Upholstered Bed: Reveal & How To

UPDATE: Having lived with the bed for over a year, there are a couple of minor things I would have done differently - read more about that here if you are planning your own DIY.

The big boy bed is finally done!

This post has been a long time coming for a few reasons, one of which was because it was so hard to get even semi-decent photos. Thanks to the joys of loft living, there is very little natural light in the room, so please bear with me on that! Anyhoo, I love it and Little Man really loves it; there was a good deal of squealing with delight about "The Big Big Boy Bed!" - versus the Big Boy (toddler) Bed he's in now - and a decent measure of bouncing too (we'll have to work on that).

On the off-chance that you might want to create one of these beauties for yourself, here's how it went down...

You Will Need:
Fjellse full/double bed frame - Ikea
Sultan Lade slatted bed base - Ikea
55 7/8" x 31" sheet of pre-cut plywood (UPDATE: use the good stuff - cheap plywood can contain formaldehyde)
6' of 1" square pine beams
1/2" foam batting - Joann Fabric & Craft
Fabric
Staple gun & staples
Wood screws
Screw driver

The Process:
Here's what I started with - the Fjellse bed frame from Ikea - at $50, it's cheap as chips; it's also solid pine, sturdy enough, and not the most beautiful beast to look at. I also went with the cheapest option for base slats, which set me back a whopping $30.

I readily admit that I did not really do this in the right order, but it worked. I started by cutting some 1/2" foam batting and stapling it around one side. I didn't go crazy with the staples, because I knew there would be plenty more to hold it in place when I attached the fabric later on.

Then I got a bit carried away wanting to see what it would look like finished, so I stapled some wool felt over the top. I stopped stapling about 6" before reaching either end (the Little Man was helping me, which is why Lighting McQueen and the yellow truck are hanging out below).

The blue wool felt was a Black Friday find at Joann Fabrics, and cost me all of $5 for the entire yardage I needed to upholster the bed. It picks up the blue in the rug, and I couldn't find anything else that blew me away that was less than $35 a yard (I needed five yards, and $175+ for fabric was more than I wanted to spend). So the felt came home with me, despite my reservations.

I wanted a nice tall headboard, so I asked the Mr to fetch me a big sheet of plywood (and he did, which was very nice of him). It measured the same width as the bed frame and about 10.5" taller (making it 55 7/8" by 31") - ask at the hardware store and they'll cut it for you.

I drilled pilot holes and used wood screws to attach it to the headboard...

Then I added support beams to the back, built from 1" x 1" pine. I had these cut for me at Home Depot too, but they didn't do a very accurate job so I had to shorten a couple of them with a hacksaw. I was feeling pretty awesome at this point with all the sawing and screwing - I mean, seriously, I built something out of wood all by myself. And I'm a (seven months pregnant) girl! How cool is that?

I used a bit of wood glue to attach my vertical beams to the top of the Ikea headboard, then secured the frame to the plywood with more screws. Here's where all the screws went:

I also bought plates to secure the wood beams to the headboard better, but it's strong enough as-is so I didn't use them.

Next came the padding for the headboard. I'd found a single/twin size memory foam mattress topper on sale at Target for $5 - way cheaper than foam batting. (When I originally envisioned this project, it was as a twin/single head board - had I known I would be upholstering an entire double bed, I'd have bought a couple before they sold out). I added more staples and trimmed the edges...

If you're curious, this is how I dealt with the corners (it's easier to just show you pictures than explain, I think):

Next I stapled the felt over the headboard. El Woofter assumed an observatory role for most of this project, by the way...

...and, as I mentioned, I had plenty of "help" from this guy too...

Anyway, after adding foam to the foot of the bed, I was pretty sure that I hated the felt, but I carried on anyway.

Not having thought about it beforehand, I realized that if I left the legs as they were, there would be a lump on both bottom corners, so I whipped out the hacksaw and made them flush with the sides. Obviously, this would have been easier to do before I put the foam on. This would also have been a good time to paint the legs.

Again, if you're interested, this is how the bottom corners went down:

Having basically completed the entire bed, I decided that I was very definitely not feeling the wool felt. It looked almost as cheap as it actually was, and it didn't seem worthwhile to skimp out on something that would have such a big impact on the finished look of the bed. So I trundled back to Joann's (I do a lot of trundling these days) to see if there was anything I'd missed the first time around. There wasn't, but I was still drawn to the $35/yard Dwell Studio fabric I'd seen last time.

{Dwell Studio Square Lattice Hydrangea at Fabric.com}

It then dawned on me that I should probably check to see if it was cheaper online, and it was - $16/yard at Fabric.com. I'd never ordered fabric online before, and I got a little bit carried away and ordered a whole load of samples as well for no particular reason other than that I thought they were pretty.

This is where the project stalled, because I had to wait for the fabric to arrive (while checking the UPS website every hour to see when it would get here). When it arrived (which actually only took about four days), I draped it over the headboard to make sure I loved it. It was pretty and the colours were perfect with the rug...

...but it just wasn't quite right. I thought there might end up being too much blue in the room and, on an area that big, it sort of made my eyes hurt.

Fortunately, though, one of the samples was more promising:

{Waverly Cross Section Charcoal at Fabric.com}

I totally wouldn't have picked this had I not put the sample up at home, because I was set on a brighter colour to draw from the rug. But the rug has a neutral stone as one of its stripes, and the charcoal works great with the concrete ceiling and pillar. And so began another few days of waiting. (Incidentally, I completely recommend Fabric.com - shipping is free on orders over $35 and returns, thankfully, are really easy and free.)

This time, when the fabric arrived, I was sold. So I had another frenzy of stapling, until it was almost finished...

{Yes, El Woofter has adopted this as his
new hide out, fluffy menace that he is.}

The pretty green dot bedding I had before competed with the bed frame, so I DIYed a simple alternative. I'll share more on that soon.

I still had to paint the legs, but I'm avoiding VOCs at the moment (for Miss Wigglepants' sake), so I had to wait another week for the Mister to do it. He taped the fabric and used a coat of primer and then another of high gloss white paint.

The final step was adding a few decorative nails to the legs (left over from my coffee table re-do). I'm still debating adding more to the headboard, but I'll worry about that later.

Want to know the total cost of this whole project?

Bed frame - $50
Slatted bed base - $30
Plywood - $15
6' of 1" square pine beams (for headboard) - $13
Memory foam mattress topper (for the headboard) - $5 (on sale)
Foam batting - $30
Waste of money wool felt -$5 (on sale)
Fabric - $70
Tools and hardware - already owned
Total cost: $218


Which, for an entirely upholstered bed, is really good. Even just a upholstered headboard at Ikea will set you back $250, and then you have to add box springs, a bed frame and a bed skirt on to that. Head over to Crate and Barrel and this one will set you back $1400:

{Tate Bed at Crate & Barrel}

And it's definitely not alone. So yes, I am completely happy with my hack job, and the Little Man likes it too.

Here's a little peek at where the rest of the room is at now - it's slowly coming together:

And one more final before and after:

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Favorite Furniture of 2011 @ Miss Mustard Seed

Doin' It Yourself @ AKA Design

Better After

Ikea Hackers