How to Make an Upholstered Headboard With Buttons

Upholstered headboards are a great statement piece for any bedroom. However, headboards from the big home décor stores can be pricey. Luckily, making your own upholstered headboard is a straightforward, no-sew DIY project that you can do at home for much less than the sticker price. Let’s take a look at how it’s done.

One of the great things about upholstered DIY headboards is that they are very customizable. You can change the shape of the board, add buttons all over for a full tufted effect or add nailhead trim around the perimeter, for example. For our headboard design, we went with a simple rectangular shape, a patterned fabric and just a few buttons for added visual interest. To give the headboard a puffy shape, we used polyester batting. For a cushier, fuller look, you could use foam instead.

Before you start upholstering, you need to design and build the headboard itself. To make the base of the headboard, start with a piece of fiberboard the width of the bed and your desired height. Then cut two 1"x4" boards to the same height as the headboard. The boards can be spaced either even with your wall studs or evenly across the back of the board. If the boards don’t line up with studs, be sure to use wall anchors when hanging. Offset the 1x4s so that about 4 inches of the boards are hanging off the bottom of the fiberboard and securely attach them to the board.

To mount the headboard, install two ring hangers on the top of the 1x4 boards. Install two screws to the wall with heads small enough to fit the ring hangers. Hang the headboard. For extra security, screw the bottom of the headboard, where the small boards come down, directly into the wall.

Take a look at this video to see how to upholster the board, assemble the buttons and attach the buttons to the headboard.