No, that's not a typo. Here's the Did-It-Meself headboard project I completed this afternoon. Though I just realized that some people might think that it's "dim", like "dumb".
Moving on!
It wasn't the kind of headboard I originally set out to make this weekend. Yesterday I went to a local salvage warehouse with the hope that I'd be able to find some old boards with character that I could fasten together, but alas, I struck out. I figured I should just get some new boards from the hardware store. But then this morning I got to thinking: I've never stained or sealed wood before and I don't have a very good place to do it. It's the end of June, so the air is too hot and sticky to allow any sort of finish to cure properly. In the end, since this is my first crack at really building anything, I decided to go with something simple: An upholstered board.
After finding some fabric I liked it was a struggle to pick out the padding material. When I was finished I was very happy that I went with some extra cushy quilt batting rather than the expensive green foam they sell at fabric stores. The foam would have been way too stiff and difficult to work with when I was hammering upholstery nails later.
At the hardware store they were kind enough to cut the plywood I bought into the dimensions I needed, so all I had to do was break out the stapler I bought...
...except that the staples I bought weren't the right size. What was I saying about being dim earlier? Sigh. One more trip to the hardware store later I was ready to begin.
The actual stapling wasn't hard. It was just a matter of making sure the fabric was pulled tight (though not too tight). Finishing the corners was similar to sewing. For the back of the main board I slipped some extra black fabric I had lying around under the edges of the front fabric. It's hard to see in the picture but I added one more final design element by hammering some decorative nails around the border, which proved to be the hardest part because those darn rounded nails bend like crazy! I went through about a dozen failures before I finally got the technique down thanks to this neat trick. The side planks were secured with 8 screws apiece.
Hans isn't really a fan of the pattern and some of the nails got spaced a little goofy on one part, but for a first attempt at something like this I'm satisfied. I will probably either keep it for a possible future guest room or re-cover it if I ever find some truly awesome fabric that Hans and I both like.
I wasn't paying close attention to the time but I'm pretty sure this all took less than two hours.
Here's the cost rundown (the fabric and batting were half-off at Jo-Ann):
Plywood: $28 (bear in mind it started as a 4'x8' sheet)
Two 1"x4"x4' Pine Boards: $9
Decorative Nails (2 boxes): $3
Batting (2 yards): $8
Cover Fabric: $20
Total: $68
If you want to count the stapler and staples I had to buy the total comes to $81.
Not too shabby!