Simple DIY Headboard Upholstery For Beginners

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Do you have an old headboard collecting dust in your attic or garage? Before you consider discarding it, think again! DIY Headboard Upholstery is simple and budget friendly way to bring an old piece of furniture back to life. Use that thing to MAKE the headboard you’ve been eyeing for weeks. So often, the pieces in our “get rid of” pile will make the perfect canvas for our next project if we just approach it from a different angle.

Comparable headboards: $300+
My headboard: $53

While looking for inspiration for my daughter’s big girl room, of course I fell in love with the most expensive headboard of all time! I seem to have awfully expensive taste for a girl with a very small budget. Since my love for pricey things doesn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon, I had to get creative with the way I would achieve this look for less.

Unfortunately, I did not have a headboard in what my husband considers my “get rid of” pile – but what he doesn’t know is it’s actually my “future projects” pile. “Yes, Hunny, I will take that to the Goodwill soon” is the biggest load of bullshit I’ve ever served. And actually, that’s not true… I have two headboards in my Future Projects Pile but they aren’t the right size, haha! I needed a queen headboard for this project.

Hi, I’m Emily!

Shortly after becoming a mom, I traded in my nursing scrubs for breastmilk-stained sweatshirts and yoga pants. I loved being home with my daughter but missed feeling like “me.” I was in desperate need of an outlet, so I made it my “job” to start renovating our home. Through DIY I have developed a passion for creating a beautifully functional home and I love helping you do the same!

Check out my awesome resources, especially my DIY Gift Vault – inside you’ll find everything you need to make heartfelt, handmade gifts this holiday season including FREE printable greeting cards, gift labels, step-by-step guides and full supply lists for every holiday and occasion! Please sign up and download your Gift Kits today!

Using Recycled Furniture to Keep the Cost Down

There are many headboard designs I like but my vision for this project was to create a kurth upholstered look. I played around with the idea of cutting down a piece of plywood to the right size and using that as the base but have you seen the prices wood these days? That option wasn’t going to fit into my budget. Another, more wallet friendly option would be to use foam board insulation but as I mentioned, this is for my daughter’s big girl room and probably wouldn’t hold up well to my toddler’s curiosity.

As I was making my weekly round to all of the thrift stores, I happened upon a simple, rectangular shaped, wooden, queen headboard for only $10! But wait, it was 30% off day – $7!! Psh, the passerby who told me I didn’t want that one because it has water damage didn’t know the GOLD I just came across. I hope he reads this and weeps. It was the perfect furniture find the DIY headboard upholstery project and you bet that baby came home with me!

So, stop talking, Emily and tell us how you did it. Okay – here’s the good stuff!

How to Reupholster a Headboard

First up, gather your supplies! For this project I used:

1 queen headboard
Fabric
Poly-fil
Staple gun
Staples
Scissors
Hot glue gun
Hot glue
Measuring tape
Marker

As you can see, the headboard did have a little water damage on the lower right corner but who cares, I was going to cover it up anyways!

I started by removing the border trim.

Next, I measured out and marked down how many kurths I wanted.

Then, using my staple gun, I attached the fabric to the back side of the headboard, starting on the left side only. As I moved along, I found it easier to leave the top and bottom edges open until the very end.

To make the first section, I bunched up the fabric about 2-3in then put staples all down my line spaced about 1-2 inches apart. I ended up coming back and putting more staples in because the type of fabric I used was stretchy and needed a bit more support.

I then stuffed the first section with as much stuffing as I could fit in it – make sure to spend the time to pull the stuffing apart and “fluff” it up before stuffing it.

One podcast and only a few cuss words later, I had every section stuffed! As I mentioned before, it was easier to leave the top and bottom edges open until the end that way I could get as much stuffing in there as possible and then pull the fabric tight before securing it on the back side with staples.

My next and final step was to cover the staples. I still had some left over fabric so I cut it into strips and twisted them. I laid each twist over the staples and secured it on the backside. Also, I knew my toddler was going to pull on those instantly so I put a few dabs of hot glue along the staples for extra security.

And there ya have it, a beautiful, queen upholstered headboard. Who knew DIY headboard upholstery could be so easy? the final product in its new home. And guess what the first thing my daughter did was? Try to pull on those damn twists! Thank goodness I didn’t use the foam board – and if you don’t know what I’m talking about, maybe read the beginning next time.