Upholstered Headboard Tutorial

I'm on a roll!  I'm getting all kinds of projects done around the house.  I decided that I really needed to tackle the headboard.  We've had the wood sitting in the garage for a year now.  I just needed to come up with the dimensions for the headboard.  I wanted a tall headboard, so it is 62" high x 62" wide x 4" deep.  This is for a queen size bed and you will need to adjust the width if you have a different size bed.  A picture of the basic frame before the plywood is attached is shown below.

Then a piece of plywood needs to be attached to the frame.  

Next you need to figure out if you want a tufted headboard.  I wanted mine tufted with buttons so I needed to go ahead and drill the holes in an evenly spaced pattern.  Now the frame is complete and we can begin on the upholstered portion of the headboard. You need to purchase foam to glue to the plywood.  I went with a 2" thick foam and that seemed to be perfect. Cut the foam to the size of the headboard.  A tip for cutting foam, use an electric bread knife.  It cuts through it so easily.  Once you have it to size, we can start gluing it on.  I used spray adhesive and sprayed it to the headboard and the foam so that it would have a strong bond.  

Get your fabric ready to go.  I had about 2-1/2 yards of 54" width material purchased for the project and had a bit left over when I was through.  I went with a micro-suede material.  I laid the fabric horizontal to the headboard and started stapling it to the back of the frame. The trick is to start in the middle at the top of the headboard and work your way to the corners.  Once you get close to the corner you need to stop and fold the extra fabric so that it lays nicely. 

After it is all stapled we can begin on the tufting. First you will need to go ahead and cover your buttons with the fabric.  I picked up 1-1/2" buttons to cover. 

Next you will need to get your long needles out for this part along with a very heavy duty thread. I used doll needles and nylon thread. Push the needle through the hole in the back of the frame. Once through,, put the  button on and thread back through the hole.  This a two person job, so you really need to find a friend to help for this part.  Here is my mom and me working on the tufting. 

One person needs to push on the button to give it the tufted look we are after, while the other person ties it off on the back.  When you are tying it off use another plain 2 or 4 hole button on the backside of the headboard to secure the thread. 

Once you've finished with the tufting, the headboard is ready to be installed to your bed frame. Here are pictures of the finished product.  I'm so excited to finally have a headboard and really should have done this project much sooner.  I love it. 

Nume Bed

I've been on the search for a toddler bed for my little guy since he has discovered that he can climb to the top of the crib and hang on precariously.  Yes, his bed is lowered and he is not using anything to stand on to get up there.  He is just that strong and determined.  Anyway, back to the bed.  My mom found this super cool bed which would be perfect for him.  It has sides so he can't roll out, it's low to the ground and has a space at the end to climb in.  Unfortunately, this is out of my price range since it is $1400.  Although, I'm thinking I might be able to convince my husband to make something similar. I'd link you back to the Nume website, but it doesn't look like it is working.  You can find their products for sale, here.

Seashell Galore

Our vacation this summer was fantastic.  We spent each day on the beach and my daughter's favorite part was looking for shells.  Then of course my obsessive behavior took over and I started scouring the beach for shells too.  Well, of course we couldn't leave any shells behind so now I have enormous amount of shells sitting in my garage.  If you start seeing projects involving shells pop up on my blog, you'll know why.  For now I've cleaned some of them up and put them in a couple pretty glass jars.
Just look at all of them.

A nice reminder of our vacation.

Book Birdhouse

While I was up visiting Chicago, I came across some wonderful birdhouses that had a hardback book as the roof and pages glued to the sides.  You can see an example here, but retailing around $120 I decided to make one myself.  The upside to making it yourself is that you get to pick the book.  I made the birdhouse for my sister's upcoming birthday and one of her favorite books is Anne of Green Gables.  Happy Birthday Annie! You are getting a sneak preview of your birthday present.
Here is how I made it.  I was planning to buy a prefab birdhouse from the craft store, but they are on the small side, so I had my husband put one together for me.  The dimensions were figured out by the size of the book.

Once the birdhouse was put together, I got started on gluing the pages to the sides. I used a spray adhesive and it worked perfectly.  Once this was complete I did some decorative painting on the base of the birdhouse.  Then I had to come up with a bird perch and decided that a carrot would make a good one since they say Anne's hair is as red as carrots a few times in the book.  I used Sculpey to make it.  I  loved using this stuff.  It is so easy to sculpt with and then you bake it in the oven for 30 minutes and paint it.

I had so much fun making the carrot that I wanted to make a little bird that would hang off the ribbon bookmark in the book.

Cute, right?

Mirror

I recently took on a project that took me a few months to complete.  I might have taken on a little more than I bargained for, but I did get it finished.  Remember the mirrors I posted about that I liked?  I thought I would give it a try to make one similar to the one I really liked.
I went shopping for mirrors.  If you have a mirror that you can reuse definitely use it because mirrors are expensive. I was particular on the size and shape, but I did find one on sale.  When I purchased the mirror it was a black frame and I wanted white so I taped off the mirror and spray painted the frame. Next I used clay to form the petal looking shapes. It was an air dry clay, so I let them dry in place.

Once they were dry I painted them white and added a silver color to the edges.  I finished it off with a high gloss glaze.  Once everything dried I was ready to glue the pieces on.  I used super glue to attach them to the frame.  I probably could have used a different glue, but I wanted to get them glued on pretty fast.  This mirror has been occupying my dining room table for a couple months now and I was ready to get it off ASAP.  Now it is complete and hanging in my entryway. Now I just need to paint my wall another color so the mirror can be highlighted.

Information Desk out of Books

How cool is this information desk? It is located at the Architecture Library at Delft University of Technology.  I think it is very clever.

Circus Nursery

As you remember in a previous post I was telling you about the adorable nursery my sister in-law is putting together.  She just posted it on her blog.  Definitely head over to check it out.  You can see how fabulous the circus tent curtains look in the nursery that my Mom made.  She seriously outdid herself on making the curtains.  Here is a little preview of the curtains, but go check out the rest of the nursery.

Faux Fireplace

Well, I just got back from seeing my sister in Chicago.  It was so much fun and I had a fantastic time there with my sister, mom and sister inlaw.  We missed having my other sister inlaw there, but she is at the end of pregnancy, so she was unable to come.  My sister recently moved into a fabulous new apartment and we were able to help put it together while we were there. So, we spent some time shopping at Ikea and were trying to accomplish the impossible by stuffing all the furniture purchased into a Camry.  Needless to say it didn't fit.  I'm kicking myself for not taking a picture of this, it was pretty funny.  After we dropped all the furniture off we headed to the Container Store.  They had a really cool decorative screen panel. You clip it together and hang it on the wall.  I thought this might work really well for her faux fireplace.  It is made out plastic, but it has some give and bends.  

I used 2 panels and cut them to fit inside the wall of her fireplace.  I used hot glue to attach them together. It was really affordable and cost $10 for the 4 panels. I used the other 2 in her bedroom above her bed.  Here is a picture of the finished fireplace.  Doesn't it look elegant?

Circus Painting

I have a little nephew on the way and they are decorating his room with a circus theme.  How cute!  I'll have to get pictures of the room when it is all done and show you all.  They asked me to do a painting for his room and it really turned out cute.

Here's a close up of the seal in the corner.

The Cave

It's been a few weeks since I've posted a piece of furniture for Fabulous Furniture Friday.  I did find something unique for you all today.  It is called "The Cave" and it is a bookcase that you can lounge in and read. It is designed by Sakura Adachi.  To view more of her work, click here.  I'm not sure how comfortable it would be to sit and read in, but it definitely looks cool.