IKEA HACKS – UPHOLSTERED HEADBOARD
IKEA HACKS – What a transformation! I will show you how to make an upholstered headboard and how to turn an old IKEA malm bed into a completely new one.
It’s time to share my newest piece in our bedroom, one of those Ikea hacks: the Malm bed.
Last year we decided to do a master bedroom makeover. The current design that we are changing is about six years old.
I have changed the duvet cover a few times but did not make any other significant changes.
Now we are ready for a whole new look!
This is our “before” picture.
We really loved the black, brown and orange mix in our bedroom, but you know,
…when you see the same design for so long you kind of get bored with it.
WE WANTED SOMETHING
different
fresh
not necessarily new, but new to our eyes
…Maybe some mix and match in styles…
elegant -modern – eclectic
Sometime around July last year, I sat down and started planning. I don’t do that often- haha!
{Pssst… I am usually very unorganized with my projects…}
Most of the time, when I start working on a project or a room design, I get inspired by a piece of fabric.
This yellow, flowery duvet cover was my very first inspiration for our new bedroom. I spotted this lovely cover at Ikea.
They were out of stock a few times when I visited the store, but finally, I was able to put my hands on one, just recently.
I really love the floral and the yellow – white mix.
I created a MOOD BOARD that included all my ideas for our new bedroom design.
Unfortunately, we never managed to start the bedroom project last year. It became the project to star our new year instead!
We jumped right in and painted our bedroom last weekend. We chose a very beautiful, gray shade. Reading Laura’s post HERE,
on how to choose the right gray, made me decide to go with the REVERE PEWTER.
Just simply beautiful on the wall. I would recommend this color if you are not sure which gray to go with!
…OKAY…
…Now to the headboard project…
I will show you a step by step tutorial, how we made this beautiful upholstered, tufted headboard out of
IKEA MALM BED
IKEA HACKS – DON’T YOU JUST LOVE THEM?
When we purchased our MALM bed set about six years ago, we bought a three piece shelving unit as well. The shelving unit was placed behind our bed. { See picture below.} It was a perfect addition to our bed set, as it was holding decor items in the bedroom. I really loved it!
I had the idea to take this shelving unit apart, and attach the bigger piece of the shelving unit to the back of the bed, to make the headboard higher. If you don’t have this particular shelving unit, you can simply use a piece of plywood instead.
Visit Alicia’s blog HERE to see how she used plywood for her upholstered headboard.
I just thought it would be a perfect piece because it had the same measurements as the bed lengthwise and thick-wise.
Look at this dramatic change
Are you ready to start your makeover?
THINGS YOU WILL NEED TO MAKE
THIS BEAUTIFUL UPHOLSTERED HEADBOARD:
– IKEA Shelving unit { this is what I used } or Plywood
– 2 x 4 wood, two longer pieces, about 4′ tall
– Drill and screws
– Staple gun, staples
- – Batting, thick { 2″ }
– Fabric to cover your headboard { per your taste }
– buttons, hot glue gun
First of all, we took apart our shelving unit.
Using the drill, we screwed the 2 x 4 wood pieces onto the back of the bed.
We put one piece of long wood on each side of the bed.
Eww – It doesn’t look beautiful, but this is the back of the bed, and it won’t be visible.
Then we lifted the bigger piece and attached it together with 6-8 screws on each side.
This is how it looked after the two pieces were screwed together.
Beautiful and tall.
We wrapped the batting around the headboard and stapled it to the back of the huge piece. If you would like to have a nice and thick tufted headboard, double the batting. Make sure you pull the batting out completely straight on each side.
Once this step is done, you can add your fabric.
I chose white for my project. I am not sure what is with me and white lately, but lots of times I am leaning towards white when it comes to color choices…Hmmm..
{If I could just turn the clock back to a couple of years ago, I would definitely have chosen white kitchen over medium brown. 🙁 }
The nice thing about this headboard is that if I ever want to change the look of it, I could take off the fabric and staple a new one on.
A new color, a new print, a new fabric choice will provide a whole new look again.
I wrapped the fabric over the batting, pulled the fabric out on each corner to make sure it is not wrinkled, and as the final step,
I stapled it to the back of the board.
We measured 9 spots for the buttons, using a tape measure, counting equal distance from each side.
Then using a staple gun, we stapled each spot { 9 } for the buttons.
We glued each button to the headboard with a hot glue gun.
I was hesitant to glue with a hot glue gun, but I was hoping to see the buttons stay on. They did!
Easy-peasy!
The project was done in a few hours.
My total cost was:
$28
{including batting, fabric, buttons – I already had the rest}
You can not beat that for a new headboard!
I am totally in love with our new look.
It is so different and elegant – and most of all , new to our eyes!
I think it turned out just beautiful.
I will have some other fun projects coming up, so stay tuned to see our whole new bedroom makeover.
Here is the image to PIN FOR LATER to remember for this excellent post
Check out our beautiful, yellow nightstands. They were spray painted to perfection.
And this new Herringbone Stenciled lamp was upcycled in no time
DIY Sunburst Mirror made out of paper
So, what do you say–YAY or NAY??
****update****
So I think it’s time to show you an updated bedroom of mine now. It’s been 2.5 years (we are in 2016, October) since I’ve done this project. Since then I sold my headboard and I built a new one:
Yeah, the crazy DIY gal I am! 🙂 Check it out!
HOW TO MAKE A TUFTED HEADBOARD
And if you like some other fun DIY projects and IKEA hacks,
here are a few more for ya!
IKEA HACKS – BUILT-IN BILLY BOOKCASE
IKEA HACKS – DIY TV STAND ( IKEA HACK)
IKEA HACKS – DIY RECLAIMED WOOD BUFFET ( IKEA HACK)
IKEA HACKS – IKEA STOOL HACK
WOW! Looking back to some of these projects made me feel ants in my pants to get on some fun DIY now! But first I have to finish my bathroom makeover project for the ORC!
Thank you for reading!
Have a great day!
THIS PROJECT WAS CHOSEN TO participate in
BHG MAKEOVER MADNESS CHALLENGE
Hi, I love this! I have the same bed and was wondering if I still need the wood in the back of the headboard if I dont want to make it higher or do I just staple the fabric to the back of the headboard?. I’m scared that the staples would just come out if I staple directly to the headboard.
Erica, I think it’s fine the way you wanted to do it. Staples won’t get through the headboard part! Send me a pic once it’s done!:-)
I love this! I will definitely be doing this in the near future. How much fabric did you have to get to cover the headboard?
Love this idea and how it turned out! How did you do the recover when you switched to the blue velvet fabric?
I did not recover. I made the headboard for the blue velvet one!:-)
Hi!!! I LOVE this tutorial! I’m getting a queen malm bed in a few days! So this is perfect timing, I was just wondering how you created the folds in the Navy blue headboard. Both were beautiful but I think the navy one was absolutely stunning I’m just trying to figure out how I’ll do that. Also I’m new to the DIY world so sorry if this is a dumb question but when I go purchase the plywood to extend the headboard is there a specific thickness I should request?
Hi There! I have the IKEA malm bed. However, I do not have the shelving unit. If I use plywood would I have an issue of the plywood not being plush with the current headboard? Do you know if it can be done? Thanks ! I’ve had this bed for 6 years and would love slight change!
Hi! I love this idea, just curious, what kind of IKEA shelving did you use? I have the same bed frame and this idea is perfect! So glad I stumbled across your site! 🙂
Hey! It’s listed in the post. I was part of the bed when we purchased it. It’s a long, shelving unit that was placed behind the bed. I am not sure if IKEA still has it…There is another upholstered headboard tutorial on the blog ( search tufted headboard) that you might want to see,:-) Good luck!
That’s a good looking headboard. It would look good in my guest bedroom.
Hi. Just wanted to drop by and thank you for this tutorial, and mostly for the idea itself. My Malm headboard was a little banged up and now it looks quite fantastic thanks to you. I did it in black though, as it fit my room better. I also added LED lighting all around the headboard from behind. I also did not use glue for the buttons, as I didn’t feel comfortable with the long-term solidity. Instead I pierced the fabric with a cutter then a soldering iron, then pierced through the headboard with a 6mm bit to attach the buttons from the back using standard nylon-based thread. This is a lot more secure imho.
I can always provide pictures if you’d like, just send me a quick email. Thanks again for sharing your creations!
Oh, I want to see a picture! I always enjoy seeing what other people create! Pop it over to [email protected]🙂
What paint color/brand is in the room with the white head board?
i love this idea! Question. lets say i move and i have to disable my bed because the frame doesn’t fit through doors like that..is there a way to disable it?
Beautiful headboard! My husband wants to try the same thing. Can you tell me what the depth of your Malm headboard is? It looks like it’s about 1-2 inches?
Thanks so much for this wonderful tutorial. I love the mood board and step-by-step pictures – you’ve definitely inspired me! I will be using this post to refer to when I make my own Malm headboard this week 🙂
Rakhee, Thanks for dropping this nice comment. I love to hear when people get inspired by my projects..:-) Shoot me a photos once you tackled your Malm project! Xo
Hi! I was wondering –does that mean the rest of the body frame does not match the headboard? Or did you paint it also? Thanks! Love your post!
Jamie, the body frame is still black brown but all my duvets go over it so it’s not visible at all;) thanks for visiting! All my best!
This is amazing! I’m trying to convince hubby to do this with me. Love it!
Thanks for the inspiration. I had seen a slipcover that tied on the sides, but this is so much more sophisticated looking! On another note, I also have the black-brown Malm bed, and I’m wondering if anyone has found a way to keep it clean. Mine, literally, is dusty again before I even finish wiping down the whole frame! I’ve tried furniture polish, hoping it would repel the dust, but it isn’t much better. Any advice? I’m ready to drag it to the curb and hope someone takes it!
i just keep dusting it:-) Dark color furniture always gets the most dust…Glad you like the headboard…:-) Have a great week!
Love this! Planning on doing it myself, but how much fabric did you use for the headboard?
Hello there! The fabric I used was pretty wide and I think I bought 2.5 yards. Just measure your surface that you need to cover and be sure to buy a little more so you can fold it on each sides. Hope this helps! Send me pics once your project is done:-)
How did you secure the fabric at the bottom of the headboard? My husband and I have the Malm bed frame and I want to try doing the plywood extender and tuft a headboard! Just not sure how to finish the bottom of it? Thanks!
Hi – this is fantastic! We have the same bed and it looks like you’re my inspiration for my bed makeover. Thank you for posting this! Are the buttons still holding up?
Maya
Perfect;) glad you found some inspiration here!! Yes, the buttons totally holding up- unless my kids are picking them off with their little fingers-lol;). Shoot me a picture of your project , i love seeing other creations. Have a great day
Will do! Thanks for the response.
Thank you for posting this! I am stealing this idea!!! I love it so much! We’re just getting a king sized Malm because of the drawers you can add underneath… We have a small bedroom so in order to fit the king we have to have the drawers!! The Malm on its own is fine, but it’s pretty basic, so adding an upholstered headboard is exactly what I was thinking we should do. Now to see it done DIY and look so sharp is impressive! Great! Super!
Claire, you will love your “new” malm with the headboard!! Can’t wait to see yours done;)Have a sweet day!!xo
Hey, amazing job with the headboard. I have the malm high bed and would love to replicate what you’ve done. Which ikea shelving unit did you use? Also what size plywood do you recommend if I cannot get a hold of the shelving unit. Thanks!