My {$500} DIY Headboard...

I don't think it cost exactly $500, but let me start out by saying that was for all the tools that were needed to make this thing.

First of all, if you plan on doing a DIY project, have a plan. Thats my advice. Know exactly what you want and do the measurements. Also, if you decide to work on this, or any, project with another person, make sure y'all are on the same page from the beginning. This had been something I have been wanting to do for the longest time. I finally got the hubs to jump on the bandwagon with me and help me out. As our first DIY project together, we definitely learned a lot about the process.  I wouldn't mind doing something like this again with him. But for now he can stick to his projects and I will stick to mine.

Now, I am not a control freak, nor am I a perfectionist, which may have come in handy during this because I could relinquish some of the control to the hubs. However, this was my project and what I wanted was what I wanted.
The plan: To make a King size tufted headboard
The tools: saw-jig and/or circular, sander, hammer, nails, box cutter, staple gun, drill
Materials: 4 yd fabric, button kit, upholstery thread, upholstery needles, 2" thick foam, 1/4" thick plywood, 2X4, batting.

First off, make sure you have a design set on how you want your headboard to come out. Is there a certain shape you want? Do you want it to be just a rectangle or have an arch? If you do not want any design to it, you will not need a saw or sander. We knew we didn't want it to be simple and easy as just a rectangle. Since we chose it to have a shape to it is why it took longer to make. Plus, we may or may not have messed up on the first one, which led us to the eleventh trip to Home Depot.

These pictures are of the hubs cutting out the plywood into our shape, and at the end of the night sanding it down. 

If you look close enough you can see I drew where I wanted the holes for the buttons to be drilled. This is to pull the buttons thru the wood and foam to give it the tuft look. You can do them however close together or far apart. But remember, the more holes you make for buttons, the more work. We did not want too many buttons because looking at some pictures online, they looked like mattresses. The mattress look was not what we were going for. I made 18 holes total, 3 rows, 12 inches apart both ways.

 I went to Jo-Ann and bought 2" thick foam. They sell it by the yard which I believe was $16.99/yd. I got 4 yards. It was not tall enough so I had to get 2 separate sheets. Our headboard was 48" from the top of the arch to the bottom of the base and was 80" across to fit our king size bed. Pretty big.

The foam is hard to cut with scissors or the jig saw. I found that using a box cutter work to cut the excess foam off. If you do not make an angled headboard, you won't need to do this step. As you can see I have 2 pieces of green foam that are the same length.

This is the template for making the buttons. They were SUPER simple to make!

button kit

Here are my finished buttons made with remaining fabric. 

To add the buttons into the headboard, we brought the project inside so the fabric would not get dirty from garage. This made the project both easy and challenging. Easy because the hubs was able to get underneath the headboard to pull and staple the thread to the back. The challenging part about this was we did it during dinner time. After dinner the kids tried to "help" which made the process a little longer. :)

Back of the headboard after ALL the buttons have been pulled thru and the fabric had been stapled to the back.

Here is the finished headboard! It was quite the project. We learned a lot and plan to make another one in the future. I know for sure it will be cheaper to do as well. Now that we have the tools and the knowhow, it cant be that hard, right??