Drop Cloth Headboard with Nailhead Trim

Oh, you have no idea how excited I am to share our new headboard with you! A couple of weeks ago, I asked y’all for your opinion on a tufted vs. nailhead headboard. The overwhelming choice was NAILHEAD! I was leaning that way too, so y’all just sealed the deal. I completed this project in one day a little over a week ago during E’s naptime and then after she went to bed. It really was so easy as long as you have the right tools.
Here’s a quick reminder of how the old headboard looked. It was a very pretty headboard, just too big and bulky for the room. I pulled out a really old pic of our room with the old drapes and old bedding so you could REALLY appreciate the transformation! What was I thinking with that bedding? Oh my!

After! Doesn’t it look so much lighter and brighter (and look great with my new Roman shades)? I am in love with it. I walk by the room and just stare. It has made such a huge difference in how the room feels. Read on for the tutorial, price breakdown, and LOTS more pics!

We found a piece of fiberboard at Home Depot for $10 and had them cut it to our specifications of 78”x45” for our king size bed. I knew I wanted the headboard notched out on the corners, so I made a template from a piece of standard printer paper and traced it on both sides of the board. The notch is 11 inches wide and 8.5 inches long. I just drew a curve from one corner of the paper to the other. 

Then I got to cutting with my new jigsaw! It is so easy to use and fun. Ben is scared I’m going to get too excited while using it and cut off a finger…

My fabric for this project was a drop cloth! I bought two of them a couple of months ago with plans to stencil them and use as curtains. That didn’t happen after I realized it would be the perfect neutral fabric for my headboard. And even better, they were only $10 each! To use a drop cloth as fabric, make sure you wash it with a good amount of fabric softener and then iron it really well. I purchased 5 yards of 1/2 inch thick batting from JoAnn’s to use as my padding. Foam is too expensive, and I figured two layers of batting would be plenty (and it was).

This project is so much easier if you have a nice long work surface. Luckily, our dining room table fit the bill. I laid my drop cloth (wrong side up) down first, then two layers of batting, and then my headboard.

My batting was barely wide enough to staple to the headboard, so I stapled each piece separately. This took a little more time, but I had to really stretch each piece to have enough material to staple down. After the batting was secure, I went back and stapled the drop cloth down. LOTS of stapling! 

Here it is all ready for some nailhead trim!

I ordered my trim from Beacon Fabric, and it was $20 for a 10 yard roll. This stuff is so easy to work with! I am so glad I did not get individual nailheads. I would have pulled my hair out! Do be careful though when stretching out the trim. I think I got a cut on each one of my fingertips on my left hand. Ouch!

I started at the bottom left of the headboard and worked my way around. You pound in a nailhead with a rubber mallet every 5th head. There’s a small hole so you know exactly where to put the nailhead.

The corners were a little tricky, but the trim cuts easily with some heavy duty scissors.

I figured out a little late in the game that it was easier to get a straight line with the trim if I went ahead and stretched it all the way across and nailed the end down. I then went back and filled in the rest of the holes. Live and learn, my friends. It’s also easy to go back and pop out any unruly nailheads. You can see a couple in the pic below. The nail stem bent a little when hammered in, so I popped them out and replaced them with a new one.

To hang the headboard, I used a French cleat. When I asked the guys at Home Depot which aisle they were on, they said “a French what?”! Ben said the only cleats he knew about were the ones on the bottom of his football shoes! I used a cleat because I was not about to hang this bad boy with D-rings. No way was I going to try and line those up straight. A cleat makes things so much easier because you can slide the headboard to the left and right until it’s in the right spot. This one even came with a little level on it, so we knew it was straight. It was $15 and well worth it! They come in different sizes, so you can use them to hang all kinds of things. I went with the 200# cleat because I didn’t want to take any chances of the headboard coming off the wall. It may not look it, but it is heavy!

Here’s the part of the cleat that went on the top of the headboard.

And here is Ben screwing the other part into the wall. It had these fancy screws with teeth around them, so you’re not supposed to use a drill. Luckily one of the screws went into a stud, so the headboard is not going anywhere!

Here’s how the back of the headboard turned out looking.

And here it is hung on the wall! So pretty! The drop cloth did have a seam down the middle of it, but I knew it would be hidden by the bed and pillows, so I was not worried about it.

Here it is all dressed up and ready for it’s debut!



Again, I’m in love! Doesn’t it look good with the shade fabric? I didn’t even plan that! I literally made the entire headboard, and the first time I saw the fabric in the room was when we hung it! I’m the kind of person who doesn’t even take paint swatches home to make sure they look good. I pick out my paint right on the spot, fabric too. It’s a blessing and a curse. I go with my gut, and it most always works out.




One more time…Before and After pic

And here was my little helper while I took pictures. She saw the headboard first thing when she woke up and said “ooooohhh, new pillow!”! So cute!

Here’s the cost break down:
Drop Cloth $10
Headboard $10
Batting $20
Nailheads $20
French Cleat $15
Grand Total $75


Not too shabby when stores are charging over $1000 for one of these!


Next up, I think I want to paint our bedside tables with chalk paint. I’m thinking ASCP Old White? What do you think?









Linking up to these fabulous parties!
Tatertots & Jello, Between Naps on the Porch, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Serenity Now, Mommy By Day Crafter By Night, The 36th Avenue, The DIY Showoff, Today’s Creative Blog, At the Picket Fence, Home Stories A to Z, Gingerbread, Remodelaholic, Thrifty Décor Chick, The CSI Project, Beneath my Heart, Crafty Scrappy Happy, Perfectly Imperfect