. You don't need two pieces but overall, the thicker the foam and more batting used, the deeper the tufts will look. 

• Button making kit- $8

Walmart sells button making kits for about $1.97 that has 5 buttons in it. We used buttons that were 1/2 inch size. You can do as many buttons as you'd like, whatever size you'd like, but we chose to do 17 (Rows of 6-5-6).  I recommend looking at some pictures online to see what look you like the best. 

• Fabric- $8

We really only needed 2 yards for the Queen size headboard that we did. But I wasn't sure how thick the fabric needed to be, so since it was on clearance for $2.00/yard, we just got 4 yards in case I needed to double it. I don't know how it would have looked with just one layer. I'm sure it would have been fine.  Where'd I get it? You guessed it! Walmart--clearance section.  You want nicer fabric? Go for it! But it will cost you more.  I got plenty of extra fabric because it was cheap.  If you do want to get the bare minimum I recommend getting enough to cover the size of your board PLUS another 1/2 yard to account for the tufting and button making.

• Upholstery thread - $1.50

(This thread is much thicker than regular thread. I didnt use wax coated upholstery thread but have heard its helpful.  Walmart has the regular kind, I'm sure fabric or craft stores has the wax kind)

• Long Upholstery needle - $4

You don't want the curved upholstery needle that they sell at Walmart, Michaels etc. In fact, those stores don't sell what you need. I was only successful finding what you need at Hobby Lobby and they sell a 4 pack for about $4. JoAnns may have them, but I didn't check. 

• Spray Adhesive of some sort

• Drill (if not using pegboard)

• Staple gun with staples

• Sharpie

•  Measuring Tape

• Scissors

• Apple Corer OR paring knife 

Here's a little walk through of what I did: 

(I apologize ahead of time... the pictures aren't the greatest quality. A lot of time spent on this was at night after little squirt had gone to bed and Jim could help)

Create workstation. I put the headboard between two Rubbermaid containers. You could use workhorses, chairs, whatever you want. You just want to be able to get under it at some point.

 

Here I added an additional 2x4 along the back of the top of the board for extra support. 

Use spray glue to apply foam to board. If using 2 layers of foam, apply both. My spray glue was being lame so I just staple it down in a few places along the side.  You can't see it once its covered since its close to the edge.  Trim excess foam so that it fits to board. 

Calculate spacing for buttons. This requires some math. I didnt totally center mine because I knew part of my board would hide behind the mattress. So I did 3 rows (a little higher than centered) of 6 buttons, 5 buttons, and 6 buttons. Calculate what works for you and mark where you want the buttons. Obviously if you're doing diamond tufting, you wont have the same amount of buttons in each row to keep it symmetrical.  Like I did you'll have something like 6-5-6 etc.

This next thing is a part where everyone thinks their way is best. What you need to do is cut holes, about the size of your button, in the foam. This is so the button will have a clear path through the foam to make a deep tuft. The button should be able to fit in the hole.  I simply used an apple corer. They're like $3 at Walmart if you don't have one. Seriously it took me maybe 2 minutes to make all my holes because its just push, twist, pull and out comes the foam. If you don't have one, you can also cut out the circles individually with a knife. But that may take a while...Ain't nobody got time for dat!

Once the holes in the foam are cut out, drill a hole through the board at each hole. This is for the thread to go through, so it needs to be wide enough to fit the upholstery needle and thread. Got it? Okay, let me know if this isn't making sense.  

 Check out those perfectly circular holes! Guess who saved a bunch of time with the headboard and will now ALSO save a bunch of time cutting apples?  This girl. Eh, too bad I don't love apples. 

If you haven't already, make your buttons using some of your fabric and button kits. Follow the directions on the box...it's super easy! Honestly? I made mine with one hand while I was nursing my baby...so I think you should be able to handle it! Word of caution: If you have an Australian Shepherd puppy, don't leave your recently completed buttons on the edge of the couch or table.  Apparently, they quite enjoy eating them, which will result in a mandatory extra trip to Walmart and an unhappy dog. Just sayin'. 

Anyway, back to the headboard:

Place your batting (the thicker/more layers of batting- the deeper the tuft looks) and fabric overtop of the foam. (If you haven't already, be sure any extra foam is trimmed off the edges.) Make sure batting and fabric are smooth and ready to be secured in place. You're gonna want some extra fabric around the edges to account for the tufting pulling the fabric down, but you shouldn't need more than a few inches. Also, be sure that the fabric not only covers the size of the board, but can wrap around to the back in order to be secured at the end.

Now for the tufting...

Jim was nice enough to help me out with this part. If you can get a friend to help you, it will make your life much easier.  Get your friend, buttons, thread, needle, scissors, and staple gun.  You're all set.

I'm not sure how other tutorials suggested knowing where each button marking is under your batting and fabric... I don't remember reading about it. So we just went under the board, circled in sharpie where all of the holes we drilled were and then Jim stuck an upholstery needle up through a each hole so that it would just barely poke the fabric and I could see where to place the needle. Not the most scientific, but it was dang effective!

Even though I used strong upholstery thread, I wanted to make sure that it was good and sturdy. I doubled my thread twice so that I had 4 threads. Thread an upholstery needle and tie a button to the end. Place the needle in the designated place, through the fabric and batting and passing through the holes in foam and board. Basically, it's a straight shot down through everything and attached to the back of the board.  Staple the thread to the back using the staple gun. I recommend stapling in a zig zag or random pattern several times to make sure it's very secure. Like this:

I'm pretty sure that's exactly how the professionals do it, too.

This is where having 2 people is nice. I had Jim lay on the floor and staple while I held the button down to form the tuft. You can do it by yourself, but its hard slightly challenging. I did a few at the end by myself and I'll just say, stapling with a staple gun, upside down, with one hand (because the other was holding the button down), is not easy. However if your staple doesn't go all the way flesh agains the wood because you're weak or trying to multitask--don't fret! Just hammer the staple until it holds the thread tight :)

This tufting part obviously takes the bulk of the time but gets quicker as you go. The fabric really does want to fall and pull in a diamond shape because of the placements. Sometimes it needs a little encouragement though so just check the fabric and how it's pulling before you secure each button. 

Save the edges for last. Simply pull the fabric and batting around the edges and staple them in place. I think as a general rule you want to pull the fabric out straight, don't try and keep forming diamonds. Just pull straight and staple. If you have to bunch fabric, bunch some in a straight line from a button. The bottom edge doesn't need to be finished because it goes behind the mattress. The sides and tips though make sure you are stapling on the back.  (Okay...as far as securing the edges.  I'll admit I wasn't the most careful with this and I would have kinda liked to not see as many bunchy lines.  I think it takes away from the beautiful look of the diamond tuft.  If I were you and were reading this tutorial... I'd double check and read other people's suggestions on securing the edges.  It will be something similar, I'm just not thrilled with how the sides turned out.  Obviously though, if you think mine looks okay, you can just do what I did... which was the lazy way!)

For the legs I suppose you could paint them or wrap in extra fabric. We had some black fabric so we just wrapped and stapled plain fabric around the leg to finish it off.

Trim any excess batting and fabric from the back and enjoy! 

(Again, sorry for the poor lighting!)

We are LOVING it. It totally completes the room and is super soft and awesome. It makes middle of the night feedings much more comfortable for sure :) 

(Yes, the tufting is straight...it's my pillow placing that I need to work on :) )

Jimmie's sure enjoying it! Don't worry, we don't leave him to play on the bed like that ;)

And here's a little shout out to my patient little helpers during the project! Hey...they were good moral support and endured a decent amount of me talking to myself.  

The headboard, though it sounds ambitious isn't that hard. I'm not an advanced diy-er and our total time was probably about 4 hours total. Obviously I had to break that time up into small 15-45 min sections and we still finished that quickly. 

It may not have turned out perfect, but I think for how quickly, cheaply, and easily we did it--it can't be beat! And you know what, it's better than nothing at all! Would I suggest this project to someone else?  Yes, absolutely, yes! Be brave my friends...you can do it!  And let me know if you have any questions or want me to clarify anything.  I probably left stuff out and, as always, you learn a lot of things you may have done differently throughout the process.  Good luck guys!