You’ll Never Believe What This Stylish Velvet Headboard Was DIYed From

Margaret Wright is an interiors photographer based in Charleston, South Carolina, and a regular contributor to Apartment Therapy. So it’s no surprise that the home that she shares with her husband, Ben, is bright, stylish, and full of creative DIYs. The couple bought their 1956 ranch in 2017 and have truly made it their own, one room at a time, starting first with a primary bathroom renovation and completing a lot of smaller projects since the start of the pandemic.

In fact, over the past year, she’s built a fluted dowel coffee table, painted her fireplace tiles, created a DIY ping-pong dining table as a gift for Ben’s birthday, and even color blocked her hallway. The one project that I just couldn’t get over though? Her DIY guest room headboard, which is pictured above and is making the rounds on Instagram for its sheer ingenuity. Not only does the striking, sculptural piece look like something out of a fancy hotel, but it was also made for about $300 using — wait for it! — pool noodles. Yes, pool noodles from Amazon!

Inspired by Brady Tolbert’s tufted headboard tutorial, Wright put her own spin on this project with an on-trend arched silhouette that extends across the entire bed wall. Using four pool noodles and 1-inch pipe insulation for the tube trim, a queen memory foam mattress topper for the middle arch, and 2-inch insulation board for the entire frame, she mocked up the design for her semi-circle shape on her wall to figure out sizing (the noodles and pipe pieces were taped together for length).

The finished project involved lots of fabric and even more glue. Essentially, she had to wrap each of the noodles and pieces of pipe insulation with velvet, which she hot-glued in place down the seams. Then she used spray adhesive to attach the middle arch (cut from the foam topper) to the insulation board. She then covered the arch in velvet, again using spray adhesive. Then it was a matter of gluing the tubes around the arch onto the insulation board. As a final step, Wright brought in a box spring to serve as a platform for the bed, and she even covered that in her extra fabric scraps to lend the project that finished, high-end look.

Now, the only thing missing from the room is guests; the couple can wait to host in the newly completed space and show off that handiwork. When it comes to furnishing your home, Wright says it’s better to collect, mix old and new, and not to fall prey to everything that’s trendy now. “Trends come and go, but pieces that tell a story will last a lot longer and your space won’t look like anyone else’s,” she says. “It was important for me that my house was distinctly me.” She hit that right on the head, because her home is really one-of-a-kind, and I want that headboard.