If the Door is a knockin’ ~ A DIY Headboard

Bill's DC Apartment — At least there was a semi-green theme going on?

If there was one thing lacking in Bill’s collection of functional furniture, it was a sense of cohesion. Just take a look at his apartment when I met him in DC – at least his bed was on a frame off the floor.

We’ve solved the nightstand dilemma with a fancy Ikea Hack, but the bed still needed a headboard to anchor it. Then one day while browsing Pinterest I found two pins with some fantastic details on how to turn doors (the first, an antique paneled door, the second actually uses several cabinet doors put together) into classy looking paneled headboards. Pretty but not too girly like some of the tufted/fabric covered ones I’ve seen. PERFECT!

We decided to try a hybrid approach. To simplify things, we thought that Wendy and Alex at Old Town House had the right idea, so we picked up a single antique door from our local ReStore. To make the headboard look like Bill’s dresser more, we decided to take inspiration from Justin and Cassity at Remodelaholic and create a post look, and utilize their awesome hanger method as the wide baseboard heaters in Bill’s apartment didn’t allow for a standing version.

Sketched plans for headboard — really rough plans we came up with

So we got to work stripping the door of the years of paint it had, in addition to sanding and prepping it. We used old 2x4s from both Bill’s stash as well as my Dad’s to create the faux posts, and filled in the gaps as best we could using wood puddy.

We thought the bulk of the work would be held prepping and adding the posts, so once that was all done we were pretty enthusiastic.

Bill showing off the mid-stage headboard

Little did we know how complicated wrapping our minds around the process of cutting crown molding would be! We were working with a compound miter saw that was a bit limiting, so it took a few extra trips to Lowes for more molding once we got the hang of it.

(I’d show you a picture of that step, but the frustration level was at an alarming high considering power tools were in play, so I was playing defense instead of photographer.)

To be able to hang the headboard, which was now a hefty solid hunk of wood, we had my Dad cut a 45 degree angle cut lengthwise through a 5 foot 2×4. (We didn’t have a saw capable of doing so accurately or without risking fingers.) Then we secured one half to the wall and the other to the back of the headboard so they would fit together as a strong hanger. (Thanks Remodelaholic for their fantastic plans and details on this part! Check them out if you’re thinking of attempting a similar pr)

Side View of the headboard hanger – the piece connected to the headboard is painted white, while the one connected to the wall we left raw. They sit down into each-other and are through 4 studs, so this puppy’s not going anywhere.

As for the finishing touches, we decided to stick with the two-toned look we did on the RASTafari project and stain the top ‘cap’ pieces and crown molding a dark, espresso like color while keeping the white for the rest of the posts and door. We think it came out pretty sharp looking.

Headboard Hanging on the wall — Here she is hanging there – we call her Doormir. Get it?!

We decided that, since it’s a DOOR that is meant to be a headboard for the bed we SLEEP in, that we’d call her DOORMIR. Huzzah 2 years of high school french!