Simple Black Headboard

It all started with a free piece of plywood.

"What can I do with this?" I asked myself, after finding the clean, simple board beside the dumpster by my building. I thought about painting it, and I thought about using it as a cheap tabletop, but what really sparked my imagination was the thought of turning it into a headboard. I've seen so many tutorials on Pinterest and other blogs, and they all seem to have incredible results. And what do you know, but my boyfriend was interested in a headboard for his very plain full bed. So I took the board over to my grandparents' house to get their expertise.

(Before we go any further, my boyfriend's specifications were as follows: Headboard must be black. Should be a leather-like fabric. No tufting. Should be rounded, but not elaborately shaped.)

Together, we measured the plywood, and found it to be 48 inches across and 38 inches high. It wasn't wide enough to serve as a headboard for a full bed, so my grandmother suggested that I buy some 1x6 pine boards to fill it out on either side. We also decided that I should buy a couple extra pine boards to add stability across the back of the headboard.

I already had the fabric I wanted to use--black leather-looking vinyl, only $6 a yard at Hancock Fabrics. The boards were cut at the Home Depot, and only cost me a few bucks. Then I went to Joann's to get fabric and was kinda blown away when it cost $18 a yard. Even with my coupon, that was more than I was hoping to spend (especially when the other components had been so cheap). But, it had to have foam.

I took all the pieces back to my grandmothers and we surveyed our supplies.

Maybe not a lot to look at, but I had a vision (not cliche at all).

As you can see, I traced a rough, curved line along the top of the board, and then, I wielded a saber saw for the first time while my sister and grandparents held the board in place for me (apparently clamps are too much of a hassle). To make a long story short, I broke the blade and had to finish it with a hand saw (surprisingly easy).

My grandmother dug up the right nails and I nailed the pine boards onto the sides and along the back.

Look at that! Next, I hot glued the foam onto the front, and wrapped it around the back. Then we took it inside and stapled down the edges of the foam. Yes, we use our staple gun indoors.

We rolled out the material... and discovered a problem. It was very creased, and we couldn't seem to press it out. I had just resigned myself to trying to pull the material super-extra-tight when my grandmother emerged from a spare closet with an entire roll of remarkably similar material, with not a wrinkle on it. And there was just enough of it, after we trimmed the foam down on the sides.

After a couple dozen more staples, here's what we came up with:

Ta-da! I'm considering putting a strip of plum linen down the middle to make it less plain, but I'm going to see what my boyfriend thinks of it first. His birthday is in a couple of days!

My method was far from perfect, but it got the job done. If I were making a headboard to sell, I might be more careful with the staples on the back, or try tufting it or something. And it only took a couple of hours! Once we get it set up, I'll post more pics.

Have any of you ever made your own headboard? Do you want to try now that you've seen how easy it is?