HOW TO MAKE A TUFTED HEADBOARD

Hi! Happy Wednesday! Today  I wanted to show you how I made the boys headboards...finally, sorry it took so long! I think what kicked me in the butt and got me to get down and finally make these (after talking about it for a week) was that I found fabric at a yard sale last weekend. I was online looking for fabric, but just couldn't make up my mind about which to choose, and what I could buy that would be somewhat inexpensive. I found this fabric, it was a nice blue and it was marked $5.00 but she let me have it for $3.00, and it was 3 yards so that was a huge money saver!!

Now that I had my fabric I need a peice of plywood, I called my local hardware store and they wanted $45.00 for a sheet! Holy cow thats expensive! At this point I considered not even doing it unless I could find something cheaper. My hubby to the rescue, he went to his work (resource recovery plant, he helps keep the planet clean :) and found me a sheet of plywood, and the best part it was free! I wanted a 3/4 inch piece, but he could only find a 1/2 piece, it will still work.  If you don't have resources like this you can always check around for a habitat store or something. Fabric, check, plywood, check. Now for the foam part, I picked up some camping foam at a yard sale a while back , along with a bag of batting too at the same yard sale. Gotta LOVE yard sales, right?

We needed to cut our wood down ourselves so be broke out the skill saw and made our cuts, I made my headboards 39 inches wide and 32 inches tall, if your wondering.

Next we brought in the wood and I cut my foam to fit, layed it on top and just wrapped the batting around it and stapled it to the back. I highly recommend using batting , dont skip this step, it does make a huge difference in the appearance.  I didnt use any adhesive just because I didnt think it was necessary.
Next I cut my fabric to fit and just draped it over the front (if your not tufting, just staple to the back and your finished) making sure it was some what straight. 

 I then used my tape measure and measured for my tufts, every 8 inches from top to bottom and from side to side, then from tuft to tuft. I just used straight pins to mark my spots. 

Here comes the fun part, dun,dun,daaa...the tufting! Here is what I did, I went to the hardware store and bought the fattest 1/2 inch long screws I could find (1/2 because my plywood is 1/2 thick) along with small washers, I bought 24 screws and washers (12 tufts per headboard). 

Then remove your pins you used to mark your spot and take the screw with the washer on, take a hammer and give it a few good smacks until it sticks into the wood. Take your electric screw driver or drill and slowly drive the screw into the wood the rest of the way.  Super easy, just keep going till your tufted out! Pull you fabric tight and staple to the back, I pulled my fabric too tight and actually made a little rip, so its not as tight as I would like it to be... but this is what it will look like when your done..

Make your buttons(cover with fabric) then glue them in. I used d-rings to hang them to the wall (just make sure they are hung on studs), and thats it my friends! Two headboards done! The total cost for me for the both of them were....$25.00!!! NOW THAT'S A SAVINGS!!WOOT WOOT!

 Anyone else making headboards? Have any tricks you wanna share? 

 Have a great day, see you soon!