A no-sew makeover

Southern Living, Apr 2002 by Hamilton, Julie

HOMES AND INTERIORS

Give your bedroom a fresh look for less than $500. All you need are inexpensive linens and a simple headboard kit.

Awaken the beauty of your bedroom with a plush upholstered headboard. Using a kit, you can quickly transform a basic metal bed frame, box spring, and mattress into a custom bed design. On a recent visit to a fabric store, we discovered an affordable kit that enables you to create your own upholstered headboard. All you have to do is add a set of low-cost bed linens. Upholstered headboards made in drapery workrooms have long been a classic means of bringing the softness of fabric to the bedroom, but with this kit, you can change the covering whenever you want a new look. The headboard is quite easy to take apart, reupholster, and then reassemble.

The well-made wooden components fit together precisely and are accompanied by complete illustrated instructions. You don't need carpentry or sewing skills to achieve excellent results. This project yields such a beautifully finished design that it looks much more difficult than it actually is. Our headboard took about three hours to complete. It is important, however, to become thoroughly familiar with the directions before you begin. The only tools required are a staple gun and staples, hammer, screwdriver, and scissors. Still, because of the headboard's size and weight, it's helpful to have someone assist you in moving it.

The headboards come in several different shapes and styles. The one we selected has two main parts: a contoured backboard and a padded insert panel that attaches with screws to the backboard. You can fasten the wooden legs to the bed frame, or you can simply lean the headboard against the wall.

We chose an inexpensive bedding set as a practical means of getting a great look; then we bought unlined draperies to upholster the headboard. You can also explore other options, such as decorative yardage purchased from a fabric store. The kit's instructions contain guidelines for estimating fabric requirements.

ON A ROLL

Use scraps for improvising no-sew accents, such as this neck-roll pillow. * Fold a 28-inch-wide bath towel in half lengthwise, and roll it up. Cut fabric to measure approximately 52 x 30 inches. Fold the long edges of fabric to the center, so that they touch; press folds in place. Press 2 inches of one remaining raw edge to underside. * Place towel at raw edge, and tightly roll towel in fabric. Tie off extra fabric at each side with ribbon.

MAKING THE BED

The king-size headboard shown here cost about $250, and, once ordered at the fabric store, it takes about two weeks to receive. (Twin, double, and queen-size headboards cost proportionately less.) The comforter, bed skirt, shams, pillowcases, and sheets were purchased as a set, on sale at a department store for $99. The pair of unlined draperies used for the headboard was sale priced also, at about $80, bringing the entire cost of this bed makeover to less than $500.