Kid's Upholstered Headboard

I am still in amazement daily at how much our babies are becoming boys. Bray wants to do everything himself now ("no thank" might be the most popular word phrase EVER). And sweet Miles is a hop,skip and a jump away from walking. Everyday I feel the internal struggle that I am sure every parent feels. You want them to walk, talk, dress them selves, etc etc etc and then the minute they do, you find yourself back treading because they are growing WAY. TOO. FAST.

At 18 mos when Bray vaulted out of his crib sans Nadia Comanici, I had a brief moment of "Please not yet" at the thought of him in a "big boy bed". That was the first of many first's that brought us all the way to bringing in the for real's big boy bed! Yes, we finally caved and gave the kid a twin bed. It was the only option to accommodate his face down, star fish, take no prisoners sleeping style. For now, he still has his "Lovie" and of course his favorite fleece blanket, but for the most part he is officially sleeping in a real bed (no side rail either....insert sad face.)

This development has obvious perks. No lugging two pack and plays anywhere, not having to worry about where to put him to sleep if we crash at the in laws etc. It also has created an issue on security. Bray is a ninja at escaping a room or even a house. Just this morning, he bypassed a door and two baby gates and went downstairs to get himself some milk. Upon realizing he couldn't get the leverage he needed to pull the milk from the fridge, he came back up stairs to get me to "Haaaaaaaaaaahhhhh.....lp" him. We have had to install multiple obstacles to keep him safe and that has created a whole new neuroses at bed time. Imagine me sitting there running the check list with the Hubs......

"Is the basement door locked?"
"Garage doors down?"
"Security knob on the basement stairwell door in place?"
"Slider locked and baby lock added?"
"Front door and screen locked?"
"Baby gates locked?"

And on and on.

At the end of the day, these are all inevitable facts as they two lil' meatballs grow up. So after that rant, here are the shots of an easy upholstered head board!

I got the idea when I was cleaning out our linen closet and happened upon a day bed cover from Pottery Barn. Yes, it was a wedding gift. No, we don't even own a day bed. Why did I put this on our registry? I plead the fifth. Knowing that I would never implement this cover as it was intended, I decided to start looking at other uses (pillows, curtains, even a chair cover). Then I remembered how much Bray needed a headboard and my decision was solidified.

I measured the dimensions of the twin bed frame we had and cut a piece of low grade plywood in the same width (the height here is totally up to you!). Once I had the size I wanted, I went to our local fabrics store and had them cut a piece of extra thick foam to match.

 

In order to create a little extra fluff, I also purchased some batting. I unrolled my batting and then placed my foam down, followed by the piece of plywood.

Enter, my handy dandy Powershot. Working from the middle out, I stapled the batting to the back of the plywood. I think it's easiest to start this way so that the extra batting and fabric gathers in the corners, creating a smooth piece of fabric.

The frame was a perfect fit along the width to a fitted twin sheet. The day bed cover had piping so I incorporated it's piping and seam to the headboard for ease.

After the fabric is lined up, I just followed the back side with staples again. A quick hit with the iron to get rid of the wrinkles and I was ready to head up to his room.


I attached it to the bed frame by just using two pieces of scrap wood to create legs. I then used two anchor screws per leg to attach it to the exterior of the bed frame.

At some point I will get crazy with the bedding, but for now we have a happy two year old! He has all he needs: space to spread out, books at arm's reach and storage for his matchbox!