Tuesday Tutorial: Custom Headboard

*sigh*  I have been pining for this $4,000+ Oly Ingrid headboard for months.  And my MIL offered her employee discount for this Berhardt Madison headboard.  It just wasn't the same, and if I am going to spend hundreds of dollars on any furniture, it better be what I want.  The I came across Grace Bonney's genius custom upholstered headboard at Design Sponge (DIY awesomeness!).  Since I wanted the nail head look instead of the padding, I followed Centsational Girl's instructions for her master bedroom redo.  Somehow I convinced Philip this would be perfect in our bedroom between the windows.  How did that happen?  Anyway, I'm super glad he wanted to start right away.  He cut out the frame from 1" plywood, following Grace's spec sheet. Then he stapled two layers of batting to the front, along with the linen fabric.  This is about the time I was reconsidering the project.  It just didn't look very finished.  Enter the nail head trim.

 

I started by watching Grace's video, then I got the tools ready.  The rubber mallet is the only really necessary item so the nail heads don't get damaged, but all of the others came in handy. 

After determining the length I needed for each section, I used the pliers to clip the nail head trim.  The metal file helped smooth out the uneven edges.

 

I used the pliers to hold each nail head in place as I nailed it into the board.

Once the pliers were stuck, I gave the nail head two to three more whacks.

The curves were clearly the trickiest, so I used my extra tools as weights when I was planning the placement of the trim.  Every four or five nail heads, I'd stand up and look at the headboard from the bottom to make sure everything looked even.

Now I'm ready for the legs.  All in all I am super pleased with the results.  It really needed the added trim to give it a much more custom (not homemade) look.

Sources:
Fabric:  medium weight linen (4 yards in Baby Blue--not sure why it's no longer listed)
Nail Head Trim: #3 French natural upholstery trim (comes in 10 yd. increments)
Batting:  full size batting (I do wish I had tripled the batting instead of only two layers)
Plywood:  Home Depot