If you’ve been looking at the dates of my last few posts you’ll have realised that this post should actually be my reveal post for the One Room Challenge. Unfortunately my two weeks away for work has finally caught up with me. But rather than freak out that I failed the challenge, I’ve decided to add another week instead! That’s allowed, right? 🙂 Now that the headboard is finished and mounted on the wall, I’m happy to report that the big projects are pretty much complete! I have to say, I love how that navy pops against the mustard wall. The steps involved to make this headboard are easy enough, but be prepared for a dead arm from all the stapling – no joke, I used a full box of 1000 staples!!
Step 1
I spotted these cladding boards in B&Q that were the exact height I needed for the headboard. They were also much cheaper and lighter than the planks of wood I originally intended to use. They were a little flimsy, but it didn’t make much difference to this project. I also bought 8oz wadding and 4oz wadding, but if you can get 12oz wadding buy that. I just couldn’t find any!
The navy suede fabric I bought is so gorgeously luxurious. It feels amazing! If you are thinking of doing this project, make it worthwhile and ensure your fabric feels fab! I traced the shape of the board on both the wadding and the fabric and then cut it all out.
Step 2
I sprayed an even coat of spray adhesive on both the boards and the wadding. After leaving them for a minute or two, I then stuck them together. I made 15 boards in total. Quick tip – as with all spray cans, when you are finished, turn it upside down and keep spraying for a few seconds to ensure your can will not clog up for next time. I forgot to do this and I had to dump the rest of the can later in the day!
Step 3
Now the fun begins! After layering the board and wadding on top of the fabric I then began stapling using 8mm staples. I stapled the two ends first and then began in the middle of the board, working my way out to one side at a time. I pulled the fabric tight, but not so tight that the wadding got flattened. The suede fabric had a little stretch in it, which made it a little easier to work with. I learned it’s so important to keep the staples very close to one another to avoid the fabric puckering. About 1-2cm apart seemed to work for me. Here’s a quick video I found really helpful when stapling the corners neatly!
Step 4
Now it’s time to screw it all together! I used three 18mm wooden boards as I wanted to keep the headboard as flush to the wall as possible. Make sure to drill small holes first to avoid the wood cracking when you screw into them later. While doing this step I pushed the top of the headboard against our window seat to ensure it always stayed nice and straight.
Step 5
I used steel flush mounts to hang the headboard on the wall. These were a little annoying for a few reasons, but mostly because the packet didn’t come with any sort of instructions. So I’m going to give you a little breakdown here! Firstly, attach one mount to either side of the headboard. Here, the hook points down and when you look at the first picture, you can see that you only screw into the top two holes only.
When marking where to attach the other half of the mount, you cannot measure enough times!!! There is almost no room for error here. To make sure I had it in the right place, I taped it up using lots of masking tape. This time the hook points up. You can see in my last photo that I then did a trial run of hanging the headboard and it slotted into place. With the masking tape still holding the mount in place, I drilled marking holes into the bottom two holes of the mounts.
I then removed the masking tape, and drilled the holes using a 7mm drill bit. After adding wall plugs, I then fully attached the mounts to the wall. Always use countersunk screws when attaching the mounts so that they can sit next to each other properly. Finally slot the headboard onto the wall and woo hoo, you’re finished!
After totting up the receipts, I’m happy to say that all the materials were bought for under €80. We’re saving for our big downstairs renovation, which will hopefully start in the next few months. So it would be a bonus if this room could be completed on a bit of a budget! If you haven’t seen last week’s post on how to make a bed base (yes, another budget project!!) you can check it out here! Hopefully you’ll be hearing from me again at the end of this week with a reveal to show off!!
