Introduction: Queen Bed Wood Headboard

If you are someone that feels like you cannot do a DIY project, then sign up for Instructable or Pinterest.com and just see what people are doing out there every day. You may get an idea or have one that you can bring out of your head and create with your hands. Try it. You may well amaze yourself and others. Mostly, it is your creation and something you will have pride in accomplishing. Just do it. Take that big step and do it. Don

Step 1: DIY--Queen Bed Wood Headboard

We have a Queen Bed in our guest bedroom and there was no headboard. After looking around at headboards there just was nothing out there that we liked. So, my wife said to me: "Why don't you make one yourself?" Well, I thought that sounded like something I could do. So, I began to think of what I wanted to see as a finished project. I measured the queen bed frame and bed to get an idea of what I wanted the headboard to compliment from our bed and the guest bedroom (Western).

I went to Pinterest.com to get some ideas and boy are there ideas. Really good ones and many bizarre ones too. One idea peaked my interest, but I wanted to modify that final look. So, I sat down and drew up my ideas and started to figure on what I needed. You can get as fancy as you wish or just basic. You can get into different woods (prime wood, lumber wood, construction wood, wood from pallets, etc.) and how to prepare those woods, and how to put this project together. You can put your boards together with biscuits and glue, you can plane your boards through your planer, you can cut different fitting joints, and finish your wood any number of ways. I basically put my boards together with pocket screws, then continued with basic joints with screws and a simple stain and a polyurethane finish for durability. There are many choices. My choices were pretty basic and did not involve using a lot of fancy power tools.

Depending upon what your size of headboard you want this list will give you an idea and you just need to figure out the quantity of the materials.

1"x4" boards (used for the main headboard, trim on bottom and top)

1"x6" boards (for headboard)

1"x8" boards (for headboard)

2"x6" board (top trim)

2"x4" board (top trim) optional (see photo), (my wife decided not to add this)

4'x4" posts (for leg posts)

Stain of your choice and color

Finish of your choice

The end result turned out well. To change anything I may have made it a bit taller but that is just a personal choice in order to show the headboard wood off more.

Step 2: Step 2: Starting the Actual Woodworking

So, here is how I tackled this project. Once I had drawn my plan and measured my dimensions, then I was able to calculate the amount of wood. My choice was with construction pine and posts. Depending on the lumber yard you may be able to cull through the boards and find boards with character, straight boards on the narrow edge and boards that are not warped on the wider, flatter side. Any knots need to be tight and not require a lot of filler (unless that is the character you want). Once I got the boards and posts, then I got down to work. Using my design I incorporated 1"x4" boards, 1"x6" boards and 1"x8" boards into the main headboard and these were cut to length. I cut these boards looking for the best "character" of the board. Once I had these cut I used my belt sander to sand any rough areas with 100 grit paper. Then I laid these boards out on the floor and turned and moved these boards around until my wife and I liked the overall "look" to the layout. I then proceeded to use my pocket hole jig from Kreg to drill and attach each set of boards to each other. With care you can end up with a nice flat surface that does not require a lot of finish work. NOTE: The more boards you use in the dimensions of the headboard, the more pocket holes you will need to use and the less rigid the initial headboard is to work with once it is all screwed together.

Step 3: Step 3: Final Decisions and Finish Work

Once the boards are attached, I filled in any defects with wood filler, then I smoothed the entire piece with some hand planing but a lot of sanding with my belt sander, initially with 100 grit and then moved to 150, then 220. Finally, some hand sanding got the look I wanted. Once this looked good, I then attached a well sanded 1"x4" board across the bottom and top to trim off the headboard and add rigidity to the headboard itself. These trim boards were attached with screws from the back, counter sunk and filled. Next I cut to length my 4"x4" posts/legs. Once cut they were well sanded. Then I placed the legs at the ends and looked at where to mount the headboard to the legs in order to get that look when you have the proper depth. The headboard was then attached to the legs with pocket screws. My original plan was to mount a top trim that used a 2"x4" board, then a 2"x6" board on top of that. Well, after taking a look at that and getting several opinions, I settled on what my wife liked best, to eliminate the 2"x4" board and just use the 2"x6" board. The 2"x6" was cut to length and well sanded. It was attached with pocket screws. Final light sanding was done and the whole thing was wiped down well with a Tack Cloth to get all the dust and debris off the project.

Once everything was wiped down, then to get a "weathered look" I applied Minwax Classic Gray stain on all the wood and wiped off the excess. Once this was done then the piece was allowed to dry. Then I applied Minwax English Chestnut stain to give it that warm reddish-brown chestnut color and the excess was wiped away. The headboard was buffed by hand after everything had dried well.

To finish I applied Minwax Polyurethane Satin to the entire piece with three coats following the directions carefully. Once done, this headboard was carried to the bedroom and placed at the head of the bed. Two felt cushions were placed on the back of the headboard to protect the wall and the headboard. You see the final result. The cost including the pocket screws , wood, stain and finish was around $75-80.