We recently wanted to update our master bedroom. I had an idea in my head of how I wanted the headboard to be but I couldn’t find any available within our budget. So we decided to make our very own DIY Headboard. And the best part is … we only snapped at each other once, which is a miracle for us when doing any sort of DIY at home.  

How to make your own DIY Headboard

Step 1. Pin a million DIY headboard pins on Pinterest so by the time it comes to actually do yours you are familiar with every single way to do it!

Step 2. Measure the size you want the headboard to be. Ours was 2.1m wide by 1m high.

Step 3. Go buy all the stuff. Our shopping list included:

  • Plywood cut to size.
  • Fabric by the metre – we used 3m x 1.5m
  • Batting 3m x 1.5m
  • Foam – 2″ thick, cut to size of plywood
  • Glue (specific for foam to wood).
  • Brackets to hang it to the wall.

Step 4. Try to get it all in the car without banging your heads on it (but that’s why we making a headboard anyway right?) Make sure you also have a staple gun, spirit level, measuring tape and drill.

Step 5. Make sure the foam and wood are exactly the same size, if not you can easily trim the foam with a sharp kitchen knife – it’s like a hot knife through butter – almost.

Step 6. Glue the foam to the wood.


Step 7. Lay the batting down, make sure it’s flat. Then lay the wood and foam down onto it, foam side to batting.


Step 8. Staple the batting to the wood. We started with the long sides, then short sides, then corners. Try not let the corners pull too tight, also if it’s bulging too much then trim some of the corner off.


Step 9. Do the same for the fabric. If it needs to be ironed, make sure you do that before you start stapling.


I won’t lie, the corners are tricky. My only advice would be staple, staple, staple.

Step 10. Measure where you want to put it on the wall and make sure it is level. We used these brackets that fit into each other.


The picture shows the wall-mounted one that has a lip at the bottom, then we used the reverse one and fastened it to the back of the headboard.

We used two, one on the left and one on the right of the back of the board. They are about 50cm long each.

Point to note: This whole measuring and accuracy thing might be a bit tricky but thank goodness I married an Engineer so all I had to do was “pass the pencil”, and “vacuum up the dust”.

Step 11. Spacer – we added an extra strip to the bottom center of the back of the board to make sure that it doesn’t tilt backwards at the bottom. No need to do a wall and board duo, just one on the a list of the board worked perfectly.

Step 12. Hang the board.


How did it turn out?

We are very pleased with the result. It was far easier and less stressful to make a DIY Headboard than I anticipated. The only snapping came when the new board slipped out my fingers and crashed to the ground whilst transferring it from the garage to the bedroom. I am ‘only a feeble woman’ so I was forgiven! Lol

Let me know what you think?

The plan for tomorrow is new bedding and curtains. Will post an updated pic once the whole room is finished.

FYI – my staple gun is my new favourite toy! ?