You will need:
- A piece of 12mm MDF the size of the headboard (see below for how to guage size)
- A piece of foam the size of the headboard – 2 inches is think enough.
- A piece of fabric the size of the headboard plus 10-15 cm extra at each edge (enough to fold and staple ).
- Staple gun.
- Copydex or other simple contact glue for foam.
- 2 x ‘Flush mount’ brackets to hold the headboard to the wall.(see picture).
Method
1. Measure the bed width i.e 4', 4'6", 5' etc
2. Decide how high you want to make the headboard. To do this ensure that the mattress is in place (or gauge how deep the matress is) then allow about 3-5cm clearance. This is the base point of the headboard. (see picture opposite).
From hear decide how high you want the headboard to be. Think about the height that your head would be if you were sitting up in bed. I usually allow anything between 80 and 100cm height.
3. Apply copydex to the headboard at each corner of the foam and the MDFplus a few patches in the centre and to the foam in corresponding places. This will loosly hold the foam in place while you staple the cloth all around.
Allow the copydex or contact glue to become tacky then attach the two together.
4. Lay the cloth on a flat surface (face side down) and lay the headboard on top of it with an even amount of material all around the edges.
5. Use the staple gun to attach the fabric to the back of the headboard. Apply staples at each central point to start with…to get an even tautness over the headboard.
Don’t pull too tightly or you will distort the fabric…it shouldn’t really pull on the staples just feel firm.
6. Work your way around the headboard. I like to do the top and bottom edges first then the sides.
7. At the corners create a neat flap and fold over. Imagine you are making a bed with 'Hospital Corners'.
8. To attach the headboard to the wall use simple slot brackets (see picture). These will give a firm, flush fitting to the wall.
Copyright © 2006 Brian Cotsen All Rights Reserved.
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