The Brilliant DIY Pool Noodle Decor Hack I Can’t Get Enough of (It Looks so Expensive!)
As someone who has no headboard (I know, I know, controversial), I firmly believe that the perfect finishing touch in my bedroom would be a statement-making olive green headboard. I’m forever wanting a luxe velvet headboard in my room, but unfortunately, I’m almost never wanting to pay custom upholstery prices.
But the DIY community’s latest obsession with pool noodles is giving me hope, because I’ve seen some pretty luxe-looking headboards made from flat wooden headboards, pool noodles, and fabric. In other words, the weather might be cooling off, but now’s the time to buy some noods — especially if you’re an intrepid DIYer.
Take a look at these three brilliant pool noodle headboard projects for inspiration.
$1.25 pool noodles create a custom college-ready headboard.
Pool noodles plus plywood plus hot glue plus the fabric of your choice can create a tufted headboard look for less, as shown by Apartment Therapy intern Angie Arias, who created a velvet headboard out of pool noodles from 5 Below for her college dorm. Angie recommends using spray adhesive to help the fabric stick to the foam noodles.
This arched headboard is made from over 40 noodles.
This project by Bridgette Whitney required taping and bending about 40 pool noodles to create this oversized rainbow-like design (that became monochromatic once she added her teal fabric). It cost $75 to make, which is impressive for its sheer size. Fun fact: Bridgette created a second pool noodle headboard, too, with yellow fabric and the noodles displayed horizontally.
This headboard combines a smooth velvet surface plus fluted noodles.
The last one by Margaret Wright is my favorite of the three, simply because it’s closest to the exact color that I want for my own headboard and because I love the smooth center with the fluting on the outside. She wrapped each individual pool noodle in green velvet, and she covered the center plywood arch in a foam tapper and wrapped it in the same color velvet. Read more about the project here.