Building and Upholstered Headboard

I received a bunch of positive feedback about the headboard that I described in the "Nesting With a Vengeance" post from earlier this week. Here are the photos and step-by-step instructions.
I have to thank my mother for suggesting the hallow-core door. It was lighter to work with and less expensive than plywood.

Also, since the wall that the bed is placed against isn't very wide, we didn't have much room for end tables. Everything that I saw that was small enough for the space didn't seem stable or substantial enough to work. Instead I purchased two cube shelves from Target for one side of the bed, and two five-inch shelves for the other side. Now we each have a place for a lamp, a book, and our glasses.

Materials
1 32-inch wide hallow-core door
1 to 2 yards of fabric
4 yards of batting with the highest loft available
Staple gun and staples
Picture hangers

Step One
Measure the width of your bed and have to door cut to size. A standard queen-sized bed is 60 inches wide. We had the door cut at Lowe's so we didn't even have to bother with sawdust at the house.

Step Two
The upholstery fabric that I purchased was 58 inches wide. Since I wanted to use a stripe that came on the bolt vertically, I needed to purchase two yards of fabric for the project. If the fabric that you select is wider, or if the patter is horizontal on the roll you may be able to get away with less then two yards.
Kevin's mom, who is much more adept at working a sewing machine, matched up the stripes on the fabric and stitched them together. (My Mom and sisters can whip up all sorts of things, but the sewing gene skipped me.) The extra fabric is being used to make pillows.

Step Three
Cover the front of the door with batting and staple to the edge of the back of the door. Cut off the excess batting. Place a second layer of batting on the front of the door and staple the top and the bottom to the back edge. (I only put one layer of batting on the sides of the door to keep it from looking too puffy.)
Step Four
Cover the front of the door with your fabric. Place a few staples on each side to be sure that the pattern is straight. Then pull the fabric tight and staple to the back of the door on all four sides.

Step Five
Drill picture hook into the back of the door a few inches from the end on either side. Hang the headboard on the wall as you would hang any large picture.