diy belgrave headboard

| | | |

DIY Nailhead Trim Headboard

We’ve been wanting to tackle this DIY for quite a while now, but we were scared it might be a little too tricky. Turns out, it was no biggie! If you’re thinking of making your own headboard, fear not.

One of the problems that was keeping us from starting was that the fabric we wanted to use wasn’t wide enough to cover a queen headboard. So this tutorial will allow you to use fabric that’s at least 55″ wide and still make a headboard that’s 60″ wide. First, gather your materials (Note: all measurements are for a queen-sized bed):

  • one 4′ x 8′ sheet of 3/4″ plywood
  • one 8′ long one-by-four
  • 1 roll of batting
  • 1 egg-crate style foam mattress topper
  • 3 yards of upholstery-weight fabric, at least 55″ wide
  • sewing machine
  • staple gun
  • jigsaw
  • screws
  • drill
  • fabric nails
  • rubber mallet
  • needle nose pliers
  • hooks for affixing to wall

First, cut your plywood and one-by-four.  The following measurements will yield a queen-sized headboard that’s five feet tall. Cut the plywood so that you have a 5′ x 3′ piece and a 5′ x 1′ piece. Cut the one-by-four in half.  (You can ask at your hardware store and they should be able to make these cuts for you!) Then decide the angle that you’d like the curve on each side to be (tracing something round is the easiest). Cut the round portion out of each side with the jigsaw. Then, out of the smaller piece of plywood, cut a frame for the top that’s four inches wide and has the same curved angle on either side. Screw the frame to the top side of the large plywood.

DIY Headboard

Cover the frame in batting. Stretch the batting taut across the frame portion and staple down the edges.

DIY Headboard

Lay fabric across the frame and determine where you’d like seams. We chose to have seams on the corners of the rounded edges, because the pattern of our fabric was directional and we wanted all of the dandelions pointing in the same direction. If your fabric isn’t directional, this step will be a little easier.

Sew seams in your fabric and then staple it down onto the frame. Do this part with caution; it will take careful placement and stretching to make the batting underneath nice and smooth. It really helps to have an extra set of hands here. On the rounded edges, cut slits in your fabric on the backside to make it lay flat.

DIY Headboard

Next, cut your foam to size and lay it in the center of the headboard. We wanted an extra-puffy piece, so we used two layers of foam. If it’s cut snugly, you shouldn’t need to affix the foam to the headboard at all.

DIY Padded Headboard

Finally, lay your large piece of fabric down over the foam. Be sure that it’s correctly centered and straightened. Rather than use a faux nailhead trim, we opted to use the real deal and hammer every nail in one by one. This leaves room for more error, so go slowly and keep checking that you’re creating a straight line. Some of our lines got away from us!

If it helps, use needle nose pliers to hold a nail in place while you use the mallet to hammer it in. Fold the fabric over to create a faux seam and hammer the nails through the fabric and onto the edge of the frame, to hide the connection point. Leave the bottom edge of the fabric hanging loose.

DIY Nailhead Trim Headboard

DIY Nailhead Trim Belgrave Headboard

Once all the nails are hammered in, pull the bottom of the fabric taut and staple it around the back of the plywood.

DIY Belgrave Headboard

See? Totally not as scary as it seems! We affixed our headboard to the wall behind our bed with some hardware hooks. I seriously can’t get enough of it — it’s exactly what I wanted and it looks so super rad in our bedroom. What do you think? Is this a DIY you’d attack? xoxo

DIY Belgrave Headboard

DIY Padded Headboard

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

27 Comments

  1. Gorgeous! I’ve thought about trying this for way too long but still haven’t. This turned out awesome! xo

    1. No, we still have it! Wouldn’t dare get rid of that guy. Just a little switch up for now, or until we have a guest bedroom and can use both!

    1. Hi Erica! After the planning stages, the actual execution took about 4-5 hours total, mostly with my husband working by himself. I helped him for about half an hour. So with two people working the whole time it would probably go pretty quickly!

      1. Oh, gosh! I would have thought it had taken longer than that.

        Also, isn’t if funny how our guys just kinda get into the zone, you leave them for a little while and *poof* they’ve practically made the whole project?? What would we do without them? I’d probably loose an arm if I was doing the woodworking.

  2. Pingback: Fresh Find Friday : The Proper Pinwheel
  3. It looks like it’s been awhile since this was posted, but I just wanted to thank you a ton for posting this tutorial. My husband and I have been wanting to make a headboard along these lines for awhile now, and when I came across your blog, we both loved it- the easiest/nicest looking tutorial so far. We are very close to being done- just need to lay down the foam than hammer the fabric- so past the toughest parts. Anyway, sorry this is long- but wanted to say thanks so much for posting- we are loving it! It is turning out just how we’d hoped!

  4. Pingback: Belgrave Headboard DIY Tutorial | Things To Do Yourself - DIY
  5. I am 65 & tutorials such as this are some of my favorites about computers. The sharing and commraderie online are the new neighborhoods I guess.

  6. Hi! Im in love with this headboard! I have one question. Do you think or is there anyway to make it so it can attach to a bed frame. I have a full metal bed frame with no headboard and i wanted to make it, But wasn’t sure about hanging it on the wall.

    1. Hi Erin! Yep, we actually made a more recent one and attached it to the frame rather than the wall. Just get some bolts that will fit through thr holes in your frame. Drill a hole for them on the legs of the headboard and insert them through the legs and frame. Then secure on the other side with washers. Our new headboard has been secured like that for months and it’s doing great! Be sure to share a photo if you try it! xo

  7. Pingback: 33 Genius DIY Headboards You’ll Want in Your House Now | Blended