The Tufted Headboard Tutorial{for People Who Think They Can't Make a Tufted Headboard}

Hi guys!  Today I am going to share one little link with you that will change your life.  Actually, if you have ever wanted a tufted headboard and thought there was no way you could make one, prepare to have your mind blown.  Everyone else, prepare to be  . . . mildly entertained, I hope.

Unless you've been living under a rock or have never watched HGTV or been on Pinterest, you know that tufted upholstered headboards are ALL THE RAGE right now.  Seriously.  You can hardly throw a rock on the internet without hitting a tufted headboard tutorial.  But you can see why, right?  These things are gorgeous! {And can get super expensive . . . }

 

{source}

 

{source}

 

{source}

  

My personal favorite!{source}

Granted, I spend a whole lotta' time perusing design sites so maybe I see tufted headboards  more than most normal people, but I am completely smitten.  Ever since I saw the movie The Proposal years ago and saw that upholstered bed, I knew I needed to have one someday.

  

{Yeah, I was checking out the furniture while most people would have been checking out Ryan Reynolds.  So what?!  My husband has nothing to worry about . . . }

When something I love is so trendy, I sometimes wonder if I like it because I have such great taste {naturally!} or if I'm just one of the herd of decorating cattle being lead from one trend to the next by the truly stylish people out there.  I guess it doesn't really matter . . .  The point is, tufted headboards!

When I started planning my friend's guest bedroom makeover I really wanted to add a tufted headboard in the space.  I knew it would give the room a luxurious, upscale feel and be the perfect contrast to the strong grid of the board and batten accent wall behind it.  So I looked at probably a hundred different tutorials to make my own tufted headboard and got a little scared.  I'm a DIY-er to the bones and I usually jump into new projects without hesitation, but this one confounded me.  Maybe it was because it was for someone else's house so I really wanted it to be perfect.  I worried that, even with really good, clear instructions, it would come out cheap or cheesy looking.  All that drilling holes and pulling buttons on strings and keeping everything straight and even stuff seemed like a lot of potential for things to go very, very wrong.

And then I found a tutorial that seemed fool-proof.  No drilling.  No strings.  The tufts were created by screwing washers and screws from the top, through the fabric and foam and into the plywood backing and then covering the screws by gluing buttons on top.  I felt like I would have a lot more control over the finished look using this method.  This is it, tufted-headboard-making friends.  The life changing link I promised you:

Tufted Headboard Tutorial at Cape 27

I'm not even going to try to re-write her awesome tutorial since I followed her steps exactly and it turned out beautifully.  The only thing I did differently was use an egg-crate foam mattress topper {King size, folded in half to make a double layer}instead of buying the 4-inch thick foam she recommends.  It was a little less expensive and looks just as plush.  To add a little sparkle, I used little silver and gold vintage buttons instead of fabric-covered buttons like you would traditionally see on a tufted headboard.

You can kind of see in this picture that we were using the existing IKEA Hemnes bed frame and headboard with the four posts removed. 

I made the upholstered piece to fit right in between the vertical supports and sit flat up against the main wood piece.  We attached it securely to the headboard with three screws going from the back of the headboard into the tufted piece.  Easy cheesy!  Now I feel so empowered, I want to upholster and tuft everything I see.  {But seriously, Sydney's room is so getting one of these.  And so is mine, but Brent doesn't know it yet.  Shhhhhh.}

Have a great weekend, friends!