You may recall us mentioning our headboard and some changes we were making in our bedroom. Things are really coming together and the hardest part is over – picking out all the pieces and coordinating the headboard fabric with the rest of the look.
In our old bedroom, we had black accents, so naturally, we went with black headboards. The fabric we used was nice because it was sort of like a quilt, giving the headboard that pillow-y look and feel. It made a lot of sense at the time, but since then, we’ve become bored by this – headboard bored. We wanted to lighten and brighten in our new space, so it was time to ditch the dark colors.
I really wanted to be able to play with a pop of color and the style of the headboard in our new bedroom. With subdued aqua-colored bedding and light white curtains with an added pop of silver, I was sure to do just that. Here is what we picked:
We wanted something that looked more like a painting or a landscape as opposed to just a pattern like dots or stripes. I think this fabric does a great job of that. You may be surprised to hear that this fabric actually comes from a shower curtain! Yes – we I spent A LOT of time looking at fabrics, so when the standard fabric stores just weren’t going to cut it, I had to get resourceful. As it turns out, shower curtains are PERFECT for this project.
Follow my DIY directions here for creating your very own fabric headboard!
DIY Headboard Project
You will need:
- 2 standard, blank canvases
- Fabric of your choice
- Staple gun (a simple crafting gun is more than enough)
- Zero patience because this is just so easy! 🙂
- Buy some blank canvases from your local arts and crafts stores. Michaels or A.C. Moore will do the trick. They are pretty inexpensive, especially if you can catch a sale.
- Measure your canvases. Jot down the dimensions before heading to step 3 below.
- Find your fabric! This sounds like the easy part, but it’s really the hardest (see above). Make sure if you are ordering fabric by the yard you get the proper size with a little extra to spare. Keep in mind that you’re going to be wrapping about 2 inches of fabric around the back of the canvas on all sides to secure it with staples later in the project. Measure twice, cut once! If you find yourself buying a shower curtain for this project like we did, just one will do! It’s the perfect amount of fabric for the size typical queen-sized headboard.
- Cut your fabric. I just laid the shower curtain on the floor, placed both canvases on top of it and that gave me a rough idea for where to cut. Cut two pieces, again, keeping in mind that you will be wrapping the fabric around the edges of the canvas on all sides.
- Start with one canvas at a time. Place the canvas on top of the fabric so the printed side of your fabric will be wrapped around the front of the canvas.
- Start with one side – any side – and start wrapping the fabric around the edge of the canvas, pulling it as tight as you can.
- Get stapling! Staple all the way across the edge so the fabric will be secure. No need to overdo it.
- Move onto the next side, giving the fabric a nice tuck and fold around the corner of the canvas. Now you want to start keeping everything very tight. This way, the fabric will be flush around the front of the canvas. Keep stapling all the way around and continue in this way for the remaining sides of the canvas.
- It’s a lot like wrapping a present! When you get to the last side, you’ll just want to be sure you’re pulling everything tight and sealing off that final edge.
That’s it! Repeat steps 5 through 9 again on your second canvas. Then you’re all set to hang them!
We place ours on the wall behind our bed so that the bottom of the canvases is lined up with the top edge of the mattress. This gives the illusion that this headboard is part of the bed and not part of the wall. We use a nail at the top of each canvas, then we use those Command Velcro strips to secure the headboards even more. This way, when you’re resting with your pillow on them, they don’t shift around or fall off the wall.
It’s really that easy. What do you think?
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