Bed Headboard - Didn't Want To Hijack Thread Below

Fox???? Aaaarggghh!!! FOAM!!!

Howard In Toronto

>

Lots of possibilities

Ellis Walentine

>Upholstering furniture is not terribly difficult, but it involves different tools, materials and skill sets than woodworking does, and some of the methods are not exactly intuitive. On a headboard, foam alone might be the appropriate cushioning, but many upholsterers would cover that with a thin blanket of cotton batting to provide a little more padding and softness and to provide a friction-free transition between foam and fabric.

Foam itself comes in a wide range of "durometers," (stiffness, density) that you need to consider for any given application. It might not matter much on a headboard, but it is critical on a chair or sofa.

Stapling the fabric onto the frame or form shouldn't be too difficult unless you're trying to stretch the fabric around a particularly difficult curve or something. One factor to consider though, is that when you pull the fabric tight at the edges, it squashes your padding and gives a crown to the center sections of the cushion. If you don't want this effect, you need to either put a stiff edging -- often a curved plastic molding of sorts --around the padding. Sometimes, buttons are applied in some kind of pattern across the crowned areas to pull those points in and produce a dimpled effect.

Although I have upholstered quite a few things and worked for several years as a manager at a contract furniture company with a large upholstery department, I prefer to sub out upholstery work to a local upholstery contractor rather than do it myself. Those guys have all the connections and techniques to handle anything.

The design of the headboard is another matter entirely. Color, style and aesthetics are totally up to you. If you don't have a particular size or shape in mind, try browsing through catalogs or searching online for ideas and then run with one that appeals to you. Attaching a headboard to a wall is certainly an option, but you can also attach it to your bed by making posts that can be bolted to the steel mattress frame, if that's what you have. If you want to attach it to a wall, consider screwing a couple "Z" shaped strips to the wall and mating strips to the back of the headboard.

Ellis Walentine, host

Ellis - This Is Exactly What I Was Looking For

Howard In Toronto

>Hi Ellis -

Thank you for your help here.

You wrote, "Attaching a headboard to a wall is certainly an option, but you can also attach it to your bed by making posts that can be bolted to the steel mattress frame, if that's what you have. If you want to attach it to a wall, consider screwing a couple "Z" shaped strips to the wall and mating strips to the back of the headboard."

Does this mean -

- the upholstered part stops at the top of the mattress?

- does it continue to the floor as an upholstered item?

- or does it include wood legs run down to the floor?

I hadn't thought of bolting it to the bed frame.

And yes, Ellis, you're right....

One would think a city like Toronto would have showrooms with upholstered headboards.

But no, the "grooviness factor" runs high here and they're all custom orders - no-one's got samples.

Thank you.

Howard

If you attach it to the wall...

Ellis Walentine

>... the headboard only needs to extend down to or slightly below the mattress level, not to the floor. To attach it to a steel frame, make legs thaat go to the floor and put threaded inserts into the legs in line with the bolt holes in your mattress frame flanges.

Ellis

Re: Bed Headboard - Didn't Want To Hijack Thread B

George@Colonel's Workshop-Havertown PA

>Good Evening Howard,

I used to do more upholstery work than wood work. What Ellis has said is all true. Visit the Thomasville site. They have several examples of upholstered headboards. If I had my druthers, I'd attach it to the bed frame. The head board would be a conventional queen size and built to accept and retain an easily removable upholstered panel. That would permit easy cleaning and re-upholstery/re-covering when you redecorate. And that foam is simple to attach with modern spray adhesives and a few staples for insurance.

George