DIY Twin Headboard, Part 1

 Remember this headboard post? I stopped wavering and made some decisions. Here's the shakedown (part 1) ...

First of all, I know nothing about wood cutting. So, to Home Depot I went, knowing I'd be asking a lot of stupid questions and probably make several mistakes. I had the wood cutting guys advise me on plywood options. After some discussion and the guy telling me this choice was prone to bowing, I said, "Hogwash, give it to me." This is the 3/4 inch kind, $27 per sheet. I did not know I'd be paying for the entire sheet (which is about the size of a twin bed). When this was discovered after he cut the first headboard and asked what I wanted them to do with the rest, I made the best of it and had them cut a second headboard plus legs for each - one headboard for my daughter now, one headboard for my son later. Blerg. I guess I'll be glad someday that I accidentally planned ahead?

The headboard dimensions I decided on were 30" x 39" (30" high, 39" across). I am hoping this works - I basically propped up a normal size pillow on the wall where the headboard would go and made sure the headboard would be well above that. You know, so if I prop up a bunch of pillows the headboard is still plenty visible. Then I took the headboards to my mom's cousin's husband (random) who lives in Phoenix and has all sorts of wood cutting tools, including what I needed, which was a jigsaw. He was awesome. He and I basically took a pencil and did some guesswork on the corners. Then he took out his measuring stick. The chunk he cut out was 6 1/2 inches in circumference. Here's where one of those compasses from grade school would come in handy, but he just winged it. And they turned out great!

Here are two foam sheets, 1" x 22" x 22" ... turns out I needed three foam sheets of this size. Back to Hobby Lobby! For the 80th time.

 I used spray adhesive to glue the foam to the headboard and then cut the excess off the left side. (Wear an apron! It got sticky all over the place.)

 And the third piece went across the top. I know a lot of people use electrical knives for cutting foam, but I just used scissors and it was fine.

Next step is batting over the foam and edges of the headboard to make it nice and soft. I used extra-loft batting.

 I turned over the headboard, foam side down, on top of the batting.

Noah did a jig on his dance floor and then I cut out the batting to extend about 6 inches on all sides.

It was not a precise 6 inches on all sides, as you can see. Just enough to overlap plenty. I sprayed a light layer of adhesive to secure the batting just enough. Then I stapled everything with a staple gun.

 The final layer was the fabric! This is where it gets exciting! Especially if you are watching the premier of The Mindy Project at the same time and become pleasantly surprised at how funny it is. I cut the fabric about the same as I did the batting, about 6 inches out but, again, not super precise. I've read you can do additional layers of batting or fabric if you want it super smooth and an extra fabric layer can even help keep things in place if you want to change out the fabric later. But with the spray adhesive, I figured it was secure enough. Plus, I had no patience for additional layers. Let's finish this mother already!

Since I used a repeating geometric pattern, I was really nervous about getting it straight. Before I stapled everything and made it more or less permanent, I taped up the sides with masking tape and turned it over to make sure the shapes lined up straight and perfect. Then I stapled and removed the tape. Make sense?

Luckily, my mom, who is an excellent seamstress, was in town and was able to help me with these tricky corners. She cut slits all along them and we worked together to pull them taut. Then we stapled our little hearts out.

The stapling was not a precise science, either. Truth be told, the back does not look good. If you want it to look good, you can cover it with fabric.

 Here's the back.

And HERE ... is the FRONT! Pretty, right? Now the next question: to trim or not to trim? See top photo of this post to see what I'm considering.

Costs:
Plywood: $27
Foam: $15
Batting: $20 (seriously, quilters, how do you afford your hobby?)
Fabric: $12 for 2 yards
Spray adhesive: $6
Total: $80

Part 2 to come in a couple weeks when I get home from visiting family in Utah. That is, if part 2 (adding the legs and mounting everything to the bed frame) actually works.