DIY Coral Upholstered Headboard with Curved Arms

Today Im sharing how we built our coral custom headboard. If you missed the tutorial for Creating with the Stars, read on to see how we made it! 
The headboard was kinda a spur of the moment decision, I went from a wood headboard with nailhead (prior to deciding on the nailhead wall), to a black or white upholstered headboard, and then finally I decided that the room needed a punch of color. Using a coral drapery panels from Target was perfect because it was fairly heavyweight and readily available (perfect on short notice!) 
We made a plan and gathered our supplies.
1/2" plywood (1 sheet cut to width of bed frame, the 8 side was cut to 62.5", 4 side left as is)
2x8" (x2)
1x8 (x2) 
1x3 (x4)
coral curtain panels from Target
heat n bond
batting 
I drew a few diagrams for the basic construction and dimensions of the headboard. See below for some the specifics on the upholstery. Measurements are for a queen bed frame. Note: make sure to measure your bed frame first, in case yours is different! You want to make sure that the frame will fit inside of the arms. 
For the arms, we screwed a 1x8 and a 2x8 together, measured and drew the circle with a lid. We then followed the line with a jigsaw to cut it out (we did remove any screws that were in the choice first!). 
We were originally going to leave the arm square, but then decided that mimicking the edge of the nailhead design would tie in with the wall and give it a custom look. 
For the foam, we cut a 3" camping pad in half and attached to the plywood with spray adhesive.
Next we upholstered the back piece by wrapping in batting and then fabric. To make sure that the top was pulled evenly, we attached a thin strip of scrap wood and pulled tight. This made it much easier to get an even look! 
We cut the fabric to wrap around the entire arm, starting at the inner part of the arm, we put a few staples in (on the inside so it stays in place while you attach the arm), we cut little holes in the fabric at the pilot holes (where arms attach to the frame). We then installed the arms with heavy duty screws (we used cabinet anchors) and attached it to the 1x3 frame. 
Sorry for the late night, low light pictures (proof that we were working late into the night :) The top left image shows after the fabric was placed between the center section and the arm (fabric hanging loose) then the arm was secured to the center section with cabinet anchors. The top right image shows the fabric wrapped around the arm, then it was pulled tight and stapled. The excess on the top was cut about .5"-1" (making sure not to cut too close to the edges that would show) above the top of the arm, folded over, stapled and ironed. It doesnt have to be pretty on the top because that will be covered next. 
We cut a band of fabric the total height of the arm (accounting for the bends) plus a few inches and the width (2.5") of the front of arm plus enough fabric to fold under (at least .5" on each side, so at least 3.5" total). We folded the raw edges under and pressed with a hot iron so that the edges were crisp and attached the band to the arm with no sew adhesive (my preference is heat n bond) and a hot iron. Finally, the top and bottom ends were stapled to the back of the arm.
and thats it! 
I finished the bed off with a few DIY pillows. The euro pillow shams are made from a white table cloth and a mint polka dot scarf from World Market (March 2013). Since the scarf was translucent, I doubled it up with the white table cloth. The throw pillows are white shams from Ikea, I then painted a border using painters tape and BM Bali latex paint with fabric medium. The bolster pillow is a kitchen towel from World Market (March 2013) and the left over headboard fabric. 
Finally, heres where we got everything!
Headboard: Fabric Coral drapery panel from Target (x2), Batting, 3" camping foam from Home Depot only $20! Wood: 1/2" plywood (1 sheet cut to width of bed frame, ours was 8 side was cut to 62.5"), 2x8" (x2), 1x8 (x2) , 1x3 (x4) Home Depot
Bedding: diy Euro Sham - mint and polka dot scarf from World Market, accent pillows from Ikea border painted with BM Bali with fabric medium added, bolster pillow - dish towel from World Market (like this, but in coral), Duvet cover, West Elm Organic Chevron 
Want to see how we built the grasscloth + nailhead feature wall? Check out the tutorial here 

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