Finally: Reader Chosen Fabric Has Become a Fabulous DIY Tufted Headboard

Don't you just hate it when you're ready to post a big reveal and your internet starts going out intermittently for two days? I need my interwebs! Anyway, Casa 26 has once again entered this century and is online so I can finally post the big project finale.

Way back when, I asked you to help me choose the fabric that would eventually cover my new headboard. I built this headboard in mostly the same way that I built my guest bedroom headboard.  For this one though, I was inspired by the super tufted headboards and projects that I've seen around lately, especially this project by Brick City Love.

First, I laid out the frame. We have a king size bed so the total dimensions for this headboard are 78" wide by 36" tall. I framed out the 1/2" plywood (cheapest kind I could find, I think this sheet was $8) with 1x2s all the way around the edge.

I chose 1/2" ply on purpose.  3/4" is a lot heavier and since this headboard is so large, I wanted to keep the weight as low as possible.  The 1/2" ply is plenty stable though so it's not flimsy and won't bend out of shape.

Then I flipped the whole thing over (so the 1x2s were on face down) and drilled small holes into the plywood where I wanted my buttons to go.  These holes were so I could pull my needle through the back of the board and secure the thread.  Figuring out where the holes went involved a certain amount of math, but I finally decided to do three rows of staggered buttons, 8" apart (the top row is 6" from the top of the frame).

Then, I covered the entire top with 2" foam. This headboard was so big I had to piece together two rolls to cover the entire thing. The foam was held down with spray adhesive from Home Depot. You can't tell from the photo below, but I dug out holes in the foam that are the same size as the buttons that I wanted to use for the tufting (in the same places that I drilled my small holes in the plywood - make sense so far?  Big button sized holes in the foam, smaller than button sized holes in the plywood.)

To even out the seams from piecing the foam together, I covered the entire face with batting and stapled it around the back.  Then I just snipped little holes in the batting to allow access to the large holes I put in the foam.

To get the large holes in the foam, I "dug" them out with a really large drill bit.  Not the easiest or cleanest method, but it did the trick.

Then came more math. Because I was pulling the buttons down into the foam, I had to allow for more than just 8" of fabric between each button.  Turning the fabric over, I marked where each button was supposed to go.  To do this, I added 4" of fabric between each button (because there are 2 buttons, each needing an extra 2").

X marks the spot

Turns out though that this was too much fabric, so I ended up re-doing my marks with just an extra 2" of fabric between each pair of buttons (so, 10" of fabric between each button).  Why did this happen?  I think when I was pulling my buttons down, I was also pulling the foam down a bit with them, reducing the amount of extra fabric I had to allow.  In the end, it all worked out even if it did involve more swearing than most DIY projects (seriously, math blows).

Then I just pulled my buttons through my holes and fabric where marked, and Wally! Lots of super tufting.







If you've done the math (and I know you haven't yet, that's cool) you'll realize that my rows aren't evenly spaced on the frame. I did that on purpose. I cheated my rows up since I wanted most of the tufting to be visible and my fabric was only so large (limiting the number of rows of buttons I could do). The bottom will be partially obscured by the mattress and pillows so didn't want to waste my precious buttons. I just pulled the fabric down and tried to keep the folds as nice as possible.




The pattern makes the the tufts difficult to see in photos, still, here's a wide shot of the whole thing.




The whole project cost in the neighborhood of $120. The most expensive parts were the fabric ($40 - used the code RAMBLING for 10% off my order at Tonic Living), buttons (I don't know, $20?), and the foam (about $35 - thank you 40% off coupons from Joanns!). It also took quite a bit of time. But thanks to this project and Netflix instant streaming, I'm now caught up on all of Season 2 of Psych (funny show, watch it).

p.s. As usual I'll be linking this project up to a bunch of great parties. Make sure you check out the buttons in my sidebar to see all the great projects from the blogosphere.

p.p.s. The headboard looks great with the completed Stratton Bed. I'm doing a couple touch ups on it now. Look out for that reveal next week!