How to make a DIY Wooden Headboard

Time for an update with my New Year, New Room Refresh Challenge! This challenge has a whole whack of bloggers participating and is hosted by the lovely Casa Watkins Living. Today, I’m talking DIY, and I’m talking headboards. The best part? This big, wood plank, DIY headboard doubles as art — it’s large and in charge, and is the new focal point of the room!

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Supplies for my DIY Wooden Headboard:

• 40 square feet of Stikwood Wood Planks (in Reclaimed Sierra Silver)
• 2 sheets of MDF
• Small amount of latex paint
• 4 planks of 1″ x 3″ lumber (for the finished frame)
• 4 planks of 2″ x 3″ lumber (for mounting the headboard to the wall)
• Stain of your choice (for the frame only)
• Various heavy-duty screws and lag bolts

We were going for a finished size of 7 foot by 5 foot high. This meant we needed about one and a half sheets of MDF. We cut the second sheet down to size, so when joined, they would achieve the 7’x 5′ size.

Then, we painted one side of the MDF. (Priming and/or painting is a must to prep the MDF for the Stikwood products to come).

Above, you can see the 2″ x 3″ lumber attached to the back side of the MDF headboard piece. These pieces serve as support for the entire headboard, to connect the MDF to the wall studs, and as the structure to attach our finished frame pieces to.

We attached the lower, smaller headboard piece, first. We used long heavy-duty screws to drill from the front, through the MDF, through the support boards beneath, and into our wall studs.

We repeated this with the upper, larger, MDF headboard piece. We did drill out the MDF in order to counter-sink a few lag bolts (for extra support and strength), however we found that the MDF material itself did a pretty good job sinking the regular heavy-duty screws evenly, and cleanly.

Above, you can see our entire prepped MDF headboard, fully mounted to the wall. The two sheets of MDF are quite heavy, so you want to ensure you are mounting directly to the wall, and be sure to hit your wall studs beneath, for a safe and sturdy headboard.

Then, it was the fun part! Time to break out the Stikwood boards and get this DIY Wooden Headboard show on the road! A big shout out to Stikwood for sponsoring this project! These gorgeous wood planks made my DIY Wooden Headboard project a breeze with their amazing peel-and-stick wooden planks!

With a simple flick of the wrist, you can remove the backing paper for the sticky sticker strips on the back of each Stikwood plank. Stagger your boards for a realistic look, butt the edges up against each other, and press down. Repeat. It’s as easy as that. We even cut our boards down to size with a box cutter! (However, a mitre box and saw is recommended).

Lastly, we applied our stained and finished 1 x 3 boards, cut to size, to create a frame around the entire headboard.

The finished product is super polished, and full of modern-rustic goodness! It has added an incredible amount of impact to the room!

It’s amazing how over time you can kind of get used to that plain, bare wall. But no more! I can’t imagine this space any other way, now. Our new DIY wooden headboard is truly a piece of art!

Now we just have to spruce up the rest of the space! I’m working on getting a couple new nightstands, and a few other goodies, delivered on time for the big reveal next Tuesday!

What an improvement! This is our forever headboard — I gotta tell you, all those subtle variations in the colours of each plank drive me crazy in the best way possible! It turned out even more gorgeous than I had planned — and that’s the best feeling!

Be sure to check out what the rest of the Room Refresh ladies are up to this week! And, check back next Tuesday, for the big reveal!

Casa Watkins Living // A Designer At Home // Bigger Than The Three Of Us // Domicile 37 // Fresh Crush // Iris Nacole // Monica Wants It // Pocketful of Posies // Seeking Lavender Lane // Sharon Joyce Interiors // This Is Our Bliss // Up To Date Interiors // Vintage Romance Style

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