ORC - Week 6 - Upholstered Headboard
Nov 4 Written By Alexis Moore
I’m so excited to share that we have a bedroom again!!!
Yall! Its been a long 6 weeks! From the excitement of the initial challenge, to the delays with the leak I discovered, we are finally moving right along and now have a bed back in our bedroom!!!
This week I upholstered our existing Ikea Hemnes Headboard for about $35. I really did not love our bed. I love the under the bed storage and that I bought this bed off of Facebook for only $100 last year, but I wanted something lighter. After looking at lots of inspiration online, I decided that I really liked an upholstered headboard and particularly one I saw with French seams. I also did not want to invest in another bed right now (even though ours is far too large for the space we have), so I did some brainstorming and decided to try making my own. My idea was to make a slip cover for our headboard. One that could be removed to wash and one that did not damage my existing bed (incase I ever get tired of it??). Here are some very rough instructions:
Materials: Drop Cloth, Twin Mattress Topper, Low Loft Batting, Heat & Bond, Needle & Thread, Paperclips
I utilized drop cloth for this project because I wanted a neutral fabric and well, drop cloth is super inexpensive!! I found the one linked above at Harbor Freight on sale for $12 for a 9 x 12ft. I started out by removing the top slat on the top of the headboard (just unscrewed it) and tucked it under the bed for safe keeping. From there I folded the twin mattress topper over the headboard lengthwise- it almost made it to the ends, but was just shy. I tied the mattress to the rails on the headboard using thread and wrapped the whole thing with a half of the batting. Then the fun part. I cut the drop cloth roughly to size (width of bed) +6-8 inches or so. Below is a little sketch to give you a better idea of what a French seam is (to better understand what I did.
My sewing machine was honestly giving me issues (if anyone who knows things about sewing machines/ setting tensions- help a girl out and comment or better yet reach out on Insta). Since I was under time constraints- I opted to utilize heat and bond for the initial seam and then hand stitch the second. I honestly think it was the best solution anyway because my edges are nice and crisp. Although after tearing the drop cloth canvas- I do sort of like that raw edge look also.
So I sewed up the top and right side- slid it over the headboard and was able to create a mark for where my last seam (on the left hand side of the bed) needed to be. From there I repeated the heat and bond seam tape followed by hand stitching the second seam and it slid right on like a glove. I do intend to do this to my footboard as well- utilizing mainly left over material from the headboard, but with a new twin mattress topper.
What else did I do this week?
Hung curtain rod
Hung and hemmed curtains to just kiss the floor (using @Frills_and_Drills method)
Got furniture back into the room
Upholstered the headboard
Tried out some bedding (still looking at Euro Sham options- send me your favs!!)
Swapped out hardware on the dresser
What I still have planned:
DIY lamp shades
Hang sconces
Closet makeover
DIY Closet Doors
Hang pictures
DIY Mirror (if time)
DIY Chair (if time)
DIY roman shades (if time)
As always, check out the One Room Challenge Blog for more projects and my Instagram for more details on this weeks update.
If you’ve made it this far- thank you thank you thank you for supporting my little journey.
