Skip to main content

How to make a West Elm inspired upholstered headboard

So, I was searching for a new bed and came across this fabulous one from West Elm, with an oatmeal linen upholstered headboard.

Source: Modern Bed – Linen Weave – West Elm

But at £1200 (without the mattress) it was way above my price range.

I wondered if I could create a similar look with a much cheaper product and ended up buying the TARVA king size bed frame for £125.

ikea tarva bed

TARVA bed | IKEA.com

It took a while to get around to it, but I found some Colron coloured Beeswax for £10, a remnant of oatmeal linen for £18 and a pack of 100 dome shaped upholstery nails in pewter for £2.

I used:

Here’s how I did the hack …

1. First, stain the whole bed frame with the coloured beeswax. You can ignore the centre parts of the headboard, which you’ll cover with fabric.

Upholstered headboard how-to

2. Measure the height and width of the front and back of the headboard. Measure, sew and trim an old (too hot and barely used) duvet to these dimensions.

Lay the sewn and trimmed duvet over the top of the headboard, so it drapes neatly down front and back.

Staple all duvet edges to the TARVA headboard. Now you have your upholstered base on which to put your fabric.

Upholstered headboard for an almost West Elm bed

3. Lay your fabric over the headboard and measure from the horizontal base of the front where you want the fabric to start, to the horizontal base of the back where you want the fabric to end.

4. Turn under your fabric (that will lie on these horizontal edges) and sew to give a neat edge. These edges will lie horizontally across the base of the front and back (not the sides, which have the tacks.)

5. Measure what the width of your fabric will be on your upholstered headboard, allowing enough overlay onto the wooden sides for you to put upholstery tacks in.

Iron your fabric, turning the fabric sides under and pressing to give a neat fold. I didn’t bother to sew these sides as I was going to nail them.

Add the domed tacks

6. Lay your fabric onto the headboard and carefully start hammering in the domed tacks. I started with all the corner ones back and front to make sure the fabric was lying correctly.

Then, I added tacks to the middle areas of the edges. To get the fabric to lie correctly going over the top of the headboard, I had to do a little pleat (facing towards the back) of the fabric, which I secured with a tack.

I didn’t bother adding tacks all the way along the bottom edges either. Just one at each side and a couple in the middle to keep the fabric lying smooth.

Here’s the finished result. It’s not quite as fab as the £1200 bed, but for around £150, I’m pretty pleased!

Upholstered headboard for an almost West Elm bed

~ Ruth H.

The post How to make a West Elm inspired upholstered headboard appeared first on IKEA Hackers.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

SKÅDIS: 5 ways to make the IKEA pegboard even better

IKEA introduced its own pegboard system, SKÅDIS, two years ago and I’d say it’s one of the best systems IKEA launched in recent years. I love how super customisable it is, with a growing range of accessories that help keep things organized. It works everywhere, in your wardrobe to bathroom . Probably anywhere you have a flat surface to hang it up. Photo: IKEA.com SKÅDIS pegboard system See it on IKEA.com But no matter how perfect a system, you can trust IKEA hackers to improve on the SKÅDIS. And they’ve settle these 5 issues you may have faced with the handy IKEA pegboard. Read on for their fixes. 5 IKEA SKÅDIS issues and fixes #1 Expensive hooks? You’ll need quite a number of hooks and accessories to fill up the SKÅDIS pegboard, and Kenyer was shocked at how quickly they all added up. So he figured he could make his own hooks to save cost. Photo: Kenyer Over at Instructables , he shows us how to twist copper wires into the SKÅDIS hook shape. It works s...
Post a Comment
Read more

Hackers Help: How to remake cam lock holes?

I want to put a 78.5” wide PAX configuration in a 77” space for a kids room . My plan is to eliminate the drawer on the right unit, then cut the shelves and rails to be 1.5” narrower. My question is, how do people attach two laminated pressboard IKEA pieces after they’ve cut off the cam lock holes? Related: See more Hackers Help questions and answers . Are they using drills bits and/or tiny hole saws to remake the cam lock holes? Or screws drilled in from the outside with wood glue? The outside pieces won’t be visible in my completed setup so I could go either way. I’m curious what other people are doing, either I haven’t seen this detail in past hacks or I haven’t been paying attention. ~ by Jenny *** Hi Jenny The best and tidiest method is to use the cut-off portion as a template to reproduce the same cam lock holes in the correct positions. The right sized drill bits and a  Forstner bit should do the trick. A Forstner bit will drill a flat-bottomed hole (...
Post a Comment
Read more

6 Clever & Easy IKEA FLISAT Table hacks for more Fun & Play

The IKEA FLISAT children’s table is quite a smart little thing. See those white covers? It’s a secret compartment. Open them up and you’ll fit 2 TROFAST storage tubs snug under the top of the table. Your child can reach in and get his or her LEGO bricks -– and then — most importantly, sweep everything down into the bin to clean up. Or at least that’s what we all hope the kiddo does! It’s also perfect for sensory play. Instagram is full of ideas on what to add to those tubs to maximise them. Think of filling them with rice, pasta or chickpeas, you name it, to develop fine motor skills. Read on to see how you can make the $50 table work harder for so much more fun. #1 Simple mod turns the IKEA FLISAT into a Play & Craft table Lauren has a very simple yet practical hack to turn the FLISAT children’s table into a play table with more storage and better organisation. Materials: Photo: IKEA.com FLISAT table with TROFAST tubs ONSKLIG change table containers Wood bracket ...
Post a Comment
Read more