Saturday Project: The Headboard from Hell

*Sorry this post is late, what with my birthday and all.....

Ugh.  The headboard.  Just talking about it sends my heart into some wicked palpitations.  I can feel my anxiety level rise and beads of sweat begin to form across my forehead.  What I thought would be a quick and easy project, 1-2 hours tops has turned into a week long battle.  Me vs. the Headboard.  It has tested and tried my patience (of which I have none, we've already established that here) more so than my children ever could.  It has been a project of trial and error and at this point I'm ready to go down to Home Depot and curse them and their crooked wood.  D*^$ them, D*^$ them to Hell!

FYI:  When using the word hell in the context of a place it is not considered a swear word, or so I've been told, so it's okay if I use it here.  Really, it is!

So, over a week ago I got all the materials that I needed to make my headboard.  I was soooo excited and ready to get started, but Dave pointed out that the wood was slightly bent and that it needed to be straight.  So I weighed it down with some weights thinking that it would be all ready to go!  I was SO wrong.  Here's a play by play of my adventure with the headboard (I'll explain each picture, looking at them left to right):

1. Trying to straighten the plywood, using weights.
2. Moved the plywood to the tile, so I could use spray adhesive and put on the foam.
3. Putting the foam on the board to see if I needed to trim it up.
4. Oops, the people at JoAnn's measured it a little long.
5. Trimming the foam.
6. Trimming the foam some more.  So much easier to do with an electric knife!  Alas, I didn't have one so I used my big serrated one instead.
7. Ahh, it fits!
8. The spray adhesive I used.
9. Attaching the foam to the board, using spray adhesive.
10. Laying out the fabric.
11. Now the batting.
12. Putting the foam and board on top.
13. Playtime for the Beast.  Up....
14. Down.
15. Cutting the excess batting and material.
16. Do you notice the slight bend in the wood?
17. Uh-oh, it isn't flush with the wood.  Ah well, let's keep going.  I have no patience, and I'm sure it will be alright!
18. Staple gun time!  Make sure you know what kind of staples fit your staple gun before you buy them.  The staples pictured here with my staple gun......totally the wrong size!
19. Good thing I had some extra staples on hand!  Let's get stapling!
20. Batting first.
21. Use a hammer to pound in any staples that don't go all the way in.  Need some help?  Don't worry the Beast is more than willing.
22. Now the fabric.
23. More fabric.....
24. and more.

Now lift up the headboard and see if everything is tight enough.  When I did this, I noticed that the fabric was really loose.  Dave said it was most likely because of the bend in the board and that no matter how tight I pulled the fabric, it wouldn't help.  GREAT!  You couldn't have told me the bend in the board might be a problem sooner?!?  Oh wait, you did.  My bad.  So, my next step was to pull out all the staples, and undo all of my hard work.  Good times.  So I did some research online, and I read that you should spray bent wood with water then weigh it down.  So that's what I did.  Exhibit A:

My solution to the problem.

I left the board like this for 3 days.  3 DAYS people!  Do you think it helped?  Well, a little, but the bend was still too noticeable.  So Dave took my idea of water and weights and came up with his own solution.  Exhibit B:

First he set it up on chairs.  Then he sprayed it with water.  No scratch that, he drenched it with water.  He even got down on the floor and did underneath the board as well.

Then he added weights.

Brilliant!  We left it like this overnight and though it wasn't a complete cure, the wood still had a little bend, it helped SO MUCH!  Hallelujah!  Dave suggested that we flip the wood so that what little bend was left was up against the foam.  At this point, I was meekly taking whatever advice Dave had to offer because lets face it, me and this Headboard, we ain't seeing eye to eye.  So, here goes attempt number 2 for making the headboard (once again I will explain the pictures going left to right):

1. Laying down the fabric.
2. Putting down the new batting. (I went cheap on the previous batting.  I admit it.  The fabric was so expensive, even with a coupon, and so was the foam.  I thought I could save a little money with the batting.  Bad idea!  I bought 4 oz batting the first time.  For the second time I bought 8 oz batting.  What a difference!  Seriously, don't skimp.  Trust me.)
3. Laying down the foam.  Since I got the better batting, I didn't need to use the spray adhesive to attach the foam to the board.  I was so glad because that adhesive is smelly and sticky!
4. Putting the board on top of the foam.
5. Staple time!
6. Batting first.
7. Batting all done.
8. Fabric time!
9. More fabric.  It is important that you pull the fabric as tight as you can.  You don't want the fabric to give once your headboard is complete.  I actually had Dave put down the camera and he pulled the fabric, while I stapled.
10. Fabric done!
11. The headboard with the fabric and batting stapled on.  The corners aren't done yet.  After we checked it to make sure the fabric was tight enough, I went around and stapled the batting and fabric about every inch or so to make sure it was secure.  

   12-25. These are all pictures of the corners.  I will do my best to give you a play by play, but I am no professional at this.  Now if my mom were here, she's the one who helped me do my last headboard, the corners would look like I paid someone hundreds of dollars to do them for me, but she's not, so I had to soldier on alone.  (hello, run-on sentence.  my English teachers would be horrified.)  Okay, so here's what I did.  First I trimmed the batting so I could see what I was doing.  Then I made little folds and just started stapling away.  I kind of accordion folded it (if that makes any sense) as best I could then I went crazy with the staple gun!  I did the same technique with the fabric.  The only thing I did different with the fabric is that I trimmed it AFTER I did the folding and the stapling.  I wanted to make sure I had plenty to play with.
    26.  The final step in the headboard making process, trimming.
    27.  I cut off all the excess fabric and batting so it would be easier to hang against the wall
    28.  IT'S DONE!  Now all that's left is to hang it.  Good thing that's Dave's job because I was tired!

We used french cleats (not where I bought them.  the website just gives a good description of what they are) to hang the headboard on the wall.  These allowed us to get a flush mount against the wall so the headboard wouldn't move at all.  I bought 4 of the smaller cleats that could hold up to 60 pounds each.  Then Dave did his fancy measuring and leveling.  He wrote everything out on a paper and drew a diagram, because he's good like that.  Me, I probably would've have tried to eyeball everything and hoped that it worked.  Thank goodness for Dave, that's all I have to say!  So, going left to right again and circling around the picture in the middle, which is the finished product, here is a run down of hanging the headboard.

1. We bought the french cleats at Home Depot.
2. The spot all ready for the headboard.
3. Dave doing his measuring.
4. First cleat on.
5. Drilling another one.
6. Headboard done.
7. Dave making sure everything was level.
8. All the cleats attached to the wall.
9. A close up of the cleats on the wall.
10. In the middle, the finished and hung headboard!

Oh glorious day!  Words cannot express how happy I am that it is up and completed.  It's a little higher than planned because of a miscommunication between Dave and I, but that's okay.  I can work with it.  I sure as heck am NOT going to move it now.  LOL!  Please excuse the bedding.  I wish I had pretty pillows and bedspread to decorate the bed and take a really pretty picture but alas, I do not.  Bedding is on the to do list for the Master Bedroom makeover.  Maybe I'll make it my project for the week.  We'll see how things go.  Anyhow, here is the rundown of supplies that I needed and used for this project:

1.  One 1/4 in. thick piece of plywood.  Cut to size.  My bed is a King and I knew that I wanted the headboard to be little taller than most, so I had my wood cut to 76x40.  Remember, you want about an inch extra on both sides.  You don't want your headboard width and bed width to match exactly.

2.  Foam.  2 inches thick.  I had to buy about 2 1/2 yards.  I did have a little left over.  I bought it by the yard, but I had coupons so that helped a lot.  Foam is PRICEY!  It was by far the most expensive thing that I had to buy for this project.

3.  Batting.  Like I said, don't go cheap.  Obviously, buy what works for you, but I was so much happier with the 8oz batting vs. the 4oz.  I bought 3 yards of batting.

4.  Fabric.  I bought 3 yards of the upholstery fabric of my choice.  I strongly recommend getting upholstery fabric, instead of just regular fabric.  Upholstery fabric is sturdier and is meant for projects like these.  The other headboard I made 4 1/2 years ago is still holding up beautifully thanks to the fabric I used.

5.  Staples and a staple gun.  Nuff said.

6.  A good pair of scissors.

7.  French Cleat Picture Hangers.  Found these at Home Depot in the picture hanging section.

Tools:
Phillips Screwdriver
power drill
measuring tape
level
one strong handsome manly man
studfinder (not counting you)

I think that's it.  It's a pretty easy project as long as your wood isn't bent.  If you're planning on making one, just make sure your wood IS NOT BENT.  That is my absolute best advice for you!  Alrighty, if you have any questions leave a comment, or email me at becausemysistertoldmetoo@gmail.com.  I'm no professional,  all you have to do is take one look at my corners to know that but I will be more than willing to help you out anyway that I can!  Remember if you like what you're seeing and reading please become a follower and like me on facebook!  It's always nice to know you're out there!

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