Materials Needed:
- 2 sheets of 1/4″ plywood
- 4 – 6ft 2x8s
- 1 – 1x3x6
- 8 – pool noodles or pipe insulation
- 96″ curtain panel or fabric of your choice
- Elmer’s glue spray adhesive
- Minwax Stain
- Paint and Plaster of Paris (optional)
- Polyurethane
- Staple Gun
- 2″ screws
- Stud finder
Step 1: Make your cuts
Cut your two sheets of plywood down to 5 ft long. I decided to curve the top edges of the front sheet of plywood so it would be more of an arch.
Next cut all four of the 2×8’s down to 5 feet as well.
Step 2: Secure your shelves & paint/stain
Paint both of the cut down sheets of plywood in a color of your choice. I decided to go dark so it would be more shadowed. I used very cheap plywood so in order to hide that a bit I added Plaster of Paris to the paint to make it go on thicker.
Next I sanded all of the 2×8’s down with 80, 150 and then 220 grit, wiped them down and did a quick white wash with watered down paint and then stained them with Minwax Special Walnut. Once these were dry I assembled these to the back piece of plywood.
You can space these however you like but I started by securing one at the very bottom and one even with the top. Going from the back I attached with 2″ screws going across. The last two boards I evenly spaced between approximately 16″ apart.
Step 3: Create tufted front
Take your pool noodles and cut them down to 28″ long, you can get 2 from each noodle. Next cut those length wise down the middle so that they become half circles.
Make a line across from the bottom 20″ up so that you make sure you stay in a straight line on the bottom when attaching the noodles. Use Elmers’s spray adhesive to glue them onto the plywood starting in the middle, working your way out to the sides. Let these dry for about 30 minutes or so.
Take your material and lay it across the noodles. Starting in the middle staple the first part between the noodles in the center. Then spray the glue across one noodle at a time, smoothing the material over each one at a time.
Once at the end, use your staple gun to pull the fabric around to the back of the plywood and secure. Cut the excess material off. I secured a stained the 1×3 and added that to the base of the pool noodles on the front to cover the staples there.
Step 4: Secure to wall
Before attaching the two pieces of plywood together, you want to attach the back piece with the 2×8’s secured to the wall first. Find the studs and secure the plywood into the studs at 4 different spots.
Next bring the front tufted piece of plywood in and secure it to the 2x8s at the bottom at each side. Then make a small slit in the fabric at the very top in the middle so that you can fit a screw in to secure the top into the top ledge. You cannot drive the screw in directly through the material because it will twist around the screw and pull the fabric from the noodles.
That’s it! Now you have a tufted headboard with hidden storage on the sides. Like always, if you are a more visual person you can head over to my Instagram where I saved everything I did for this build to a highlight called “Spring ORC ’23“. Be sure to check out all of the other participants in the One Room Challenge here!
