Nailhead Trimmed and Tufted Headboard

I'm working on E.'s new room and the first thing that popped into my head was a gray upholstered headboard.  I wanted a linen type fabric and I wanted it tufted.  On top of that, I wanted a nail head trim.  A lot of I wants, right?  I started with this headboard and I ended up with what you see.  I love how it turned out.

 

This is how I made it.  I stripped the fabric off the old headboard so that I could reuse the wood.  I recalculated the tufting spaces and drilled holes where I wanted the buttons to be.  I wanted rows of alternating 6 and 7 buttons with a total of 4 rows.  It was time to do some math because I wanted the spacing perfect.

 

Once that was done, I cut a piece of 2x2 to trim the headboard which is 62w x 60h.  

The distance of the legs from floor to the bottom of the headboard should be the height of the top of your bed or smaller so there will be no gap.

I stripped a piece of scrap wood to place behind each leg so that it will be completely flush with the back of the head board.

 

Next, I added 2 inch foam in the center of the headboard and then added a couple of layers of batting on top of that.

 

Next came the tufting tools that I used.

 

I bought 2 packages of these button covers.

 

I also bought waxed button thread.  At $4.99, I'm not sure this would be worth it.  The wax did keep the thread from moving back through, but it was a bit pricey.  Fortunately, I only had to pay $2.70 with my coupon :)

 

What I do find completely worth it was this double pointed needle.  I had lost my tufting needle so I needed a replacement and I decided to try this one.  I used my 50% off coupon to bring the price down to $4.99.  However, with all the time it saved me, I would have gladly paid 3 times the price and that is saying a lot.

 

Covering the buttons was a cinch.  Cut the fabric to the size of the template.  Place it in the white well and then place the front of the button on top. 

 

Use the blue plastic push to insert the front of the button down into the fabric.  Tuck all the lose ends of the fabric into the well.

 

Next add the back of the button and push into place again.

  

Pop the button out of the well.

 

Repeat until you have all your buttons.

 

I normally would have the headboard standing up and have a helper, but I didn't have anyone so I had to be a little creative.  I propped the head board on the edge of the bed and lifted the other ends with some ottomans.  I would crawl under to thread the needle through the holes.

 

Insert the double sided needle through the hole with the thread.  Un-thread the needle and insert thread through the button.  Re-thread the needle and pull through.  Here is where the double sided needle comes in handy.  If you do not have one of those, you will have to pull the needed out completely and then poke it back through.  You think that is easy, but it takes a lot of time and patience to find the tiny hole you created in the head board.  Therefore, this double-sided needle saved me hours of trying to find the tufting holes.

 

I could not do anymore by myself so I had to beg for some help (well I bribed one with a hershey kiss).  I got my sons to push the button down as far as possible while I laid underneath the head board and pulled the thread tight.  This was the only way to get it super tight.

     

Underneath the bed, I stapled the thread in place.  I normally use a washer or a button, but I didn't have any and didn't want to go out and get some.  I will have to say using a washer is SO much easier than stapling especially when you are working on your own.

 

26 buttons later and I'm finally done!

Now it is time to staple the edges down.  I started in the center and worked my way to the edge until I was done.

 

For the legs?  I cut a separate piece of fabric for the bottom.  I folded the top and bottom edges and then stapled from behind.

 

The front looks like this.

 

The verdict?  I love it!

 

I had to wait a week to get my nail head trim I ordered.  I didn't like the nail head trim in the store because the heads did not match the trim so when you hammered the nail heads into the trim, it looked too different for my liking.  I found some nail heads online that I loved, but everyone was selling it for too much.  Add shipping costs and it was causing me to rethink my plans.  I emailed the company that made the nail head trim I wanted directly and they said they would sell it to me!!!  I was so ecstatic.  I had to still pay an arm and a leg for the shipping, but I got three times the amount of product for less than any other online retailer. Score for me!

I was so giddy when it arrived. It was super easy.  I laid the trim where I wanted it.

 

Then I used the nail heads and hammered into place.  I didn't want to pay for a nylon tip hammer so I just placed a sock over my regular hammer to protect the nail heads.  It worked perfectly!

Finally, I got my new headboard for E who absolutely loves it!

 

Can I say I love it too?  I'm a bit jealous myself.  I may have to make me one :)

It's my first experience with nail heads and I couldn't be happier with the experience and the result.

Perfect bed for the perfect kid.

Here's the breakdown of my costs

Fabric $2.25 (can't beat $1.50 a yard now can you?)
Button Cover Kits $9.99
Double Sided Needle $4.99
Waxed Thread $2.70
Nail head Trim $43 (my splurge - $25 for the nail heads, $18 for shipping)

Total cost for this project was $62.93.  That's a little pricey I know, but the bulk costs came from the nail heads which were technically bought for another project as well so to me it was worth it.  If I split the costs of the nail head trim between the two projects, this one totals $41.43.  I'm okay with that because I love love the bed head board.  Speaking of which, I have a new head board so now I need a new bed, right?  That's for another post!

Curtains out of a duvet

  

I'm redoing all the rooms upstairs.  Yes, every single one of them.  The rooms are slowly coming along and I am trying to re-purpose as much as possible.  When I asked E. the colors he wanted in his room, he told me blue.  Lately, I have been into stripes.  I think half the number of dresses I have in my closet are striped so you can probably bet that every room upstairs will have some sort of stripe in them.  So when I saw this duvet, I bought it because I loved it.

The duvet sat in the closet for a month.  E. and I went fabric shopping for curtains and I fell in love with once again, the navy and white striped fabric.  At $8.99 a yard, I would have spent approximately $17.98 for 4 yards (using my 50% off coupon).  Then I would have spent another $11.96 buying the cheapest muslin fabric to line the back for a total of $29.94.  That to me is actually not a bad price.

However, I realized I had a duvet in the closet with the same color and I definitely didn't want the room to be matchy matchy so I went home and decided to use the actual duvet as fabric for the curtains.

 

I don't have pictures of the process as it was midnight when I started and it was all done on a whim.  However, it was the EASIEST pair of curtains I had ever made.  First, I laid the fabric out on the floor and cut right down the center.

 

I turned right sides of the fabric together and sewed straight down (where I had made the cut).  I flipped the fabric back with right sides facing out and button the duvet together which were hidden so it was basically hemmed for me!

 

The last step, I sewed one straight line at the top so that I could place a rod in it to hang.  If you have curtain clips you can omit this step all together.

I couldn't believe that it took me 15 minutes to have a pair of lined and hemmed curtains.  The final price was only $13.48 as the queen sized duvet was on clearance!  Plus, I had 2 pillow shams as well!  You can't beat that now can you?  What's even better is that I love love love the curtains and so does E.

A desk for 3

 

I have been so busy with life and other projects that I haven't had time to share any of them.  A few months ago, I decided that it was time I build a desk for my 3 boys.  They have overtaken my husband's office to which he has been kicked out on numerous occasions when they invite their friends over.  Therefore, I kicked it into high gear during spring break.  My goal was to build a desk in 7 days or less.

Day 1:   Clearing out the space.  

This is our game room.  No one ever goes in there anymore.  When we have little kids come to our house, the market and kitchen gets some use, but my boys have given me the a-okay to get rid of it all.

So, I did.  The majority was given away and a few larger items were placed on craigslist.

 

 Drawing up Plans

If you knew me, you'd know that I am a carpenter's daughter so everything is drawn out to scale with dimensions.  I was so excited because I thought this project would be super easy.  I would go into the store, buy some prefab cabinets, add a top and voila, be done.  Was that the case?  It never is.

Most pre-made cabinets are for the kitchen with the height of 36 inches.  At most a desk should be no more than 30 inches.  Therefore, pre-made cabinets were not an option for me.  Believe me, I went back to the store to double check to see if I could saw off the base and call it a day.  That was a no-go so day 1 ended in sadness.

Day 2:  Shopping.

My goal was to find 4 cabinets of the same height.  After measuring all the desks in my house, the over all average height was 28 - 29 inches.  Therefore, if I have a 2 inch top, I would need cabinets that were 26 -27 inches.

Store 1: Salvation Army - SCORE! - sort of.  I found 1 cabinet that was 26.5 inches.  Did I buy it?  No.  I needed at least 2.

We left empty handed.  I made a list of all the thrift stores in the area for tomorrow's adventure.

Day 2:  More shopping.

We went around town and had no luck until the very last pit stop.  Habitat Restore had the same cabinet as the Salvation Army.  I couldn't believe it.  I decided I would buy it and then head on over to the Salvation Army, keeping my fingers crossed that it was still there.

The verdict???

It was!

Habitat Restore actually had 2 of them, but they wouldn't sell me the second one.  I was a bit bummed at that, but I had 2 so I was still doing a little happy dance.  That meant, I had to build 2 from scratch.

That night, I primed the cabinets ready for painting.

Day 3:  Paint!

I decided to paint the hardware on the cabinets so I removed them, sanded it down a bit and sprayed it with an oil rubbed bronze spray paint. 

After a couple of coats of paint, my cabinets became this:

 

 I LOVE LOVE LOVED how they turned out.  I ended up adding a piece of molding to the bottom so that it would match my base molding to the house.

Wood Shopping

I decided to use 2x10 inches of wood for my top.  I knew that I would not be able to carry up a single big piece of wood that would have to be 12 inches in length so I decided to leave it in three pieces and install it once it was in the room.

Staining!

At the end of Day 3, I had 1 coat of stain on my top.  I was too tired to do anything else.

Day 4: Building.

I was not looking forward to this.  Don't get me wrong, I love building, but I was in the mindset that this would be an easy project....which it turns out that it wasn't all that easy.  I had to go back to the store to get pieces that I can use to replicate the other two cabinets.  After all, I wanted them to look similar.  However, at the same time, my cabinets would need to store computer CPU's or laptops so they will have shelves.  Here's the shell of the cabinet.  After this, I added a bottom and shelves.  I primed and painted.  Most of which was done late at night so I could spend time with my kiddos during the day.  Therefore, I was just too exhausted  to take nice pretty pics.

Day 5: More Building and Painting.

I don't have any pics for this day.  I spent the day finishing my cabinets and painting.  I added a coat of polyurethane to the desk top, sanded it down and repeated the process three times.  I wanted it to withstand heavy duty wear and tear from my kiddos.

Day 6: Bringing it into the room.

My cabinets were not entirely done, but I decided to drag them into the room to see if I needed to make any final adjustments.  I tested the height out and it was PERFECT!  A few finishing touches and I would be done.  This is when I decided I wanted to add a piece of molding to the base and I wanted drawers on my cabinets.

 

Day 7: Building drawers and final final touch-ups.

Okay, I did not make my dead line because I "had" to have drawers.  The problem?  I had no earthly idea how to make drawers.  I googled, I called my dad and finally, I decided to wing it.  They turned out pretty good if I say so myself.  Especially since it was my first drawer to make ever.  

Day 8:  COMPLETION.

I was beyond ecstatic to bring the desk into the space.  I found matching hardware for my drawers, I had matching molding for the base and I even mirrored the top trim to match the existing bought cabinets.  I was a happy camper.

 

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE how they turned out.  I must pat myself on the back for making my desk in record time (I usually take forever).  I didn't make my 7 day goal, but that one extra day wasn't too bad.

What's next?  Three monitors, 3 computers, 3 chairs...and a whole lot of other furniture.  That room is slowly coming together.  I have another project going on in there, so this isn't the latest to the room, but you will just have to wait and see.

Final Run-Down:
1 cabinet from Salvation Army - $25
1 cabinet from Habitat Restore - $35
3 pieces of 2x10's - $36.81
Hardware for cabinet - $5.60
1 quart of primer - $5.97
2 sets of drawer slides - $11.94
                   
Total of - $120.33

I built my cabinets using scrap wood and scrap molding pieces.  The paint was left over from another project.  In the end, the bought cabinet prices were a little steep in my book, but it was worth the splurge.  I'd have to say, $120 is a little more than I wanted to spend, but I am oober happy with the way it turned out.  What do you think?