This headboard was the perfect solution for us at the time (we made it a few years ago) and we still like it. It was easy to make, fairly cheap and the look of it can be changed with a quick coat or two of paint!
Here's the breakdown...
1. We decided on the size we wanted the headboard to be. The main thing was to determine the height of the headboard. We measured and then measured again to be sure. We decided we wanted the headboard to be 3 feet tall.
2. Then, we made a trip to Home Depot and found the cheapest interior door we could that matched the dimensions we wanted. We wanted the headboard to be three feet tall so we found a door that was three feet wide. That was easy! $40
NOTE: A "used" door could likely be found at a place like Habitat for Humanity or elsewhere. That would probably cut down on the cost! (Too bad I didn't think of this at the time.)
3. Next, we visited Canadian Tire and chose a paintable wallpaper we liked. We settled with the Floral Silhouette pattern they carry. $20/roll. (See image below for a very similar pattern.)
I particularly liked how the pattern of the paper matched the pattern on our lamp shades.
4. We stopped at General Paint and picked up a small can of dark grey paint. I wanted the grey to coordinate with the accent cushion I had recently found at Winners. The colour we chose was lead in a high gloss finish. $18
5. My husband cut the length of the door down to the size we wanted. We ended up taking 11" off the one end.
6. We did some careful planning and more measuring. We put the door on its side, found the middle and drew a straight line across the width of the door. We lined up our first piece against this line. Four strips of paper covered the door. I've tried to illustrate what we did below. The corners were trimmed and neatly folded over the back. (Click on image to enlarge.)
7. After the paper had a chance to dry, I got to painting! I used a roller and put the paint on quite thick. Because the paintable wallpaper has texture to it you have to put the paint on thick to ensure that it covers completely. Two coats later I was done and we had a beautiful, one-of-a-kind headboard!
James drilled four small holes into the back of the door and hung the headboard with four large srews and anchors.
A stylish DIY headboard for $80!
I particularly like the fact that the whole look can be changed with just a little paint. For more on that, read here.
Happy Monday!
-Sarah