A Different Headboard Tufted the EASY Way

A few weeks ago I was contacted by a nice lady who was interested in having a custom headboard built for her. This is the inspiration photo she sent me. I'm sure you all have seen it floating around Pintrest. Very beautiful, classic, and clean.

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I started with a sheet of 3/8 in OSB that I cut to size and shape. This is for a California King, so the measurments are 46 in tall and 78 in wide. My husband didn't believe me at first that a Cal-King is actually narrower than a traditional King. A traditonal King mattress is 76 in x 80 in and a California King is 72 in x 84 in.

 Why only 3/8 in? Partially, for weight (she wanted to hang it on the wall) and partially because the next step.

Looking at the inspiration photo, I noticed that the sides were nice and thick. To get that look, I needed to add a frame around the edge. To do that I started with the curves first. I took a wide piece of 2x lumber ( It was actually a  2x10 that had broken in half) and screwed it on the back side of my headboard, over the curve, making sure to extend past the edge a bit. I drove screws in from both sides to make sure it was attached very well.

Next, I used flipped the headboard over, and used my jigsaw to trace the curve and remove the excess 2x. Have I mentioned I HATE using jigsaws?

Now that I had a pretty, smooth curve, I took some 2 x 2 and framed out the straight edges. Since my boards I used for the curves were cut square on the ends, I just cut my 2 x 2 at 45 degrees to butt up into it. This is what the back of the headboard looked like when I was done.

Don't worry if you have a couple small gaps. As long as they are small, the batting and fabric will cover them up and it won't make a difference.

I then traced out the area  I wanted the foam to be placed. For this headboard, I wanted a 6 in frame. I got several good tips from this video from GACMKC on YouTube. I would definitely recommend checking out some of their other videos too. Very informative!

I decided I do enough upholstery to justify buying an electric staple gun. I do have a pneumatic staple gun I use, but it's not always convenient to use inside. This is the gun I bought. It sucks. Don't buy it. About every 4th staple, I can't get it to shoot. I had the power turned all the way up and it wouldn't sink the staples flush unless I put all my weight with my shoulder on it.

Anyways, I used my staple gun to attach 3 layers of upholstery tack strip around the inside of the shape I traced, Following the video. Why? I'll explain later.

Next, I cut my foam to size, using an electric bread knife. I attached my foam, using spray adhesive and lining up my edges with the tack strip. If you are only using 1 in thick foam, you can skip this next step. If you want a thicker, more plush headboard and are using 2 in or thicker foam, you need to round the edge of the foam. If you watch the video, it shows what to do well. I took my staple gun, and on the very edge of the foam shot a tight row of staples. Be careful to catch enough foam to pull it down, but not too much to deform the shape.

Once that was done, I draped my batting and fabric over the face of the headboard.

I lightly marked where I wanted the buttons to be place with a pencil. Then, using screws and washers I tufted each mark the easy way, like I show in the tutorial here.

Once I had all my tufts in and even, I pulled the fabric taught and began to staple around the foam. Remember the tack strip? It made it super easy to get a straight line of staples. I simply pushed my staple gun up to the tack strip, which I could feel under the fabric, stapled and moved down the line. To make sure you don't get any funny fold or creases, start stapling from the TOP and work your way down the sides. Don't worry, the nail head trim will cover the staples.

Around this point I looked at the headboard. Although, it was looking beautiful, I realized that it looked NOTHING like the inspiration photo! I don't know what I was thinking ordering 2 in foam! It was WAY too plush! The inspiration headboard had very clean lines and shallow, more contemporary tufting.

So at that point, I just about had a breakdown. Do you know how many staples I put in this thing already?! Plus, I would have to buy new foam, new fabric, and new batting! My wonderful husband talked me down from the ledge and offered to rip everything off for me. I decided I really wanted to give my client what she requested, so back to the fabric store I went.

Thankfully, 1 in foam is substantially less expensive than 2 in. I usually order my foam from Ebay, since its cheaper and I can get specific sizes, but I didn't have time to wait for it to be shipped. The next best place to buy 1 in foam, hands down is Wal-Mart. It only comes in 1 in x 24 in x 72 in sheets, but is only $14 a roll. Even though I had to buy 2 rolls it was still cheaper than Joann's with a coupon.

So, then I got to start the entire upholstery process over again. To make sure I wouldn't have unwanted folds and to get contemporary tufts, I wrapped the batting and fabric around the headboard and attached it to the back first.

Then I stapled around the tack strip and made my tufts.

Much better! The tension from the staples and screws pulled everything smooth and the tufting looks like smooth, even marshmallows.

For the nail head detail, I chose to use nail head trim strip. I prefer the look of individual nails, but the trim strip is SO much better for getting a straight line! Don't worry, the trim strip is flexible and will bend around curves.

I stapled some backing to the frame on the back side and screwed on a cleat I made to hang it from the wall.  There is a good tutorial here on how to make a cleat and hang it on the wall.

Here it is all done! (notice how I just leaned it in front of my headboard to take a photo? It will be a few inches shorter hanging on the wall instead of sitting on my mattress).

Here is the inspiration photo again.

Good thing it's going to another home. I have a feeling it wouldn't stay so white and clean around my boys for long!




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In My Garage Right Now...

I have a fantastic aunt who recently moved here to Arizona. She drastically downsized her home and had lots of great, wood furniture that she no longer had room for. She called me over to see if I would take a couple pieces off of her hands (best aunt ever!). When I pulled up to her house, she had a corner curio sitting on the curb with a "Free" sign on it. It needed a little repair and she figured no one would want it. I snatched the sign off and loaded it on my trailer.

I knew I was just going to do a basic, lightly distressed black with this piece, so I never planed on featuring it (it's kinda boring, I know). Because of that, I never took any "before" or "during" photos. You can imagine what it looked like before. Basic 80's, medium oak. Brass, pseudo-victorian hardware.

It did have 2 glass shelves, but to update the look a little I decided to make some wood shelves instead. I'm really happy with the way they turned out. The moulding fits the style perfectly. I updated the hardware as well.

Sorry for the mugshots. This lady already sold to a friend before I finished it, so I didn't see the point of dragging it into the house to take a couple shots and then dragging it back out to the garage. Not bad for a free hand-me-down eh?

Tutorial: Ballard Design Inspired Pear

So we've all been in love with the terracotta pears from Ballard Deigns for years, myself included.

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It wasn't until I was walking through Hobby Lobby last week when I got inspired. They had a set of an over sized pear and apple, decoupaged with old book pages (sorry, I looked for a photo and couldn't find one). That's when the "I can make that!" light bulb came on. A couple days later, with my 40% off coupon in hand I went to Joann's. I bought one 6 inch styrofoam ball. The cones only came in packs of 2, so I bought a pack of medium sized ones.

First, using a bread knife, I cut off a small section off the ball to create a flat bottom.

Then, I cut the top off of the cone, about half-way down.

Then, I simply hot glued the two together. I wanted my pear to sit at a slight angle, so I glued the cone off-center.

Next, I raided my kids' craft box for some Playdoh. I didn't think till after, I should have just made a small batch of homemade since it doesn't need to be colored.

I used almost the whole can to fill in the space where the two pieces meet. I also used a small bit to round out the top of the cone. I went out into the yard and found a twig to stick in the top for a stem.

I let mine dry outside for around 36 hrs. It may vary where you are, but just make sure its dried through. Next, is the messy part. I used glossy Mod-Podge because its what I had. I'm sure matte would work fine too.

I grabbed some plain ole tissue paper from my wrapping supplies and ripped a couple sheets into manageable pieces.

Using a foam brush, I laid a thick layer of Mod-Podge down on the pear form. I then draped tissue paper over it and bushed another layer of Mod-Podge on top.

After drying a couple hours, I Mod-Podged another layer of tissue paper and let it dry another few hours.

This is what it looked like after it was all dry.

To give the pear color, I used some warm tan "oops" paint and acrylic paint. I used an apple green, burn orange, and mustard yellow.

I started by brushing on one coat of the tan all over.

Then while still wet, I loaded my foam pouncer with green paint and started to blend. I concentrated the green on the bottom and top and lightly blended it down. 

I added some orange around the fullest part to mimic blush. The whole thing felt a lot like applying makeup really...blend, blend, blend.

Finally, I pounced on some yellow for highlights. I also flicked a little bit of white paint to create the little speckles you see on a pear, but decided I don't like them. They remind me of my mom's adventures in toll painting in the 90's. I stole a stem and leaf off of one of my silk trees, gave it a couple quick sprays with some dark brown paint, and hot glued it to my stem. 

Here's the final result! What do you think? I think it's more realistic than the Ballard Version, but the size and tone are the same. With the stem its about 13 inches. I love it, but it needs a friend... a green toned one.  I can't decide if it needs a big brother or little sister. What do you think?

Styrofoam ball:         $6

Styrofoam cones:     $4.50

Tissue paper:           already had

Mod-Podge:           already had

Stem and leaf:         already had

Paint and Glue:        already had  

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Total:                      $10.50               Ballard Version: $49

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