We've been in need of a headboard since we moved in over two years ago, but I had always wanted to build my own. My first attempt was a simple painted headboard, which was nice visually, but ineffective as a real headboard. I finally decided to buy one large piece of dark grey industrial wool felt and use that alone. I like the industrial chic, raw material feeling of felt and knew that the room needed a dark contrast against the light wall. Here's how I did it.
Outside of measuring and ordering the felt, this is a super easy how to and perhaps shouldn't even be considered a full one, BUT it's at least a half of one. The headboard is amazing and has totally transformed our room in terms of warmth, sound dampening, behind-the-head softness and aesthetics. I am currently working on ideas for covering it with fabric seasonally, so that it changes a bit (it's easy to tuck fabric behind the felt).
Note: I ordered the thickest size, one inch, which is the most expensive, and you could certainly do a thinner size and save a lot of money.
What You Need
Materials
- 1 Piece of F3 industrial felt cut to size. Since it comes in widths off of the roll of 60" and 72", I had them cut about 3' off of a 72" wide roll and there was no waste.
- I ordered from Sutherland Felt, and they've always been really nice there.
Tools
- Tape to hold it up
- Drill with screw bit
- Nice screws (you'll see these a little bit. I chose some shiny, stainless steel screws)
Instructions
1. Measure your headboard. Use any favorite headboards as a guide, and extend as far down to the floor as you can. I think it makes a difference.
2. Order your felt and wait.
3. Work hard to get your felt into your apartment once delivered (it's very heavy), unroll and tape into position.
4. Secure with screws evenly spaced and sent directly into the wall. I didn't drill holes and insert plugs, but I will now that I've already created holes and gone through the felt. It is sturdier with plugs.
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Images: Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan
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How much was your 1" thick piece?
It looks awesome.
how durable is raw felt? how much does 69" of felt normally run?
it looks fantastic!
Maxwell, you (and your whole family actually) are just so cute that I JUST CAN HARDLY STAND IT! :)(:
http://www.sutherlandfelt.com/index.htm
It looks like this place has a few options, and pricing looks really reasonable.
Such a great idea. I love it! Thanks!
where'd you get your bedspread??
i love felt, so i'm keen to do this, but i can't quite see/understand if you bolted the material directly to the wall or if you mounted it onto something.
silly me. i went to sutherland felt's web site and saw how thick it is. no base needed. AWESOME. because i suck at most home projects. this one is quite simple. thanks!
WOW!! and can I say WOW again? So simple and so effective and so clever. I would NEVER have thought of felt as a headboard....
The whole room is just scrummy (that is -- deliciously delightful).
Do you have a queen or king size bed?
I think listing costs on these projects should be mandatory. It does look great but if I no idea of the pricing it would be wrong to call Sutherland and waste their time and mine.
As gorgeous as it looks, I can't help imagining it being a major animal hair magnet. You must not have pets.
I couldn't find any shipping information on the site. Looks like it may be expensive judging by how heavy the bag looks on the video.
What an amazing transformation! Did it take much time to decide on what color felt you used? Or did you know all along grey was the way you wanted to go? I just recently bought a headboard off of ebay and this would be a great way to bring it up a notch. Thank you so much for this inspiring post!!
Love the look, but a word of caution. Felt "pills", so I'd keep an eye on the material if you lean against it or if pillows rub on it at all... (Maybe the industrial variety is less prone to that, but all felt I have ever touched had the problem...) One of those sweater de-piller tools might be called for now and then.
Meanwhile, it looks lovely and kudos for clever thinking!
A trim of silver upholstery tacks would look good on it as well. Nice work!
OMG this is so cool!!
I just looked at Sutherland Felt's web site - how thick is your felt? Because it looks pretty thick, but the 1" F3 they have on sale is $193 a yard. Please let us know.
1 to amy! How much!
I am always drawn to felt projects but I feel this one would look a lot more interesting with more nails or whatever is fastening it to the wall...or some other way of fastening it that wasn't at ALL visible so you just see the felt. It seems too temporary like this, almost as if this was the way to see what it might look like when it was complete. But I love the idea!
Good idea but a little boaring so with some imagination things can be added instead of regular nuts and bolts find really big nuts and bolts like the ones used on glass pannels to fasten them and place the board and will be more interesting . Also leather, or ceramic buttoms may be used . Another idea would be to take an mdf board and saw it so as to create a type of lace or some eastern motifs in it and then cover with felt or leather or material the outcome will be stunning.
i like your round glass top on the stool/bedside table - where did you get that?
I think this is a great idea for DYI but I needed a whole bed. I found a headboard with wood framing and fabric panels. The PANELS come out and you put whatever fabric you want over them and put them back in like a picture frame. VERY COOL. They make the HB in several colors (I got Dark Chocolate) and I got the whole platform with a matching drawer kit underneth. It was called the Chameleon by Night & Day.
Another great source for industrial felt is Aetna Felt and you can order felt for this project right online!
I can buy a bed for the amount paid for a 72 inch roll of F3.
To: Tom Shoan
How much would a 60” X 72” section cost with it cut down to 72” X 48”?
---------------------
$459.72
Thanks,
Tom Shoan
Sutherland Felt Company
Maxwell has lost his mind!! I can buy 2 ikea queen sized malm beds for that price. Apparently, he thinks we all run profitable websites like Apartment Therapy too.
Can we get some recommendations/projects with reasonable prices, for those of us who live in apartments and not running around in mansions with maids and butlers?
Love the felt idea and to personalize it even more use colorful felt like those we sell at www.onlinefabricstore.net
@keisha
If you click on the link above for Aetna Felt, they are offering a special price for the size used here, 36" x 72", of $241.21. While not cheap, Industrial Wool Felt is extremely durable and for those who love the 'warmth', and feel of thick wool felt, it is a decent price. Hope that helps!