DIY Tufted Headboard

I decided to finally finish my guest room! 

The final thing I needed to do was the bed. I really wanted to make it into more of a day bed style. So, my very talented future hubby built an awesome bed frame that we painted gold. Next we needed to create a headboard for the end of the bed and one for the side of the bed that goes along the wall.
And boy, was this a crazy project, but so so worth it with it was finished!

What you'll need:

• Peg board (cut to whatever size you need for your bed)
• 2" foam
• Batting
• Fabric (for the headboard and buttons)
• Button making kit
• Adhesive spray
• Upholstery thread
• Upholstery needle
• Picture hooks (to hook finished boards to the wall)

First you will need to figure out what pattern/design you want your headboard to have. I made mine in a big diamond shape. You could do a smaller pattern but you will need more buttons.

Take your peg board and start laying out your pattern, doing a little math to measure out each hole. Play around with it until you get what you want. Mark each hole with a sharpie.

Measure and cut your foam to match the size of your peg board. Lay the marked peg board on top of your foam. Take a sharpie and push it through your marked holes on the peg board till it marks a spot on the foam. Repeat on all marked holes.

Take a knife and cut around the marked holes on the foam. (It doesn't need to go all the way through) Pinch the foam, twist and pull. This will pull a piece of the foam out, see picture. These holes will help create deeper tufts when you pull the buttons through later.

Take your foam and peg board to a well ventilated area to adhere together.  I ended up making the marks on both sides of my peg board cause I found that the smooth side was easier to use to spray the adhesive onto. 

Spray the adhesive evenly onto the peg board and carefully secure the foam on top.

Place a layer of batting down over the foam. Then place the fabric over the batting.

Carefully pull fabric and batting over the edge of the board and staple down.

Using your button making kit to make your buttons with whatever fabric you choose. I used white fabric for my headboards and gold for my buttons to give some contrast. 

After all your buttons are made, find a marked hole on the back of your board and push needle through foam, batting and fabric, leaving enough thread out the back to hold onto. Once through, use a long upholstery needle and doubled up upholstery grade thread (you will be pulling the thread really tight so you need the really strong stuff, not regular thread) to lace through your button. 

Loop thread around button hook several times to secure.

With button secured on thread, push needle back through to back side of the board.

Once needle is back through, grab both ends of thread and pull super tight. You might need to push the button from the front to get a deep tuft. 

Pull thread tight and staple down to back of the board. As you can see in the picture, I pulled the tread in different directions and stapled to ensure the tread would stay secured to the board.

Turn board over and check out your tufted headboard!

Finish the headboard with the picture hooks and secure to the wall.

TA-DA!!

*Note: For the corner where the two boards come together, I cut the foam at an angle so they would fit together when on the wall. I did this step before I secured the batting and fabric to the foam.

To finish the bed and room, I went to Home Goods and bought several wicker baskets to put under the bed as little cubbies to hold things like scarves, hats, belts and purses. 

This project was fun but it was definitely a more advanced DIY project. Please feel free to comment or contact me with any questions you may have on this project.

XO,

K