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DIY: French Linen {Like} Headboard

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DIY: French Linen {Like} Headboard

This is one of those projects that morphed from one idea into another. It happens. I was perusing my usual blogs for inspiration and came across this post from Lemonade Makin Mama. Sasha had made a French linen look alike table runner with paint and tape. What a great idea! It looked beautiful. I loved it and of course pinned it and then took extra caution and filed it in the back of my brain. Around the same time I had been thinking of making a fabric covered headboard for another guest room and I was looking for fabric. That is when the two ideas collided into a faux french linen covered headboard.

Enter Martha Stewart.

Supplies for making the Faux French Linen:

2 yards of 45″ wide unbleached osnaburg or linen
Martha Stewart Crafts Patterning Tape
Martha Stewart Crafts Stencil Tape
Martha Stewart Crafts Multi-Surface Satin Acrylic Paint – Indigo
Foam brush
Pencil
Ruler
Newspaper for keeping the working surface clean while painting.

Before you begin wash and dry the osnaburg fabric to remove any sizing. Osnaburg is a linen like cloth. It is woven and has some nubs, but is less expensive than linen. I found it at Joanne Fabrics for $4.99/yard.

1. Find the center of the fabric (the one yard line) and make a light pencil mark.

2. Line up the stencil tape (3/4″ wide) with the line you just made.

3. Line up the 1/4″ patterning tape next to the stencil tape.  Then line up another piece of 1/4″ patterning tape on the other side of the stencil tape.

4. On each side of the middle piece of stencil tape you will want to have 2 – 1/4″ strips of tape and then 3/4″ strips on each end.

5. Pull off the center piece of tape and the two of the 1/4″ strips as in photo.

6. You should have something that looks like this. I repeated this three times evenly spaced across the fabric.
Press down all the tape. You can use a brayer for this, but I used my fingers.

7. I lightly loaded the foam brush with the paint and painted in the direction of the tape to keep any paint from bleeding under the taped off area. I also placed newspaper under the fabric in case any paint bled through to the back side. Okay that is the last time I’ll talk about bleeding.

8. Remove the tape. You should have something that looks like this. I was so impressed at how nicely the tape worked. All the lines were clean and neat. I let the painted fabric dry over night. The next morning, I washed the fabric in a cold water wash (with my fingers crossed) and then dried it.

9. This is how it looked after. The paint faded in places. I had a perfectly aged French linen for about $20.

Supplies for a queen size headboard:

Plywood sheathing – 1/2″ thick and 4′ x 8′
3/4″ x 1-1/2″ pine boards for reinforcing

My husband worked on this part, so he has kindly given me the instructions below.

1. Layout 40″ x 62″ cut lines. You can have the plywood cut at Home Depot or Lowes.

2. Cut to size.

3. Use a suitable template to layout the radii on both top corners and cut.

4. Sand edges.

5. Wall cleat is cut at a 30 degree angle.  Glue and screw cleats to the headboard leaving a 3″ border.

Here is the back view of what you end up with.

The next step is upholstering the headboard.

Supplies for upholstering:

2 yards of French Linen
Queen size High Loft Batting
Staple Gun and Staples

High loft batting is twice as thick as regular quilt batting so it is perfect for this project.  I doubled up the batting and layed it down on the floor (you’ll need a large work space for this part).  Next, I layed the headboard face down onto the batting.  I stretched the batting around the frame and stapled it to the back edges.
Next, I draped the French linen fabric onto the frame trying to keep it centered and straight.  You’ll want to take your time here.  When I felt sure the fabric was centered and the stripes were straight I anchored it down in a few spots to and began stretching and stapling and smoothing the fabric being careful around the curves.
Once everything was stapled down, I trimmed off the excess fabric.
Now it is ready to attach to the wall.
After you decide how high you want your headboard, attach the other half of the cleat to the wall accordingly making sure it is level.
The headboard rests on the cleat.
Whew!  I hope that was easy enough to follow.  Please feel free to contact me with any questions.
The cost for this project was right around $50.00.
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Comments

  1. Hey I know that room! It looks so bright and lovely in there now, and that headboard looks amazing. You did a great job with it.

  2. I did a very similar project for our dining room table runner, but would never have thought to make a fabric headboard. I love it!!! I need to make the decision of whether to buy a bigger bed for the master bedroom. If so, I’d have to lose our antique brass bed, but I wouldn’t mind making a headboard like yours to replace it. Genius! Pinned. :@

  4. Great JOB!!! I was just at Micheal’s and bought some of the Martha Stewart tape to make some French look-a-like fabric. I need to get on it, because your project is awesome!
    ~Angela

  7. That is seriously fantastic!!! You did an amazing job and that tape is so neat. I love that you washed it and got that perfectly French-y look. Thanks so much for sharing this with us at Inspiration Friday!
    Vanessa

  8. I really love that you did your own fabric design! Your headboard turned out lovely… I also love the natural simple colours you have chosen to style this room. Rachael x

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