My parents’ guest room bed needed a headboard, and the empty wall also needed something decorative to add interest to the room at all (aside from one poster on another wall). Since they have a lot of scrap wood, we decided to create a headboard that would attach right to the wall and add some rustic charm to the room.
This was a very easy project and took me about an hour and a half…and that half hour was mostly spent looking for my dad’s level. 😜 You could use nice, new wood, but the scrap wood they had worked very well to create a rustic looking headboard.
Supplies:
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- old scrap wood
- nails
- painters tape
Tools:
- level
- pencil
- miter saw (or other saw for cutting small pieces of wood)
- nail gun (or use small nails and a hammer)
Step 1: Plan and mark the sides. After sliding the bed a little bit away from the wall, I took a pencil and lined it up with the side of the bed, marking on the wall to identify how far over the headboard should go. I did this to both sides.
Then, taking the level that I eventually found, I drew a straight line up from that mark and ended up deciding that 45 inches was a good height up the wall. That would give plenty of room for the headboard to stick up above the pillows and take up some of the blank wall space. I used the level again and marked a line across, connecting the two side lines.
Taking painters tape, I ran it along my lines to outline my shape. That let me visualize the space where my headboard would go. It also made it very easy when attaching the boards, because I lined up the ends of the boards against the tape for a straight line.
Step 2: Cut wood. From side to side of my headboard space was 53.25 inches (this is a full-size bed). I wanted the shorter pieces of wood staggered, but I also cut a few the full length across. Basically, I went through the scrap wood and held pieces end-to-end that looked good, then marked one at 53.25 inches to cut with a miter saw.
Because my wood was so rough, I did scrape off some loose chunks and wipe them down quite a bit so it wouldn’t create splinters. If you’re using nice wood, now would be a good time to sand the pieces.
I didn’t worry about getting exactly the right amount of wood cut, but I did enough to make several rows and then took the pieces inside, stacked together so I knew which boards went together to make 53.25 inches.
Step 3: Nail wood onto the wall. I started at the bottom and used one of my long pieces that ran the whole length across. Using the level, I held the board in place and used Brad (my nail gun) to secure the board onto the wall. You definitely want to be sure this first, bottom board is level before stacking the rest on top of it.
SIDE NOTE: Since my wood was so rustic, I didn’t worry about the nail holes. If you’re using nicer wood, you might want to be sure to space your nails evenly for less chaotic holes, and/or you could use wood filler to fill the holes if you’re going to stain or paint the wood.
From there, I took the rest of my boards and added one row at a time, making sure the ends lined up at the tape.
I worked my way up to the top, and I’d cut enough initially to make it almost all the way – I only needed to go back to cut one last row at the top. And for the top, I found a piece of wood that had a cool, natural edge, so I used that for the very top. The top did overlap my tape slightly, so I pulled the tape off before securing that final row. But the tape did show me that everything was still straight and level! The rest of the tape I pulled off once I was finished.
That was it! This was a very cheap and easy way to create a permanent headboard that’s big and adds some rustic decor to the room. Hopefully guests like it too!
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