Scavenger Chic

DIY Twin Headboard

• By Joan
• March 25, 2018
• 14 Comments

Welcome back. Normally I refrain from talking about anything political here knowing that I would be alienating half of my visitors.  That being said,  I watched with tears in my eyes the March for our Lives  in Washington this weekend.  I watched in awe the well spoken teenagers who had the courage the poise and the fight to speak before the nation about the need for common sense gun laws.

One would think after Columbine, after New Town, after Pulse after Las Vegas and after Virginia Tech that laws would be put into effect to help curb this senseless violence.  But after countless “thoughts and prayers” nothing happens.  “This is not the time.”  

I was one of those moms who waited to hear from my child after the Virginia Tech shootings where 32 college children were killed.  My son was in the dorm where the first shooting occurred walking right by a policeman on his way to class not knowing there was an active shooter. My son was in the building right next to the building where so many kids lost their lives.  He was one of many who had to shelter in place while the SWAT team tried to stop the shooter.  

My child came home and yours should too.

I pray that this is the time for change. 

Thanks for letting me vent and now I’ll get back to my normal DIY.  Today I’m working on a twin headboard.  This headboard was inspired by the black piece above.  Son #2, who also attended Virginia Tech, passed this on to me figuring I could do something with it.  It’s been about a year and I have no idea what this thing was in it’s past life but eventually I envisioned a headboard.  

Before starting on a headboard, any headboard, lay it out on the floor.  This will help you envision how it will look in the end and what supplies you may need.

I had some ship lap leftover from a previous project but I needed another 12′ board  (18 ft total) and an 8 foot 4×4 for the side posts.  Those are just a couple pieces of scrap 2×4’s standing in for the 4×4’s above. 

I cut the 8 foot 4×4 into two equal 4 foot sections and the shiplap into 6, 3 foot sections.

Mark the 4×4 sides where the shiplap ends.

Using those marks cut out a groove in the center of the post to insert the shiplap.  I used a circular saw and made multiple passes until what remained could be chiseled out.

Because a circular saw has a curved blade, you will have to extend the cut a little beyond your marks.

Chisel out any remains.

Glue and insert your planks.

With a nail gun, I shot a few nails from the back to secure in place.

Notice a couple shims? My groove was just a little too large.

Make sure your posts are evenly spaced.

I didn’t think those tiny little nails and glue would hold the bed together for the long haul so I added two more boards onto the back, one at the top and one at the bottom using Kreg Jig screws to secure.  This is the bottom board.

The top board also needed to be secured with kreg jig screws but this on I extended past the top board so I would have something to attach the decorative black piece to.

I  nailed on a bottom 1×2.

The molding at the top was cut to fit but not attached yet.

The black piece wasn’t quite wide enough to fit in my opening so I added a couple more pieces of scrap wood to the sides.

I still didn’t nail down the molding, it needed something more.

Back to the scrap pile where I found these pieces from a wine rack.  Originally I was going to put them on this bar cart but since that didn’t work out and I had already dismantled the wine rack what better place to put them.  Another 1×2 cut to fit at the top and a 1×4 centered on the headboard and this piece is almost finished.  Nail in place.

Caulk any gaps and fill any holes with plastic wood.  Sand the plastic wood when dry.

Now I could finally nail on the top piece of molding.

This was the top of my headboard.  Too many gaps and ridges for my taste.

I thought I could go through an entire project with no pallet wood.  It was not to be, to cover all the gaps and ridges, I cut, sanded then nailed on a top ledge of pallet wood.

Where the green arrows are pointing show another little flaw to my little headboard.  Those gaps show the back board which is there to hold the decorative piece in place.

On a piece of scrap wood I outlined what I wanted my insert piece to look like.  Cut out and sanded.

Newly cut piece in place on the right.

To give my top piece just a little more support, I added a metal strapping piece screwing into both the top and bottom piece.

If you’re going to paint your headboard a solid color you can skip this step.

Paint on layers of chalk paint any colors you would like to peak thru the final coat of white.  This doesn’t have to be particularly neat, just don’t leave any drips.

Paint a top coat of white chalk paint, covering up all those beautiful under colors.

If you saw the above pictures, you would see that I hadn’t finished the finial posts.  The decorative top piece I was intending to use was too small for the bed and the deck finial I’m holding was too bulky for the bed.

I ended up cutting the bottom part off the deck finial and using my small decorative piece on top.  Those are attached with a dowel drilled thru all the pieces and glued.

The top of the 4×4  is finished off with 2 scrap pieces of wood.

The 4×4’s are enough to keep this headboard standing upright.  If you like a little more security the bed frame can be screwed to the upright posts or mount the headboard to the wall.

All made up and ready for visitors.

Did you pick out 4 of my other projects in the room? 

It’s like Where’s Waldo…can you find Folk Art Pallet Wood Rabbit,  Rusty Septic Pipe Lamp, Recycled Drawer Shelves, and  a French Chair Makeover.

If you don’t have the ornate black piece, picture the headboard without it, you can still make a really cool original piece of furniture.

Before I go, and if you need more inspiration, let me share with you some of my past headboards.

 

 

 

Hope I’ve inspired you.  Stay safe.

Shared at Metamorphosis Monday,

Talk of the Town, Salvaged Junk Projects,

Wow us Wednesdays,