How to Make A Headboard

Bohemian Headboard ... Medieval influenced

....from things you may have laying around the garage...

First you get that old door you have been saving 

that didn't fit any of your doorways and it is too nice to cut up.. so there must be another use for it..  and you were sure it would come in handy sometime... well now is the time.

...this is a 5 panel.. not sure of the age ... but it is old and it has an aged hand applied grain so it is special to me cause someone already spent a lot of time on  it before someone else threw it away.. 

It helps if it is the same size as your mattress.... or you can trim it on either end if need be.

Then you gather all your leftover thick gauge sheet steel...
we used 2 ga. which is about 1/3 " thick...

(what? ... oh... come now, everybody has sheet steel cluttering up the place, right?) that has  rusted and seen better days from lying behind the barn for years...

 gather up some big old heavy nuts and bolts... and grab your drill with the oversize drill bit .

..just leave any patterns formed by neglect on the surface of the metal.. 

it makes it more interesting and tells a story of the life it has had and where it has been.

.. you will also need to cut the steel into shapes you find appealing.. we like this gothic arch shape.. 

 and make sure they are spaced so the design  fits all the way across the door/headboard to be...

 we used an oxy-acetylene torch for cutting the steel... leaving a slightly uneven edge

 then a hand-grinder to smooth and buff up the edges for contrast... 

this steel had originally been black so the shine around the edges really emphasized the shape.

...maybe you also have some old angle iron (this is 3") to use for the the corner posts.. that is nice and sturdy ...  

and maybe some parts off an old haycutting machine... never know what is out behind the barn..

of course some folks may think this makes the headboard look more like a torture devise 

but we'll pretend they represent little decorative spindles...
  I really like the combination of these diverse gathered materials.

... put a coat or two of varnish on the steel so the rust doesn't come off on the bedcoverings or you...

clamp on a couple lights because now there is something to lean on to comfortably read your books

and Voila... 

you have a Headboard of some unusualness that will stand the test of time.. and you have cleaned up your garage and behind the barn at the same time...

...Sweet Dreams...

This is a link to a Carved Headboard that I made a long time ago.

The Carved Headboard

Once upon a time back in the late '80's I carved this headboard for my bed.... The 2" thick pine planks came from a tree that had grown not far from the house, across the brook up on the hill. They had dried for a year and were straight and true.... Now they would be made into a bed....

I was excited to begin.

The planks were glued together on their edges and clamped.... Shaped with a large 5' tall curved section in the center with two shallow curves on either side.... It was for a queen size bed.

When it was dry I drew a design of interwoven vines and flowers on the large center curved section. I used wood carving tools called gouges and an old hunting knife with a curve in the blade to cut out the design. I liked the hunting knife as it kept a keen edge....

It was very time consuming ... but not in a bad way.... rather meditative.... I did have to keep an eye out for the direction that the grain ran.... 'cause if I didn't, my gouges would splinter parts of the wood or they would skip across the plane of the lumber and cut where it shouldn't.... When I had it all carved, I smoothed it with sandpaper in grades that finally arrived at the finest.... I rubbed oil into the thirsty wood... it glistened.... I buffed it with a soft cotton cloth... it gleamed...

I was happy.

Then it was done....

It felt so good when I laid in my bed in a half awake state and rubbed my hands across it.... Soothing....
I knew I had done it with my own hands. It made me feel good to know that...

I thought I would sleep in that bed for the rest of my life.... but I never .... things don't always last as long as you hope.... so cherish every moment....

It and the house it stood in only existed for a short time... only the ashes remain.




* Note:  I only have this photograph because the negative  was  on a roll of my film that was at the Craft school  I was attending at the time...