Vintage Door Headboard DIY
- By Joan
- January 22, 2025
- No Comments
Vintage Door Headboard DIY
Over the years I’ve made quite a few DIY headboards. Besides coffee table I think they are one of my favorite things to design and create. Before I show you my latest Vintage Door Headboard I want to take you on a journey through some of my past upcycled, recycled and repurposed creations.
This upcycled headboard was from 2016 made from scrap wood and a repurposed shutter.
This headboard, also from 2016, was also created from shutters, but these are interior paneled shutters.
And one more from 2016 , a roofing tin shingle headboard with reclaimed wood. 2016 was obviously the year of the headboard.
This headboard was from 2018 made from scrap wood and a few architectural elements.
From 2020, comes this king sized headboard. This one is made from reclaimed wood and a vintage door. I love the paneling on those old doors. I have this one in my own bedroom.
The same year as the vintage door headboard I also brought you this king sized arch headboard. Of course its made from reclaimed wood.
And with limited space for nightstands, I created this bookshelf headboard in 2024. It’s main building component is once again, reclaimed doors. The thicker parts of this headboard make use of a couple hollow core doors and the front is a paneled door.
If you are in need of even more inspiration, I have also done a few twin bed headboard makeovers and even made a set of built in bunkbeds with the help of my sons. You can find all of those on my headboard and bed project page.
Now onto todays project, one more headboard made from reclaimed vintage doors. I’m actually making 2 headboards since I had 2 doors but only one is in use as of this post.
These doors are a little different from the ones I’ve used in the past. They are still made from solid wood but instead of 6 panels, they have one large inset panel.
Try to use as many of the layers of your door as possible. If you’re creating a queen sized bed, cut your door approximately 60″long. I’ll be adding 2×4’s to each side so the final width will be about 63″ wide. If you want your headboard to end exactly where the mattress ends shorten your door about 3″. A king bed is 76″ wide.
This is the first cut door and I’ve laid out some extra molding to give the headboard a little dimension and a piece to use for the top.
This is the second cut door along with more added molding and another piece for the top.
Place your wood as you would like it to appear on the final finished piece.
Since I would like the molding to extend above the door and not cover up too much of the existing panels I needed to add blocks of wood. Right now there is nothing behind the decorative molding to actually attach it to.
This is the backside of the headboard. I’ve nailed the blocks of wood directly to the solid wood door. I now have something to nail the added molding to.
The molding was attached with finish nails from a nail gun. If you don’t have a nail gun you could use a hammer and nails, but the pneumatic nail gun saves me a lot of smashed fingers and bent nails. You could also do what I did, buy one for hubby for his birthday and use it yourself all the time. 😆
Cut side pieces from a 2×4 the width of your door and use nails to attach.
A top piece should be longer and wider than your existing door. This one is a 2×6. Nail to the top of the headboard.
Use a paintable caulk to fill in any gaps.
Sand the edges of the rough wood as needed mostly on those side pieces and top.
A coat of chalk paint covers up all the inconsistencies in wood types.
The two completed headboards after a coat of clear wax followed by a second coat of antique wax. They are pretty much the same with the difference being in what kind of molding I had available for finishing.
For installation you can either screw your headboard directly to the wall or attach 2 legs to the back so that you can screw the headboard to the existing bed frame or just lean it against the wall.
Has anyone created their own headboard or it just me who is a little obsessed? I hope I’ve inspired you to give it a try. Until next time…
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