Introduction: Space Bedroom With Glow-In-The-Dark Moon Headboard
Do you have a space enthusiast in your home in need of a bedroom makeover? This instructable may inspire you to create your own space-themed bedroom by explaining:
1) How to paint your ceiling and wall(s) in a blue ombre space technique
2) How to create a glow-in-the-dark moon headboard
3) Resources and ideas for decorating your painted ceiling and walls with glow-in-the-dark stars and planets
Supplies
In preparation you will need:
1) Blue Ombre Space ceiling/wall project:
-Three shades of blue paint from the same paint chip, such as:
Sherwin Williams: Loyal Blue SW6510, Georgian Bay SW6509, and Secure Blue SW6508
*Please work with your paint supplier to calculate the amount of paint needed for your space, as it will vary depending upon the size of your room, the number of walls to be painted, and brand of paint.
-Two large containers with lids for mixing paint shades, approximately 1 gallon size.
-Glow in the dark acrylic paint, such as two or three bottles of: https://www.amazon.com/FolkArt-322E-Glow-Paint-Neu...
-White acrylic craft paint
-Black acrylic craft paint
-Paint tray
-Painter's masking tape
-Paint roller frame and 3 polyester roller covers
-4" wide paintbrush
-2 to 2 1/2" angle paintbrush
-step ladder
2) Glow-in-the-dark Moon headboard:
-Reference photo of full moon, downloaded and printed
- 36" x 48" piece of 1/2" thick plywood (you'll probably end up having to buy a 48" x 48" piece...)
-Pencil
-String
-Nail
-Hammer
-Screwdriver
-Router or jigsaw
- 1 1/2yards of plain white or natural muslin fabric or canvas, at least 45" wide.
-Glow in the dark acrylic paint such as:https://www.amazon.com/FolkArt-322E-Glow-Paint-Neu...
-Black acrylic craft paint
-Staple gun
-Upholstery foam (1" thick x 24" x 72" ) such as:https://www.amazon.com/FoamRush-FM012472-Density-U...
-Upholstery Foam glue such as :https://www.amazon.com/3M-74-Spray-Adhesive-Clear/...
-Twin size 72" x90" Quilt batting such as: https://www.amazon.com/Warm-Company-White-Cotton-B...
-Bread knife or electric carving knife
-Newspaper or scrap paper to make a shape template, taped together to make a 36" high x 40" wide piece
-Heavy-duty hanging hardware such as: https://www.amazon.com/Hangman-Softy-Hanger-Minima...
3) Resources and supplies for Space-theme accessories and extra details:
-Reference photos of Astronaut and space shuttle
-Lightweight clear fishing line, or clear sewing thread for hanging
-Large-headed sewing pins
-Graphite paper
-Glow-in-the-dark adhesive stars kit such as: https://www.amazon.com/Glow-Stars-Supernova-Bright...
-3-D planet solar system kit such as: https://www.amazon.com/Great-Explorations-3-D-Sola...
Step 1: 1) Prep Your Space
1) Prep for painting:
A) Move furniture out of the way
B) Wipe down walls/ceiling with damp cloth or damp sponge to remove dust/dirt. Fill any holes/cracks with lightweight spackling, wait until dry, then sand and wipe with a damp cloth to remove dust.
C) Use painter's tape to protect baseboards and surfaces adjacent to those you'll be painting (i.e. window frames, wall edges that you won't be painting...)
D) Protect your floor and any remaining furniture in the room with a drop cloth or old towels and sheets.
E) From your three shades of paint, you will create an additional two graded shades of paint as follows:
-Open all three shades of paint.
-Using a clean plastic container with a lid, fill with equal portions of the darkest color, and the middle color. Mix thoroughly.
-Using a second plastic container with a lid, fill with equal portions of the middle color, and the lightest color. Mix thoroughly.
F) You may find it handy to number your cans of paint from darkest to lightest, with the darkest color as #1, the next lighter can #2, etc. For this Instructable I refer to the darkest color as color 1, the next lighter as color 2, etc.
Step 2: 2) Paint Your Ceiling
2) Paint your ceiling using color 1 and color 2, the two darkest shades of blue:
A) Starting in the center of the ceiling with color 1, use your 2 1/2" angled paintbrush to paint around any central light fixture (mine had a centered dome light fixture on the ceiling). Use a paint roller to paint the majority of the ceiling in color 1, beginning in the center of the ceiling in a circular pattern, expanding outward toward the corners of the ceiling.
B) Switch paint color to Color 2, the next lighter color. Fill in the corners of the ceiling, working towards the dark circle that you just painted with the darkest color of paint.
C) Using your 4" paintbrush, feather the edges of the second color of paint into the circle of color 1 that you previously painted. To feather the wet paint edge, dip your brush edge in the color 2 paint, then move your paintbrush in an "X" pattern over the seamline where color 1 and color 2 meet repeatedly to blend the colors.
Step 3: 3) Paint Your Wall(s)
3) Paint your Wall(s)
A) Paint the top 1/4 of your wall(s) with color #2 using your paint roller.
B) Paint the next 1/4 of your wall(s) with color #3 using your paint roller. Feather the wet edge with your 4" brush at the seamline where color #3 meets color #2.
C) Repeat the same technique for colors 4 and 5 on your wall.
Looking great, right?! Pat yourself on the back :)
Step 4: 4) Glow in the Dark Moon Headboard
4) Glow in the dark moon headboard:
A) Mark headboard as per the first diagram as follows:
-Draw a straight line across the 36" high mark on your plywood.
-Measure and mark a 40" wide by 16" high rectangle along the bottom of your plywood sheet
-Mark the center of the top of the 40" x 16" rectangle ( 20" across, 16" up as per the diagram)
-Hammer a nail partially into the centered mark you made, tie a string to the base of the nail, and tie the other end of the string to a pencil, with the string tied to measure exactly 20" when the pencil is held in a vertical position. Mark an half-circle shape at 20"
-Cut your plywood headboard shape with a jigsaw, router, or whatever works for you :)
B) Make a paper template of your plywood headboard shape by tracing around your plywood headboard onto a large sheet of paper, and cutting out with scissors
-Place paper headboard template on 1" x 72" x 24" upholstery foam. Cut template as needed/shown in the diagram to layout the template onto your foam.
-Following the template outlines, cut the upholstery foam with a bread knife, or electric carving knife.
C) Attach your upholstery foam sections to your plywood headboard using Upholstery Foam Adhesive Spray, following the instructions on the can.
D) Slightly bevel the outer edge of your upholstery foam using your bread knife or electric knife.
E) Lay out your quilt batting on the floor. Twin sized quilt batting measures 72" x 90", allowing you to fold your batting in half so that you can cover your foam with a double-layer of batting. Place your headboard foam-side-down on the batting. Pull both layers of batting up over the edges of your headboard and staple the batting to the back of your plywood along the edge as shown in the diagram.
F) Lay out your muslin fabric on the floor. Place your headboard quilt-batting-side-down on the muslin fabric. Pull the muslin up over the edges onto the back of your headboard, and staple into place neatly, covering the quilt batting slightly and trimming as you go.
Step 5: 5) Paint Your Headboard
5) Paint your headboard:
A) Paint a base layer of white acrylic paint onto the surface and edges of the muslin covered headboard. Allow to dry.
B) Paint 3 coats of Glow-in-the-Dark paint onto the dried white painted headboard, allowing to dry between coats.
C) Download and print a reference photo of a full moon, such as : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_moon
(By Tomruen - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5...
D) Use a pencil to lightly mark where the darker shades of the moon's craters, texture, and identifying marks are onto your painted headboard. Note that not all of your headboard will be showing above the mattresses and bedding once your headboard is hung and bed returned to place. You can pay more attention to the details in the top portion of the headboard, and not worry as much about what will be hidden by the bedding.
E) Into a small plastic cup dispense some of your glow-in-the-dark paint, and a small amount of black paint, mix, and apply to your headboard to copy the patterns of your full moon photo, and allow to dry.
Step 6: 6) Hang Your Headboard
6) Hang your headboard:
A) Determine where you want to hang your headboard. Mine was hung as follows:
-Measure the width of the wall the bed is to be placed against.
-Divide measurement in half to find the center point of the wall.
-Mark line at the center point of the wall, 15" up from the floor. This is where the center of the bottom edge of the headboard will be aligned. 15" up from the floor is where the top of the twin box spring meets the bottom of the twin mattress for our bedroom frame/box spring/mattress set, and is a nice placement for the bottom edge of the headboard.
B) Attach your hanging hardware to your headboard:
-Turn your headboard plywood-side-up. Follow the instructions included with your hanging hardware.
- Once I installed the hanging hardware onto the back of the headboard, I measured the distance from the hanging hardware on the back of the headboard, to the bottom edge of the headboard. Add 15" to this measurement to determine how high off the ground to position the wall portion of your hanging hardware.
C) Mark the hanging hardware wall portion installation coordinates on your wall and install according to directions included with your hardware.
Step 7: 7) Finishing the Room
7) Finishing the room:
A) Hanging the planets:
-Determine where you would like to hang your planets. I used my central light fixture as the "sun" and positioned the planets according to their solar system placement ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_System)
-Use a lightweight fishing line or clear sewing thread cut at around 12" lengths. Tie one end to a large-headed sewing pin, and the other to the hanging loop on each planet, then push the sewing pins into the ceiling.
B) Stars:
- I used my glow-in-the-dark paint randomly across the ceiling to paint clusters of stars. These painted accents will not glow as brightly as your stick-on stars.
- Adhere your stick-on stars across the ceiling and upper section of the wall(s). Keep in mind that those near a light source such as the ceiling light, windows, and wall/table lights will glow the brightest. I followed Wikipedia layouts for stars that appear regularly in the north, such as the big and little dipper, etc., and incorporated their patterns into my night sky.
C) Additional details:
- Space Shuttle: I used the Internet to search and print a reference photo of a space shuttle, and free-hand painted the shuttle using white, black and mixed grey paint for shadows. You could print the reference photo, lay it on top of a section of graphite paper, then tape the photo/graphite paper onto your wall in place using painter's tape. Trace the shape outline and details using a pencil and drawing onto your printed photo. Remove the photo/graphite paper, then fill in the details on your wall using an artist paintbrush and white, black and grey paint. I also took the glow-in-the dark paint and added a top coat to all of the white areas of the shuttle so that it would glow when the lights are out.
- Astronaut: Follow the same process as above...
- I also happened to have blue bureaus and bedding on hand to coordinate with the painted walls....not required, but it looked nice! And you might not need the hamster cage and assorted clutter shown in this photo... strictly optional :/
Step 8: The Big Reveal!
"Charge" your glow-in-the-dark stars, planets, and headboard by turning on the room lights, table lamps etc for about an hour before bedtime.
Put your lucky little space enthusiast in the bed, read your bedtime story...turn off the lights....and BAM! Our son looked like a silhouetted ET against a huge glowing moon. It was really quite impressive and humorous at the same time!
Participated in the
Paint Challenge
