Recently I designed and built a headboard for this client project. I have made a couple of upholstered headboards in the past but they have been pretty basic. For this project I really wanted a mix of whimsy and modern... it was for a 3 year old girl after all! It needed to be something that she could grow into and something that could be used for any bed since the bed that existed is on the shorter side and eventually she might upgrade to a standard size twin.
When I first began this project {like most projects} I had the final design in my head. On a shopping trip with the client we had purchased a 4' x 4' piece of plywood from the home improvement store. Like I said before I wanted this headboard to be a little bit whimsy so the basic square was not an option. So the first step was to draw out the top design.
I started by drawing out my design on regular paper. It was not to scale, just more for reference. As you can see this is not me doing to actual work... it's my hubs. When I started discussing the building of the headboard and what materials I was going to need, he heard "will you build this for me" as I was says "this is what I am planning what do you think? And by the way, while you are out will you stop by the lumber store." Sometimes he needs a project where he can use is power tools and not me... so like most projects we have done for my own house... I design, he builds. =) Anyways... after the design was referenced we drew it out on the plywood.
We used a string attached to an aul to create the perfect curve. To figure out the curve I really just eyeballed it {like most things if you haven't noticed} but it ended up being just about half of the overall size from the bottom of the curve.
Next I we eyeballed the concave curve but measured at each point to make sure both sides were even.
AFTERTHOUGHT TIP: I loved the little detail that separated the top curve from the concave curve, but after I wrapped the edge with batting and then fabric it wasn't as prominent as I would have liked... next time I will double the size of that detail.
After we he cut out the shape with a jig saw we built up the edges.
In the past when I have made the headboard I have never like just wrapping fabric and batting around 1/2" ply wood, so I wanted to build up the sides. If you shop any of the headboards available from West Elm or Crate N Barrel they have the same appearance. To do this we used 1x2's and traced the design on to the pieces. And then the hubs used the jig to cut it out.
After all of the sides were cut out they were glued to the board, screwed in, and then clamped to dry.
The hubs is very annal a perfectionist so he spent some time sanding out the edges. Yet another excuse to use a power tool, but in the end it did look gorgeous!! {pic above is before the sand job} However, all of this will be covered so you could or could not sand the edges.
To start the pattern for the tufting I knew I wanted a diamond pattern. I started at the top of the headboard and eyeballed the first hole. It is about 3" down from the top and center in the curve. After I sort of eyeballed the distance between the rows, he created a jig {I say template} to make sure all of the holes where measured perfectly. Once they were all marked he drilled the holes.
Tomorrow I will finish up the upholstered tufted headboard tutorial by actually tufting and upholstering it!
2 comments:
Wow, that's a great tip about building up the edges. I never like when it looks thin. I have been wanting to make one for my daughter's room but couldn't figure out how they made it look wide like that. I'm off to check out the next part of your headboard posts.
Building up the sides makes the difference of it looking like a DIY and it being professionally built. Very nice!!
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