Painted Headboard

I talked about the hows and whys of changing the boys' room in this post.
 
Today I'm just going to explain how I made the red stripe on the painted headboard without measuring.

I did use a level to make the navy rectangle. Pretty standard stuff. But I wasn't about to measure and use the level and mark to figure out my red line. Too much work.

First, I bought one and half inch wide painter's tape because that is about how far in from the edge I wanted the line to be.

Source

I placed the tape right on the edge of the navy blue all the way around. Then to get a crisp edge I burnished the tape with my finger nail, but you could use a tool such as a popsicle stick. Just rub down the edge. I don't have a picture because it hadn't yet occurred to me to do a post on this when I did that stage. Oops.

(Walls aren't smooth and painter's tape is designed to grip very lightly, so you burnish to force the tape into all the mini divets in the wall.)

I settled on a 1.5" stripe of red, so I tore bits of tape and spaced them out around the first tape line. I lined the edge of the tape bits to the edge of the tape line.

Then it was time to take advantage of the straight line quality of tape. I simply connected the dots, so to speak. My next tape line was placed carefully along the edge of the tape bits.

I used an x-acto knife to trim tape that when over.

Once in place, I removed the tape bits which were now sandwiched between my long tape lines. I then burnished the tape.

For such a small space I just bought a sample size of red paint. It did take five coats to go over that dark navy color. But red usually takes at least three coats anyway.

Once the paint was dry, I pulled off the tape. I pull straight off. Not at an angle either way, just straight.      

Heads Up

For a very long time I have wanted a wooden headboard. And if not wood, I considered natural tones of linen, perhaps tufted.

Sad bed with no headboard. :(

So, I found this

and thought, headboard, of course!

(Actually, I thought pillows, but then soon realized that the colors were brilliant against my wall.)

I figured I'm not out much for trying it. If I don't like it, I can still keep the frame and replace it with linen or something.

Oh, I almost forgot, the fabric. It's actually a tablecloth I found at Marshall's.

Ugh, I hate to iron, but it needed it.

So, Mateo built the frame for the headboard by screwing a 60 x 29 in. piece of plywood to a frame constructed from 2x2's.

I laid out my tablecloth, good side down. Then laid batting on top. Now I got bamboo batting which I thought was cool, but it pulls apart too easily. Like it started shredding as I tried to unroll it. It was uber soft though and would make great fill.

Once that was laid out, I centered my wood frame and then it was time to break out the staple gun.

I pulled it really tight and then stapled on the back of the frame. 

I did this all the way around, treating the corners like I would gift wrap.

Mateo hung another 2x2 on the wall as a cleat and then we hung the headboard.

Dresser on the left is Matt's, and that is relatively clean for him. :)

It is a lot of pattern for someone who originally wanted a neutral headboard, but I am really loving it. It looks great with the wall color!

 A little before action there; and then after...

I think I'm going to change the pillow cases to something that pops a little more.

Woven Canvas Headboard

I finally made Big Man (also known as Gabe) a headboard. I've been meaning to get to this since June.

Over on Young House Love, Sherry put up a fabric headboard in the guest room. She assured me that it holds up well, so I decided to do a riff on her easy, inexpensive idea.

Upon measuring things, I settled on 54" x 36" dimensions and Matt constructed a simple frame of 2 x 2s. With a little math, I figured I could have 6 inch strips of canvas and come out evenly all around.

So, I got out a drop cloth. Just the kind you get for painting. This is 6 ft. x 9 ft.

I opened it half way and marked every six inches and made my cutting lines. 

By keeping it folded in half, I was able to cut the long lengths with less time/work. I'm not saying that well, but I am sure you get my meaning.

I laid 9 strips down on the floor and then laid the frame on top. 

I stapled each strip in place, wrapping it all the way to the back. I did this only along one edge.

Lifted it up and laid the 6 strips that would go horizontal on the ground and laid the frame back down. I stapled each of the strips to one side.

Then I turned it right-side up and began to weave the strips. 

The cat was most helpful as you can imagine!

 Having left two edges free, it was actually really quick to go over and under and then just tidy it up, smoothing and sliding and pulling each into place.

I lifted the edge off the ground and pull a strip tight and stapled. Once all were secure, I flipped it over, added more staples and trimmed the excess.

We screwed a 2 x 2 to Gabe's wall to act as a hanging cleat and simply hung the headboard on the cleat. Easy peasy.

Gabe is so proud of it. I like that it is neutral, but it has some texture and interest.

He's leaned on it to read, and no problems. It's a keeper!

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