Jersey Girls Tri: DEEP TUFTED UPHOLSTERED HEADBOARD

My deep tufted upholstered headboard project

So I'm completely going off triathlon topic to talk about a project that I recently completed. You know, because sometimes you need to get stuff done around the house. I made this tufted upholstered headboard with crystal buttons for my guest bedroom...or for Tom when he snores. See, I can swim, bike, run and upholster {wink}. This was my first ever attempt at upholstering and I'm pretty happy with the end result. Like any other project it had it's annoying x-factors but I learned a lot. And yes, I would do it again. In case you're curious, this post is a summary of the process. I also found great how-to upholster videos on YouTube by ALOWORLD.

It all started here at the Fabric Warehouse in Rahway NJ. I chose an off white linen fabric with a slight sheen to it. I purchased 3 yards of

fabric, 9 feet of decorator foam (it was cheaper than upholstery foam), 3 yards of batting and 2 yards of black fabric (for the back of the board). Do NOT cheap out on the batting because the batting makes a big difference!

Next stop was at my local lumber yard where I purchased a 4'x8' piece of plywood that was a 1/2 inch thick. I measured the bed frame from side to side (queen size frame) and it measured 60 inches across. Using a circular saw, I cut the plywood down to 60 inches wide by 38 inches high. I own a lot of power tools, I know how to use them and I'm not afraid to use them. In fact, I love my power tools.

Figuring out the measurement for the button holes was the challenging part. I decided that the button holes would be 7" apart from side to side and 7.5 inches apart up and down. I found center of the board and drew a grid. After the grid was drawn in, I marked the holes where the buttons would go. I used a 3/8 inch drill bit and drilled my button holes.

Next it was time to put the foam on. I used a spray adhesive and sprayed both the board and foam. I laid the foam over the board and pressed down until it stuck. Since I didn't have a reciprocating saw, I used an electric knife (you know the one that you use to cut your Thanksgiving turkey) and cut the excess foam off around the edges. It worked like a charm, but don't tell anyone that I used a turkey knife. It'll be our secret.

After cutting and gluing the foam down, I marked the holes for the buttons. Using my 10" upholstery
needle, I came up from the bottom of the board and poked the needle straight through the foam and marked the spot using a sharpie.

Once I had all of the holes marked, it was time to cut the holes out using a 1 1/4 inch hole cutter. Be very careful here that you put the center of the drill-bit directly on the dot and drill straight down...do not slant the drill bit. You want straight and even foam holes. This part can be tricky so take your time.

After you cut all of the holes out, your board will look similar to the picture below. You can already see the diamond pattern taking shape. At this point, I moved everything out the basement and upstairs because I didn't want to get my fabric dirty. I'm not going to lie, my basement is in need of a good cleaning. I laid the batting over the foam (don't glue the batting) and made sure I had excess batting hanging off all of the edges. I snipped the batting over each hole so that the button would go in a bit easier.

And here is where things get tricky, tricky. You have to cut the fabric down to proper size for your board. If you don't know the professional way to line up and cut fabric, find an online tutorial. Fabric should always be folded in half from selvage to selvage and cut as straight as possible. Since my board was 38" high (top to bottom) and the decorator fabric was 60" wide, I didn't need to cut the width of the fabric. I did need to cut the length of the fabric because it was much too long from side to side. So my board was 60 inches from side to side, plus I added an extra 16 inches of fabric on each side. So the math went like this: My board was 60 inches (from side to side) plus I wanted to add 16" to each side. I cut the fabric length to 92 inches (60"+16"+16"=92" cut length). Do you follow me?

With the fabric folded from selvage to selvage, I folded the fabric again from top to bottom. This method found center of the fabric. I made a very faint pencil mark in the center of the fabric so that I would know exactly where the center was. Make sure you mark the WRONG side of your fabric, not the good side! Next I drew a very faint straight line going from side to side on the back side of the fabric. This line would be my guide for my center row of buttons. Now I had to find the center of the board (faintly mark it) and match the center of the fabric to the center of the board. I made sure my pencil line went straight across the middle row of button holes (see photo above). I also kept the center of my fabric lined up with the center of my board. Carefully open the fabric up and make sure your pencil line is correctly lined up with the middle row of buttons. This is important stuff here. Next, I threaded all of my buttons using Roman Shade cording
instead of upholstery thread. It worked out great!

Now you come to the place where you get to put your upholstering skills to the ultimate test: If you have a button hole at the center of your board, start there. If you don't have a button hole in the center (which I did not), choose a button hole next to the center. I started with the button hole to the left of center. Using your index finger, push the fabric straight down and into the hole until you feel your fingertip touch the board underneath. The first button is the most crucial. Now double check that your center line is still going straight through the middle row. Adjust the fabric if you need to. If for any reason your fabric got wonky, take it out, re-center it and try again. It is super important that your pencil line remains straight through the middle row of buttons. After you have the fabric in the hole and your line is still going straight from side to side, use your upholstery needle to pull your first button through. Make sure you push the button as deep as possible, pull the cord really tight from underneath and staple the cord to hold the button in place. A pneumatic stapler is the way to go here because a manual stapler does not hold the cord down as tightly.

Recheck that your pencil line is still straight. If it is, go to the next button hole located at the right of center. Pull the fabric from the stapled button hole towards the right button hole and get the fabric taut, but not ridiculously taut. LOOK AT THE GRAIN OF YOUR FABRIC AND MAKE SURE THE GRAIN IS GOING STRAIGHT FROM ONE BUTTON HOLE TO THE NEXT. This is THE big trick to keeping your upholstery project looking beautiful. No matter what direction you're working in, you must always keep the fabric grain straight!!! If you don't keep the grain straight, your pleats will get wonky looking. Pull the fabric tight from button hole to button hole, BUT NOT RIDICULOUSLY TIGHT. If I could change one thing, I would not pull the fabric as tight as I did from hole to hole. I think I went a bit overboard here with the tightness. When everything looks good, put the next button in and staple it. Continue doing this for the entire middle row of buttons (fabric grain straight, pull fabric tight but not ridiculously tight, push the button all the way down and staple).

Once you get the entire middle row done, you can work on the next row down. On all of the other row you will not staple the buttons one by one as you put them in. At this point, you're going to get the entire row of buttons in first, then go back and staple them. Fix your pleats as you work, making sure all of your pleats fold downwards. Do every row of buttons this way and neatly wrap the fabric around the back. Staple, staple, staple. Don't be cheap with the staples. The above photo shows what the back of my board looked like when all of the buttons were in. After I finished stapling everything in the back, I covered the board with black fabric. I zig zagged the edges of the black fabric so that it didn't fray.

Next I cut 1 inch thick pine boards down so that I could make legs for my headboard. I used left over fabric from my headboard and made sleeves to cover the legs. I attached a long and short piece together using metal plates and screws. Below I've added some photos of what the board looked like from the back and which screws I used to attach the legs to the board. I pre-drilled the holes for the screws because pine is tough to get through. Finally, I attached the headboard to the bedframe using machine bolt

screws.

If you're a handy DIY'er you'll have fun with this project. I estimated that the total cost came to $167. Yes, I kept tabs. Cost breakdown: plywood $20, decorator foam and batting $65, fabric $18, spray adhesive $12, upholstery needle and cording $10, 1 inch crystal buttons $20 (bought on Amazon), nuts bolts and screws $16, black fabric for backing $6. If I can find more of this fabric at the warehouse I'd like to make a matching storage trunk. But that will be for a future project because this triathlete is missing her swim, bike, run days.