Today on the blog, I’m sharing an alternative to an upholstered headboard DIY. Instead of reupholstering my headboard, I found inspiration in London to wrap my favorite fabric around wood panels and mount them to the wall for a unique, detailed look.
I left for London feeling a bit depleted of my creativity. We had just finished our major hand-made kitchen and also painted our primary bedroom. There is never a shortage of projects around here, but if I don’t have a design that I’m crazy about, it’s much harder to execute. You can’t map out the steps if you don’t know where you’re going!
When we were in London, I tried to let the inspiration flow rather than actively seek it out. This wasn’t hard to do – ideas were flying at my faster than I could grab my phone to take a photo. When we walked into our hotel room, I immediately felt a sense of luxury and coziness at the same time. I wanted my bedroom to feel this way.
Down the street, the iconic hotel, Claridges brought so much inspiration. I happened upon a photo of a newly revealed suite in their hotel and it hit me! I needed an upholstered wall piece in my life!
It was separate from the headboard, but added so much interest to the space in a way that I couldn’t forget. It was one of those subtle details that took the room from good to great.
Don’t think I didn’t notice the fringe on the sofa! *wink*
When I got home, I went through my fabrics and realized I should have just enough to pull this off with what I had on hand. I had initially planned to add pillows to my Monarch Home line, and when I decided to pivot to wallpaper exclusively (for now), this favorite fabric of mine found a home in many different projects. Remember when I reupholstered my Great Grandma’s chair?
Getting inspired may have been the easy part, but I was determined to make this work in my space.
Project Overview – Upholstered Headboard Alternative
Instead of upholstering the entire wall, my idea was to create panels that I could upholster first, then secure to the wall. This made more sense since the fabric is only 54″ wide and I needed, gulp, 216″.
How To Create An Upholstered Wall For A Fabric Wallpaper Appearance
Upholstered Headboard Alternative
- Determine size of wall to be covered and size of panels.
I did 6 panels (3′ wide x 7′ tall).
- Cut plywood panels to size
Home Depot or Lowe’s will do this for you if needed!
- Cut fabric and batting to size ADDING about 3″ extra on each side for wrapping and stapling
- Lay fabric face down and layer batting and plywood on top
- Wrap sides of fabric around plywood, tightly, securing with staples
- Install French Cleat to back of each panel
- Install mounting side of french cleat to your wall
This is easier than it looks!
- Hang panels on the wall
The final step!
I am loving how this is Upholstered Headboard Alternative turning out and very excited to share the final reveal with you. Our primary bedroom is really coming together. To see more of this space, you can see these posts below:
Finally, I built a gold frame to finish off the entire look and I’m absolutely in love with it! It is exactly what I had pictured! :
Room Sources:
This is so awesome! Definitely trying this out once I move into my new space!
Thank you!!
What kind of good paint did you use for the frame? This is exquisite!
Gold, not good! Apologies for the typo.
Your project turned out, absolutely gorgeous! Forgive me if you addressed this in the blog… perhaps I just missed it, what brand/color of gold paint did you use? Thank you.
So beautiful! Do you mind sharing the paint you used for the frame? I apologize if you have and I missed it😬
Do you have your older projects somewhere I can see them? I have that same chair as your great grandmother but mine is from an aunt. I’ve wanted to have it re-upholstered for years but can’t afford it. Maybe I could do it myself if I saw how it was done? Also saw your moveable pantry you did in one of your previous kitchens. That would solve so many storage issues I have in my kitchen but I have a million questions. If you have your older projects somewhere I can see them, that would be so helpful. Thx in advance.
HI! Everything you do looks gorgeous!! Could you tell me how thick your batting was? And if you did a headboard instead of wall, would you use thicker batting? Thank you.! Love all your stuff. 🙂
Molly
Love this! How did you hang the mirror on top of the upholstered boards ?