How To Turn A Door Into A Stylish Headboard

We are so excited to welcome Ursula to Headboard Week — and to the Remodelaholic contributor team! You’re going to adore her lovely style and the simple ways that she achieves it. She’s here today with a fabulously simple take on turning a door into a stylish headboard. Get all the details, and then link up your own headboard(s) at the bottom of the post (or here). Happy Headboard Week!

Hey there Remodelaholic fans, I’m Ursula from Home Made by Carmona, and I’m falling all over myself with excitement to be a new contributor here at Remodelaholic! You’ll soon learn that I’m a bit of a DIY junkie… DIY-aholic? Well, let’s just say that like all of you, I too a bit remodel-crazy and I’m so happy to be here!

Today I’m sharing a deliciously simple headboard tutorial. One thing you’ll learn about me is that I’m a sucker for a simple solution or easy DIY. The second thing you’ll learn about me is that I am a little bit country, and I’m a little bit rock n’ roll…no just kidding, I am neither of those things, but I do seem to have a split decorating personality that causes me to  to be head over heels in love with chic modern style one moment, and the next moment all things rustic. As a result I love projects with a mixture of  rustic wood, chic fabric and a touch of something sparkly, which is exactly what you’ll get with this headboard tutorial.

Pssst, I’m going to tell you the secret to creating easy projects; use existing products and re-purpose it into something new! For this headboard you’ll start with a door. Yep, a door! It is the perfect shape, thickness, and if you’re lucky you might even find one in the perfect headboard size! An oversized interior door is preferable because it will be a lightweight compared to an exterior door. I found this old door for $5 at a Habitat for Humanity Restore.  I recommend checking  salvage shops or your friends garages for old doors (ok, don’t everybody break into their friends garages…I’m just saying it can’t hurt to ask around).

How to Turn A Door Into A Stylish Headboard
by Ursula of Home Made By Carmona

Tools you will need for this project are: hammer, stapler, and possibly a jig saw.

Materials you will need are:  Door,  fabric, batting, fiberfill, and a roll of decorative nail head trim.

In a nutshell, the main plan is to wrap the materials around the door, staple in place, and cover up the staples with a decorative nail head strip…however there are a couple details I should probably share, so here is what you need to know:

1. There are two ways to create your headboard… If you have the good fortune to find the perfect size door (when laid on its side) you can skip steps 1 and 2. On the other hand if you have a door large in width, but still doesn’t meet your height requirement when laid on its side, then you will need to start by cutting your door in half. The cut doesn’t need to be anything fancy, I used a simple jigsaw since the door I’m working with is hallow.

Lay the two halves of the door side by side, cut parts lined up. This makes the perfect height and width for a headboard. Keep in mind that the cut ends will become the bottom of the headboard.

2. Secure the two halves of the door using a couple lumber connectors, one near the top and one closer to the bottom for a secure attachment. Or if you are like me, a use-what-you-got kinda gal, you can even use the door hinges that came with your salvaged door! Yeah, I know, I take the whole “waste-not-want-not” thing to a whole new level in my DIY (giggle).  Hey, its only job is to hold the two halves together, so why not save a couple bucks?

3. Determine how much of the wood you want to show on either side of your headboard. Cover the rest -the mid section- with batting. Unroll enough batting to cover the area twice over.

4. To get a little extra-fluffy comfort, add an even layer of fiberfill across the batting, then envelope the fiberfill in the extra batting you unrolled earlier. For some reason this made me want a taco… unofficial step 4.5, take a lunch break even though you are only 10 minutes into your project.

5. Now lay your fabric of choice on top of all this fluff and arrange it as you want it to look for your final product. The fabric should be long enough to wrap around the top and bottom by 6 inches or so. I did not sew my fabric, however I ironed it to create a crease so the raw edges would be tucked under.

6. Now that everything is in its place, staple every 2-3 inches along the edges where you plan to run your decorative nail head strip. The nailhead strip will cover the staples, so keep a straight line while stapling! Also be sure to pull the fabric taut as you work.

After you staple the front, you will flip the headboard over and wrap the extra fabric around the top and bottom and staple in place.

7. Run your nailhead strip right over the top of the area you stapled, you don’t want any staples to peek through.

8. Presto, you’re done! Now make your bed like your mom always told you to.

Well fine, don’t make up the bed, but at least have a comfy bed with a good mattress and lots of fluffy throws that make you want to jump right in!

Making your own headboard is a great way to start a bedroom makeover. My middle daughters bedroom was decorated all pretty in pink last year, and now that I’m tackling my guest bedroom, this headboard project made for the perfect jumping-off point to begin. I say always start with the heart and soul of a bedroom and the rest will fall into place!

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Lovely, Ursula! Thanks so much for sharing with us!

Check out everything that’s been shared so far in Headboard Week, and be sure to come back later today to see our favorite bed canopies and get the tutorial to build this fabulous barnwood chevron headboard:

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