Stop staring and start sewing!

My new vintage headboard (how we did it!)

My bedroom re-do project has finally tipped into the "mostly finished" category and I couldn't be happier (well, I would be happier if it were in the "done" category but I'll take it...).  We finished our headboard and the final product is everything I'd hoped for.  I've been pinning "padded, framed headboards" on Pinterest, trying to find the right inspiration.  I wanted something that was padded, tufted, and a little bit over-the-top without being too fancy schmancy.  Mission accomplished.

Here is a picture of our bed as it looked for most of the past 10 years (and yes, the cat has been there for 10 years I swear).  I was so tired of the dark colors and tan walls.

 I've had this old quilt hanging around for a few years.  I bought it at Goodwill in Portland a few years back and almost made a tree skirt out of it this past Christmas.  I'm so glad I never got around to it because when it hit me that it would be perfect for my headboard I was breathing a sigh of relief.  The center swath was pretty threadbare so I cut that part out and sewed the two less worn sides together.

 Joey created this frame for me and it was the most expensive part of the whole project.  I'd kept a tight budget but I really wanted the fancy trim work framing it so I shelled out 75.00 for 3 lengths of fancy trim at Lowe's.  I painted it a glossy grey enamel.

 Then we took a separate board which had been cut to fit within the frame and started covering it (after Joey pre-drilled the holes for the buttons).  First I put the 1" foam padding down and cut it to fit with my electric knife (I bought it at Goodwill years ago and keep it on hand just for this purpose).  The board was sprayed with upholstery adhesive to keep the foam in place.

 I bought batting for a twin sized bed quilt and it was just the right size to cover the padded board and wrap around the edges.

 

The buttons were covered with some silky striped fabric I've had forever.  I just cut out the fabric from the stripe that I liked and I have enough left to make a pillow cover or something else to coordinate in the bedroom.

 

So here it is after we got all the buttons tied in place.  We started at the middle and moved outward from there, pulling the fabric gently as we went.

 Joey bought some thick cotton string at the hardware store which was a pain to thread into the big doll needle hole but it was a good choice since it's so strong.  Here he is trying to fish around for the hole to pull the string back through.  That part was trickier the later the day got.

 On the back side of the board he tied the string to a washer and everything held nice and tight.

 Then we flipped the board over and pulled the fabric tight and stapled it down all around the edge.  Sorry I don't have pictures of this process (I was too busy stapling with my macho pneumatic staple gun).  We set the padded piece into the frame and Joey drilled some screws through the back of the frame to pull the boards together.

I'd made some yellow gingham piping to go around the egdes so we hot glued that in place making sure we started and ended at the bottom of the headboard so it would never be noticed by anyone.

 Joey mounted it on the wall using a French cleat picture hanger and made me swear to never ask him to remove it, ever.  That thing is seriously, hernia inducing heavy.

 I was really happy with it but knew I wasn't finished.  I had been shopping and shopping for something to decorate the top with.  I googled all sorts of millwork appliques to find the right look without spending a fortune and was getting quite frustrated.  Then I saw a decoration on Pinterest that was called a "pediment".  Once I googled the word pediment I hit pay dirt.  I found exactly what I wanted at Hobby Lobby and it was 50% off so I got it for 18.00 (as opposed to those fancy appliques which were 50.00 - 100.00 easily).

I painted it to match since I wanted the frame and pediment to look like they were all one piece.

 

Joey attached it to the wall and I was 20 shades of happy.

 

So there it is!  My beautiful, one of a kind, shabby vintage, French-ish, tufted, padded headboard!  We are so proud!  I painted our side dressers a lighter shade of the grey, got some new lighting (which I'll do a post on soon) and called it done.  I love how pretty it is and Joey loves how comfortable it feels when he's sitting up in bed reading.  Win win.

 

 

A sneak peek at our bedroom in progress...

Sorry for the blog gap!  We've been incredibly busy around here and tired of being busy too.  The winner of the mega box of lemons was Jenny (who has probably worked her way through them already).  I loved all the enthusiasm but I'm so sorry for the cruddy weather most of the nation has had this winter (Spring is coming!).

 

Here is a preview peek at one of the projects we are juggling right now.  The master bedroom.  We have torn up the carpet, installed new laminate floors, painted the walls, hauled our massive old bed out and a jillion other things and we would love to be finished (but alas!). 

 This is our old bed frame.  It was too dark and massive (and squeaky, ahem) and I've been wanting to replace it for quite a while.  I sold it on Craigslist for 300.00 and squirreled that money away for the new bed.  This is our actual Craigslist picture so everything looks more bare than it really was.

 We were contemplating building our own frame until I saw these cabinets at IKEA (yes, it's an IKEA hack!) and knew what to do.  They are Akurum wall cabinets without doors.  They are supposed to be tall and skinny but if you lay them down like we did, they are long and skinny.  Perfect.  We bought 2 of the 39 inch cabinets (26.00 each) and 4 of the 30 inch cabinets (21.00 each).  A king sized bed is 80 inches long so these came out to 81 inches when placed together which was just perfect once we scooted the mattresses away from the wall (to make room for the new headboard).  We placed them so there is 72" across from the outside on the left to the outside on the right.  If you put them together (so there's no gap at the bottom) then it's 60" across which is the perfect width for a queen sized bed.

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Blog update: Apparently IKEA has done away with the Akurum system and now has the Sektion system as the foundation for their kitchen designs. I will try to get more information on how to just get the cabinets without doors but here is a nice blog post detailing the size options. It will still work with our design here but you'd need to do some math before deciding which ones to buy since the changed both the height and depth options. I'll add info as I get more details.

Here is the side view so you can see how great this storage is going to be!  And it turns out that gap at the foot of the bed makes a great entrance to the new cat hidey-hole where they go to avoid this pesky little dog.

Joey built these spans/slats out of 2 x 4's and attached them to the cabinets with mending plates.  The box springs set perfectly on them.  But they were ugly to look at.  And that's where I came in!

One mega king sized bed skirt later and bam! it's pretty and practical.  I can't tell you how much happier I am!  I'll post more later on the bed skirt process and our beautiful, amazing, glorious, one-of-a-kind headboard.  See, we've been busy!  And I've got a lot more planned for this room (don't tell Joey!).

We still have to lay new floor in 3 bedrooms and my office but it's much fresher and prettier in our upstairs already and I'm so happy to see the 10 year old carpet kicked to the curb after all these years, and kids, and pets....ugh.  Hang tight!  Spring is coming!!