Too Thrifty Chicks

I cannot tell you the last time I had a headboard for my bed. Actually I can…it was before I went to college! It’s not because I didn’t want a headboard. They can be quite useful. I just never saw any that I liked when I shopped for them. Last year I had the idea of making one, but never got around to it. This year I decided I’d stop procrastinating.

I went to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Alexandria looking for old shutters. My original plan was to piece together different types of shutters to make a headboard, but when I got to the store and saw these, I knew my life would be so much easier because the set was already wide enough to fit my bed and tall enough to take up some wall space.

Shutters before they were cleaned and hung

I bought two sets for $10. I cleaned them up (boy were they dusty!) and then hung them on the wall using these Interlocking Flush Mounts for $1.29 each (I needed two sets) from Amazon. After cleaning the shutters and about 30 minutes of measuring and marking, this is what I ended up with:

Like me, Ricks also had neglected hanging a proper headboard. Her room posed an additional challenge because her bed is anchored on a wall with a window right in the middle of it. Ricks’ vision was to use a screen that could double as a headboard and a filter for the light coming into her room. Guess what we found hidden in our basement? A screen! The previous tenants left it behind. You know what they say…another person’s junk is another person’s treasure. Ricks hit the jackpot!

She cut out some of the rectangles using an exacto knife and replaced them with sheets of fabric to give it the look she wanted.

old fabric replaced with new.

Hanging her headboard was tricky because she had to work around the window frame. To solve the issue, she purchased a pre-cut strip of wood from Home Depot that was roughly the width of her window frame, sawed it in half, and mounted the headboard to the pieces of wood. She used the same flush mounts I did before adhering it to the wall.

The final result gives her exactly the look she wanted to achieve while allowing light to come in through the room’s only window.

Using low cost and free materials, both of us now have headboards that cost less than 15 bucks. If you’re interested in making a headboard and need inspiration, spend some time googling DIY headboards. You’ll find amazing options.

Until Next Time,

R&R