Continued Project Status: Bedroom Headboard

Ok, so I hit a few snags in the making of my headboard. 

First:  Lack of support from Mikey.  I can just see him rolling his eyes at my new project.  So, I have been trying to keep this monstrously huge "decoration" out of his way.  Not easy.  It's heavy!  

Second:  I have finished putting on the foam batting and the first piece of fabric, a nice camel colored suede.  It looks really pretty.  But, when I placed it behind the bed, against the wall, I realized that is is WAY too tall for our room.  It would look great in a room with cathedral ceilings, but that is so not the closet that is our bedroom. ;)  Since I made it to stand on two legs, all I have to do is lug it out from behind the bed, out to the effin cold garage, measure 4 inches off each leg, and use an old fashioned hand saw to shave off those dang inches.  

Sounds, easy, right?  Yet, it's still not done.  I think it's the cold.  No, definitely the weight of it. Ok, who am I kidding?  I am terrified of cutting my own hand off with the stupid saw.  There.  I said it.

Third: The embellishments.  I had planned on putting the first piece of fabric on and then putting another piece of burnt orange fabric as a wide stripe down the center.  I was going to use upholstery tacks to secure the fabric in this spot...since I suck, and I can't sew.  I thought it would be a brilliant and creative solution to the problem, and look great too!  

Well, the foam batting was thicker than I expected - I put 3 layers on, so it gave the headboard a nice, puffy look.  Which is not what I was expecting, but looks nice nonetheless.  Now that it is kinda puffy, nailing in the upholstery tacks will make a little well where each one is going in, and that will be unacceptable if the orange fabric is not sewn to the brown.  And the brown is already there, so no sewing now!  

The other problem that I didn't anticipate is that the orange fabric has this really cool fringe on the edges.  I loooove it.  And to incorporate the fringe, 2 pieces have to be sewn together.  And, as I mentioned before, I suck and don't sew.  I wish I paid attention in Home Ec!  *shaking my fist at myself in the mirror*

So, I have a plan.  

The plan is to wait for my beautiful and wonderful and gracious Aunt Roey to come up to visit next week and beg, beg, beg her to sew this for me.  She created a beautiful valance and crib decorations for the nursery last year (another post!), so I am hoping she will help us out again. She's awesome!  Then, I will have to modify my upholstery tack idea again, since I really would love to incorporate them.  

Here's the progress to this point...

Measure and cut three layers of foam batting.

Secure each layer with staples.  Lots of them.

Place the fabric, measure and cut to length.

Iron fabric.  This part sucks.  I hate ironing as it is.  The dryer is my iron.  Ever try ironing suede?  It sticks.  But it got done and I breathed a sigh of relief.  

Secure first layer of fabric with staples.  A lot of them.  I started on top, in the middle and worked my way to the sides.  Then I folded and secured the side corners.  Smoothing out the fabric as I went down, I secured the rest of the sides.  Then I pulled as hard as I could on the bottom and stapled that.  Yep, that's Little B helping his mommy.  

Then, I placed the headboard behind the bed.  Yikes! And then, I tried to place the orange fabric. For now, it is staying with pure static cling!  

That means this project is officially shelved for two weeks.  But what is two weeks when it wasn't ever getting done before?!  I can't wait.    

Project Status: Bedroom Headboard

Status:  Frame Complete!

I went over to my wonderful father's workshop to start building this new headboard of ours.  He helped me to make it and also made me partially work on it too.  Something about ownership...hmph.  I am no good with wood, and I never will be.  But I am good at making smart ass remarks to annoy the crap out of him, pushing him to the the edge several times.  You can only imagine what I was like as a teenager!  At least my mom was laughing!

Here are some pics of the progress:

Me giving Dad the thumbs up to officially start the process.  And to make myself look like a complete dork.

You can see what my smart ass remarking was doing to him!

Yes, we need glue...lots of it.  

Me + Power Drill = Never a Good Thing

Assembling the frame

Mom couldn't stop taking pictures of him!  She must love him or something....Or maybe I got my smart assing from her.  I don't know.

Complete outside frame

Building the inside around the cushions

Putting on the plywood backer

The finished frame - woohoo!

Now it's my turn to take it home and upholster it.  Thanks, Dad for all your help.  Have fun in Vegas!  You'll need the vacation after the afternoon with me. I know this.  

Project Start: Bedroom Headboard

Always learning, I discovered that the best time to start a project is on the weekends, not just on Saturday - it's just way too limiting!  So, I start Project #2 today.  

I am excited!  There are many projects I would like to complete this year in our bedroom - the place where the magic happens...you know, SLEEP.

So, I want it to be comfy, cozy, peaceful, zen.  Right now it's almost an empty shell with a bed and two dressers.  It's not very big, I think 10'x10', so it's a challenge to change anything.  We repainted and bought new bedding 2 years ago, and then the kids happened.  Goodbye, forward progress, on this little project!

I started on this particular idea as soon as we said goodbye to the old waterbed (my adolescent waterbed, btw).  I loved that thing.  Always warm, and undulating...so nice to sleep on.  But, when Mike came into my life and started hogging the covers, he also moves a lot at night, which caused me to feel as though I were lost at sea in a tiny rowboat, trying to get a few zzzzs before I woke up the next morning exhausted and seasick!  It was nice for one, but not for two. So, the year the three kiddos decided to announce their upcoming arrival, actually a few weeks before we knew about them, we decided to go out and get a real, bonafide grown-up bed.  Woohoo! Though, I was dismayed to find out that grown-up mattresses don't come with grown-up bed frames.  So, we have this squeaky little cheapo metal frame that really only holds the bed up.  

That said, I have been longing for a headboard, some kind of atmosphere around the bed for...well, years now!  And this blog will kick start it into gear.  It's gettin' done this week, baby!

This project will be hard to show what I am looking for in the before, only a picture of our bed and the empty wall behind it.  I don't have a program to overlay my drawings on top, so you'll have to wait for the reveal...

All the stuff I have been collecting for the room is sitting idly next to the bed. Making it look like a mess.  I had been looking and collecting for a while, and now I will get to shop from our very own house store.  Free!  Well, now it is - it wasn't two years ago...  

So, I would like to:

• Put up an upholstered headboard
• Hang the very cool Asian-style picture I already bought above the headboard
• Create a flowy canopy from the ceiling down around the bed
• Make and hang practical shelving (out of ancient barnboard from our...you guessed it - barn) for our needs
• Decorate the rest of the room

First, I will start with the headboard and work my way down!  This project requires the help of someone who knows how to work with wood (not me.), so I have asked my loving father to pitch in on this one.  He agreed only if I plaster his face all over this blog because he's an attention seeking diva.  But really it was only if I make him an apple pie.  Thanks for offering your help, Dad!

Oh, did I mention he is "donating" the 2x4s and plywood necessary to create this monster headboard?  For the cause?!  He's the best.  

I am soooo looking forward to this one.  I'm giddy.   

As always, no money, very little time - get creative!

Have you made a headboard you would like to share?