charlys-room: DIY Headboard For Under $40

As summer ended, our family embarked on two room makeovers for each of our kids and one of our PROJECTS was this DIY headboard that we put together for just under $40 for our son's room. Previously, our son had no headboard for his double bed because, despite a year and a half of searching, I found nothing that we loved AND fit our budget. So I started thinking of making our own headboard with 1 x 6 pine boards. Being from a family that owned a lumber mill for over 50 years, this was not a long stretch for me. What was a stretch for me was having to buy the 1 x 6 boards at a local store, but that's a whole other story!

Our kids are of an age now where they are interested in helping with a room makeover, so I had them both busy helping either painting themselves {my daughter} or helping {my son}. Here, Tyler is getting a lesson in rolling before Mom gets up on the ladder to cut in. I think painting a room is a life skill, don't you?

Here is the finished headboard, and it turned out better than I expected and I am somewhat a teensy-weensy proud of this DIY project.

Let me take you through the entire steps so that you can make your own!

Step 1. 56 inches wide. The first thing I did was measure the width of the bed....which for a double bed is 54 inches.I added 2 inches to this because I wanted the headboard to be wider that a puffy comforter, so the total width of the headboard is 56 inches.

Step 2. 50 inches high. I measured how high I wanted the headboard to be. I measured the bed made up with the usual pillows so I could judge how high I wanted the headboard to be above the pillows, how high it should be if someone were going to read in bed, and how I wanted it to look. I decided on 50 inches high.

Step 3. Then I measured how much the headboard needed to go below the mattress for a good fit.

I could see that the headboard needed to be around 28-32 inches to go from the top and to cover behind the mattress.

I decided to stagger 1x6 pieces with 1x4 pieces just to add interest to the headboard, and here is the final design I came up with. {And really, any home handyman could have designed this..it's that easy.} And it's designed so that everything is screwed from the back of the headboard so the front shows nice and clean. And if you have access to old, weathered boards to use instead, go for it!

Here's the final design: {This is the back.}

Step 4. And then I went off to the local lumberyard with my supply list, and to make things super easy, I had the lumber yard cut everything for me! Yay me!

Supply List: {Boards are pine boards.}
2-1x6x50 inches {legs}
3-1x6x56 inches {headboard}
3-1x4-56 inches {headboard}
1-1x6-26 inches-{brace for headboard}
1 1/2 inch wood screws
Cost: Under $40 {$38.42}

Step 5. Lay everything out as shown, making sure everything is square before fastening together. If the pine boards have some knots or imperfections, they can go either on the front or back of the headboard...depending on how rustic you would like it to look.

Step 6. Fasten everything together on the back of the headboard with a drill and wood screws...being careful that the wood screws don't show on the front side.{Pictured below is the back.}

Step 7. Paint or Stain. Here's where you can have all sorts of fun and paint, stain or stencil the headboard to make it your own. I stained this headboard with some dark walnut that we had leftover from another project.

And here's the final product waiting to dry. I also think this headboard would look fabulous in a distressed wood colour or a myriad of other colours.

When dry, deliver to the bedroom and screw the legs into the bed frame with bolts that fit the bed frame.

I absolutely love this headboard in my son's room. It simple and rustic and looks amazing with the new wall colour and bedding. And I am so pleased that it only cost around $40 to make!