How I made my upholstered headboard

I LOVE the look of a big tall upholstered headboard. It's a really easy and inexpensive way to add drama to a room.

I knew I wanted an upholstered headboard when I started my bedroom makeover. I also wanted it to be inexpensive and easy for me to DIY.

I started with a 4'x 8' sheet of pegboard I had cut down to 4'x4' at Lowe's. While there I picked up two French-Cleat Art mounting brackets.  Then I went to Jo-Ann and bought 1" foam and quilt batting.

To start, I laid my pegboard down, and sprayed spray adhesive all over it.
Then I laid the foam down.

Moving inside, I laid my face fabric (a flat sheet from Target) down on a clean surface.

Then I laid my batting on top of that.

Finally, I laid my foamed- up pegboard down on the batting, foam side down.

First, I stapled the batting to the pegboard with my trusty staple gun. You want to pull it taut, but not tight. Try to keep even pressure all the way around so it doesn't wave.

Then, repeat the process with your face fabric. Staple one staple in the top, then one in the bottom, one in the left, and one in the right. Go back to the top and staple like hell.

When you get to the corners, you'll need to pretend you're wrapping a package or making a bed.

Pull one side down, and add a staple.

Then pull the other across and staple again.

The finished product:

Now time to add the mounting hardware.

I taped my cleats in place first:

Then screwed them in with the provided hardware.

Next I measured where the cleats were in relation to the top of the headboard and each other:

You need to do some math to figure out where to mount your cleats on the board and on the wall.

Then mount the cleats on the wall according to your math.

The cleats have an angle to them to allow the part mounted to the headboard to slip on to the wall part.

Now just get someone to help you hang the headboard on the wall cleats, and you're done.

I finished this in February (bad blogger!) and am STILL debating about adding nailhead trim to it. Any thoughts? 

Annie makes her debut!

If you remember, I found Annie a few months ago here. It took me forever, but I finally got her finished!

Here's the before:

And here she is after:

To make her look so pretty and matching, I

Unscrewed the seat and set it aside to recover while watching the Georgia game

Sanded her down until the finish was dull and spots of bare wood were showing

Washed the entire piece with soap and water and let dry

Paint three very light coats of pure white glossy interior latex paint ( I used a Valspar sample can) with a good quality brush.

While the paint is drying, take the staples out from the existing cover. I did this on the living room floor watching football. I use a screwdriver to pry the staples up, then pull them out with needle nose pliers. There's probably an easier way, but this works for me.

Take the old cover off.  If you need to add new foam/ padding, do so now.

To recover:

Lay a piece of muslin or white fabric on a flat surface ( like the floor) and smooth out. Cut out around the seat bottom, leaving a generous amount to staple with.

Pull up the top side taut, and put a staple in. Repeat with the opposite side.

Now pull up the right side until tight, and put one staple in. Do the left. Now all four sides should have one staple holding the fabric tight.

Go back to the top side, and start adding additional staples. Add 3 or 4, then go do the bottom. Repeat around the sides until you've stapled the hell out of it.

Pull the point of the corner in to the center and staple. Fold the wings in neatly, and staple to make pretty corners.

Repeat the entire process with your pretty fabric.

Once that's done, hammer in any staples that decided to kick back.

Put the seat on the chair, and screw it back in.

Display the chair in a prominent area, and mention to everyone you know about your project.

Again, here she is:

Linked up to:

  

Vanity Stool Re-upholstery project!

The same day I made my Fall wreath , I was waiting on my new washing machine to be delivered. I got a very cool high efficency front load machine. She's so pretty!


Since delivery guys are never on time, I also had time to re-upholster this vanity stool.

This mahogany beauty was my grandmother's. It's part of the set she and my grandfather had when they first got married!

I'm using the dressing table as a computer desk in my guestroom (where I'm blogging from in case you were wondering), and am using the stool as a luggage bench of sorts for when I have visitors.

I have a guest room re-do as a future project (way down on the list too), but this was a quick change and made her so much prettier!

Since she just got refinished professionally, I didn't have to do any work to the frame. I flipped her upside down, and un-screwed the top.


I then painstakingly pulled out all the staples holding the existing upholstery in place. Use both a flathead screwdriver and needle nose pliers.

I then laid my ironed fabric right side down on the floor. Center the seat on the fabric. Pull up one side, and staple in the center. Staple the opposite side, pulling taught. Staple the third side, then the fourth side opposite. Now that you have one staple in each side, go back around and staple the whole thing down, pulling tight.
 
Now for the corners- I pulled and folded like I was wrapping a package, then stapled them like it was going out of style.
 
Flip her over, check her out. If you don't like what you just did, honey, it's just staples.
 
When you're happy, screw the seat back into the frame. You did put those screws in a safe place, right?
 
Take a picture!

Meet Annie

I have never bought anything at a thrift/ consignment/ Goodwill before. But I've been searching for a new chair for my desk at home.

This weekend, I found Annie. She was only $20, and has lovely lines. She needs a facelift though.

Meet Annie "before":

Stay tuned for Annie After

Ottoman Re-cover

One of the benefits of being an interior designer is free furniture. With the exception of a few accent pieces, all of my furniture is either hand me downs or free from my job. And hey, I'm young, so I'm cool with that.

However, free doesn't always match.

I got this ottoman and matching chair when we re-did our showroom vignettes at work a few years ago. The chair immediately got covered in a purchased slipcover, but I didn't know what to do for the ottoman. It doesn't match anything in my house, but it has good lines and is a perfect size. I covered it with a throw blanket and called it a day for the longest time.

Then came the blogging. I read all about slipcovers over at Pink and Polka Dot. I decided I needed to slipcover this ottoman. It was SCREAMING at me for help.

So, I took my self to Hobby Lobby. (DANGEROUS!) I found some cotton duck that seemed like it would stand up well to frequent washing to remove drool and dog hair.

I also bought welt cord to define the top of the slipcover.

Wash and dry your fabric in HOT water so you pre-shrink it. Then I ironed it to flatten it out.

I cut rectangles approximately the size of the sides and top, and pin fit them.

Then sewed it all together. (with a little help from my trusty antique Singer sewing machine, and my slipcover tutorial books. If you need a little more help, Pink and Polka Dot has an e-book for only $10 that gives great instructions!

Here's the finished beauty! I'm so proud of myself! I think I may be able to tackle the chairs next. After I complete a few things on my to-do list, of course.


9/15/10: I linked up to Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts