RE-Upholstered Headboard

Tension has been running high around the Kruse house - I have officially been cooped up in the house for too long, with nothing to do but housework.  For a couple days, I shrugged my responsibilities by becoming completely absorbed in Scandal, but when that ran it's course, I was left with nothing to do.  I told Brent that if we didn't find SOMETHING to do, right this insant, I was going to start ripping up carpet in Emma's bedroom or tearing out bathroom tile.  We needed a project, pronto.

A year and half ago, my sister's bridal shower was held at our house.  For the special occasion, I made my own tablecloth because I couldn't find anything else that I loved.  This fabric was so gorgeous that I bought an extra 2 yards of it, knowing it would be perfect on a headboard.  Here's what it looked like at the bridal shower:

Photo by Robin Long {LonglensPhotography.com}

So of course, if it looked good on a tablescape, it was definitely going to look good on my bed!  Today was finally the day to re-upholster our headboard!  Here's what it has looked like for the past 10 years - my dad helped me build it when I bought my first house.

This whole process took less than an hour, since we were basically just re-covering the old fabric with the new.  A couple bolts secure the frame of the headboard to the bed frame, so we started by removing the bolts.
Then we had to take a 10 minute break to clean all the dust bunnies from behind the bed - it was borderline terrible.  That's the good and bad part of hardwood floors, good being, at least you can see them and sweep them up so they aren't getting ground into carpet.  Bad, because you can actually see them and you can't ignore them.

While Brent was disconnecting the headboard, I headed downstairs to iron the fabric - best to do this step BEFORE attaching it to the headboard.  I used the highest heat/steam setting, as this fabric is very thick.

I had to chuckle and this little "warning" printed on the fabric.  Only because our children spend a fair amount of time in, above and around our bed....and their hands are rarely clean.

 After ironing, we cleared some room in our living room to work.  First I layed it print side up to admire it and pet it for a bit.

Then it got flipped over to prepare for application.  Wow - blurry photo - sorry.

We hauled the headboard out to the living room - this picture gives you an idea of how it was originally constructed.  My dad and I made a frame out of 2x4's, then screwed plywood over top.  Next we glued thick foam to it and then covered it with a layer of batting, to soften the edges.

I tried to tell myself that those are just shadows on the headboard when you see those dark spots - but I'm definitely not convinced - you can see perfectly where our heads have been for the past 10 years!

Here's another shot of the construction.

We laid the headboard on top of the fabric and positioned it so that the fabric would wrap around all sides.

Brent stapled while I pulled the fabric tight.  And tried not to get my fingers stapled.
**************It should be noted that I had to have Emma take this photo and I told her to make sure she didn't get my head it the picture.  Mommy needed a shower.  And some make-up.  But she didn't feel like doing it.

Not all of our staples went all the way in - as is evidenced in Exhibit A.

We tapped those in with a hammer - and in case you don't know what that looks like, here's another pic.

Corners are tricky.  From the front of the headboard, everything looks good, but if you look at the back, its a tangled mess of fabric.

The walls are looking very green in this photo - they are actually much more of a blue.  This photo was taken in the evening - as you can see by the blue light in the window.

I got a new comforter to compliment the headboard.  It's like crushed velvet on one side and sherpa on the other side - I may never get out of bed again!

The sherpa reminds me of the Downy bear....

So this ended up being the most versatile headboard in the world!  Whenever we want to change it, we just need an hour and 2 yards of fabric!  Don't tell Brent that we'd also need a new comforter, pillows, throw pillows and possible a bolster pillow.