How to Make a Vintage King Sized Headboard

A vintage bedroom inspires romance, and you can quickly and inexpensively create a simple, interesting, faux-antique headboard as a decorative starting point. Depict a sense of old-fashioned charm with wallpaper featuring floral, paisley, jungle scenes, plaid, French country or grass cloth prints. Curvy shapes also portray traditional style. Find a roll of antique-looking wallpaper, pick up a piece of plywood, and schedule a spare afternoon to make a one-of-a-kind, DIY, king-sized headboard. With a little imagination, you can make a finished piece will be the focal point of the room.

Measuring tape
Card paper
Pencil
Scissors or tin-snips
½ inch plywood, good one side
Jigsaw
100-grit sandpaper
Rag
Paint
Paintbrush
Wallpaper
Utility knife
Four 2-inch wood screws
Screwdriver

Instructions

- 1
  Measure the width of your bed. Most king-sized beds are 76 inches wide, but this measurement can vary by manufacturer.
- 2
  Fold a large piece of card paper or cardboard in half. The full paper needs to be slightly longer than the width of your bed. Measure 38 inches from the center fold to the paper’s edge, and mark this point as a guide.
- 3
  Sketch half of your headboard shape onto the folded paper template. Start at the height that you want your finished headboard to be, and work your design over and down to the marked 38-inch point. Imagine curvaceous, old-fashioned shapes similar to a crown or castle; let your imagination guide you, or search online for pictures of vintage headboard shapes to replicate.
- 4
  Leave the paper folded, and carefully cut out the template.
- 5
  Open the paper, and lay it lengthwise over the plywood’s good side. Line up the bottom of the design along the bottom edge of the wood.
- 6
  Trace the shape onto the smooth wood surface.
- 7
  Cut out the headboard shape using a jigsaw.
- 8
  Sand the plywood edges smooth. Wipe the entire plywood headboard with a damp rag to remove the dust.
- 9
  Paint the wood edges using a paint color that matches your wallpaper.
- 10
  Apply lengths of wallpaper over the headboard as directed on the roll’s label. Allow at least two inches of wallpaper to overhang the plywood edges.
- 11
  When the wallpaper glue is dry, flip the headboard over, and trim the excess wallpaper by carefully running a utility knife along the plywood’s perimeter.
- 12
  Measure and mark the wall for placement of your headboard -- you'll want it to sit centered with the base about one inch below the top of your mattress.
- 13
  Locate and mark four studs on the wall directly behind your bed. Tap the wall with your knuckle until you hear the rapping sound change from hollow to solid. Studs are usually spaced 16 inches apart. The studs will help to ensure that your heavy headboard fixes securely to the wall.
- 14
  Have a helper hold the headboard in place while you screw four wood screws through the bottom of the headboard into the marked stud areas.

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