Simple Ikea Bed Turned Chic
and made it into this bed!
I am so pleased with how this bed turned out I can hardly stand it. I knew I wanted an upholstered bed for her, but wasn’t finding anything I loved. They were either too boring, no style, or way out of a very descent price range. I first wanted to make the bed from scratch headboard, side rails, foot board and all, but wasn’t mentally prepared for that undertaking. So I decided to take the easy way out and use a bed from Ikea. I started out by purchasing some particle board and cutting it down to the size of the headboard.
Then I decided on the shape of the headboard. From the middle I measured 7 inches across and 5 inches down.
I then attached wood pieces with wood glue around the back of the board. This is to help it be more study with added thickness. I really suggest doing this if you’re going to make one, because the thickness also makes it look like I bought it from a store.
Then glued and staple gunned it to the actual bed and let it sit overnight.
Then came the batting. I had to add extra inside the spaces to make it thicker so it wouldn’t sink in.
Then it got a little tricky, because of all the stinking corners I couldn’t just easily wrap the batting around with one piece. I had to do a layer of batting per row horizontally, then add a whole layer vertically. A big pain in the rear to get this thing to not look like my three year old did it!
In this picture I’m adding the top layer of the fabric. I have already stapled the horizontal piece, and this that I’m wrapping is the vertical. For the front of the bed I almost used two whole yards. There are so many staples in this bed it could stick to a magnetic wall, no joke!
It sits 4 feet from the ground, and is the perfect height with her mattress and added pillows.
The only thing I did to the rails were pad them and upholster them.
This is the occupant of the bed who LOVES it!
Here’s the completed look with pillows and a night stand.
With a few thousand staples a little Ikea can go a long way! 🙂
Cassity Kmetzsch started Remodelaholic after graduating from Utah State University with a degree in Interior Design. Remodelaholic is the place to share her love for knocking out walls, and building everything back up again to not only add function but beauty to her home. Together with her husband Justin, they have remodeled 6 homes and are working on a seventh. She is a mother of four amazing girls. Making a house a home is her favorite hobby.
Love this! I am going to try this but I was wondering if this bed was sturdy enough for an adult?
Hey Julie, I would check with Ikea, but I am sure it would be just fine for an adult! If you try it, I would love to see how it turns out. Good Luck!
Hi. Really pretty! I was wondering if you could give me a little more detail. I just made a headboard that has curves, but also has corners like yours. It’s the L shaped part (hope that makes sense) that I’m having a real hard time covering with fabric. In fact, I’m glad I used clearance fabric, because I goofed it up and I believe I have to start again with new fabric. It’s a king size, therefore need lots more fabric and don’t want to mess it up again. I am confused about your picture saying you did horizontal and now you are doing vertical. Did you overlap or something? Can you please clarify? I’d appreciate any assistance!!!
Lisa, technically this is a guest post. But You can see the picture of the batting she did stripes across horizontally first, then she brought another strip up vertically. She wasn’t talkinga bout the fabric. I am not sure what she did in that case, but either way int he corners you are going to have to cut the fabric to be able to wrap it around and secure it, If it were me, i would take a few strips of your finished fabric and line the inside corners, then even if there is a little bit of corner showing, you have the right fabric showing through. Not sure if that makes sense..
Hi Cassity. I do appreciate your reply, but she was talking about the fabric as this is her opening sentence for that particular picture, “In this picture I’m adding the top layer of the fabric.” I thought about doing as you said with extra fabric. We’ll see how it goes as I plan on tackling again this weekend and finishing it up once and for all. Again, thanx for the suggestion!
I love this bed! I recently purchased this bed at ikea with the anticipation to glam it up and this is just what I had in mind! May I have your measurements for the headboard and fabric please! Thank you so much!
~Kina H.
Hi!! I just bought my particle board. I had lowes cut it to 41×41 and it seems really heavy. Was yours pretty heavy? What type of wood and width of wood did you use?
Thanks!!
Hi Melanie! This is a guest post so I can’t answer your question for sure, but if you’ll click over to the original author’s site (linked up top) then she can give you more guidance. Thanks!
Hi! Thanks for this feature. I can’t remember the exact wood I used but it was medium width. Not too thin, nor too thick. It was slightly top heavy but with it being connected to the rest of the bed it holds its own. It has still held up beautifully. Good luck!
Thanks for the update, Jen!
Great job with the headboard. We are also looking at this ikea bed for my daughter. Curious though with no box spring does the bed sit really low. When the matress sits on the rails i worry it will be so close to the ground.
Thanks
Hi Paul,
If you look at the listing on the IKEA site, you can get a better idea of how low the bed sits and whether that will work for your situation or not. IKEA has lots ofsimilar beds that you could use this same type of hack to update.