My DIY Tufted Headboard

Do you ever want a different look for a room but don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars? I do!! Anything that I can do labor wise that will save a buck or $100, I’m up for the challenge. I have been staring at this headboard that I made a while back and not loving the fabric any more. I wanted something tufted but didn’t want to spend hours on shoving that needle through to tie knots for every little button. Well, believe it or not, I tufted this headboard with no sewing, no needles, no thread, in less than 15 minutes! Sounds like a dream right? So here is how I did it with an affiliate link of where you can find what I used. I’m sorry that not all of my step by step pictures are the greastest, because I made the actual headboard years ago and this time around just added new fabric and tufting.

 

To make the headboard initially I used MDF board and 1×2’s. I went to Home Depot and had them cut the MDF to the size that I wanted the headboard to be. This height of your headboard is preference but make sure to cut the width to match or be slightly larger than your bed frame. I even had Home Depot cut my 1×2’s to the size I needed. Why did I use 1×2’s you ask? Well, I wanted my headboard to have the look of a thick headboard so I added 1×2’s down each side of the board and screwed them into place.

 

I then took batting and placed it over, what would be the front, of the entire headboard and stapled it on with my staple gun it to the back side. You can staple it to the large board or the 1×2’s. After this step you are ready for your fabric.

 

 

You probably realize by now that the back side of the headboard does not matter because no one will ever see it. The fabric I chose this time around was a painters drop cloth from ACE hardware. Painters drop cloths are so great to keep the cost down on a project. Once you wash and dry them a couple of times they soften up and work great as fabric for projects. This is the back side of my headboard. I didn’t feel like cutting all of the extra fabric off so mine looks extra messy on the back side. To save myself a lot of time and sore hands, that’s ok by me! The fabric is attached just as the batting is, with a heavy duty staple gun. Just make sure all areas are pulled taught from the front side when stapling each side. That will save you the headache of having to pull the staples out and start over. As you can see I even pulled the extra fabric that I didn’t want to cut off and just stapled it to the board so that it would not drape over the sides when I lifted the headboard up.

 

 

So here is my secret and the really fun part. This is just something new that I thought I would try to see if it worked to save me all of the time of tufting. I’ve tufted 2 chairs in the past so I know all of the time it takes and did not appreciate the sore fingers that I had afterwards. Here is what I used to tuft my headboard.

 

 

I know! I never thought it would look good either! But all I used was these nail in protectors and my hammer (oh and my measuring tape of course) and they worked GREAT!! I used the larger size. There is no telling these are solid material from close up or far away! Sigh of relief! 15 minutes later after I lined them all up and measured twice…

 

 

This is my final result! Oh yes and no need to tuft the whole way to the floor…the bed frame will cover all of that. I only tufted 3 rows. And love, love, love!!! I am so glad that I tried this method. My guest bedroom is almost ready for some guests. Just a little more decorating, painting a cabinet, and it will be finished, all on a budget friendly budget of $35 (+ the wood supplies that I already had).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by my friends! I hope to meet up with you on Instagram and Facebook too! Now off to fulfill my daugther’s request…swimming!