How to Make a Floor to Ceiling Bed Headboard with Old Doors
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I found 5 bifold doors at the thrift store and am going to show you how I made a headboard with the doors.
It seems like a long time since I posted a decorating project. I guess it had to do with the holidays that they all went on the back burner while I posted about Christmas decor.
Now that it is January and I am getting back into the swing of things, it is time to start fresh and get back to what I started back in the early fall.
I am going start with my bedroom. You may remember that the refresh for the room all began with throw pillows. Do you remember when I posted the happy hubby decorating trick? It was removing all the throw pillows I had on the bed. It took me a while to get used to it, but I have to admit, I like it. The clean un-cluttered look of the bed made the paint on the wall and the bed hanging look dingy. I decided to rip the old bed hanging down one Sunday morning and got to work to refresh the room.
Today I have the tutorial on how I created the headboard using bi-fold doors.
BEFORE
When I thought about what kind of headboard the bed and room needed, I wanted it to be rather grand again like the fabric hangings that I previously had. I needed it to be ceiling to floor so it filled the wall and would become the focal point of the room. It also needed to visually balance the shelves that are on the opposite wall in the room, and lastly I wanted it to be simple – no fuss and little maintenance. The fabric bed hangings always needed to be cleaned, pressed and put up again. With the new headboard, cleaning it is a breeze.
This is what the wall looked like after I removed the fabric bed hanging. I found the doors at my local Habitat for Humanity. I bought 3 a few years ago to make a folding screen you see in the corner. I decided to take it apart so I could use the 3 doors.
I needed two more doors so the headboard would be as wide as the bed. The first 3 were $ 7 a piece. The 2 new ones were only $3.00 a piece. They were on sale the day I went. What a deal!
I reused the crown molding from the bed hanging that used to be above the bed.
How to Make a Bed Headboard Using Doors
supplies needed:
- Paneled doors – I used narrow bi-fold size, but any width will do. You want to have enough so that when placed side by side they will be as wide as the bed or a few inches wider
- 1″ x 2″ or 2″ x 4″ piece of lumber cut to the width of the bed
- Crown molding – the length will be determined by the width of your bed.
- Wood screws
- Spackle or wood fill and knife to spread it
- Primer/Paint – I used Valspar Bistro White in semi-gloss
- Paint brush
- Sandpaper
- Measuring tape
- Miter saw for crown molding
- Bubble level
- Screwdriver
- Pencil
- Optional: jigsaw
1. The amount of doors you will need will depend on how wide your bed is. I needed 5 bi-fold style for a King size bed. The door panel design was not the same on my doors, but they were all the same height. I arranged them in a way that makes the panel design symmetrical. If you can find hollow core doors, it will be much easier to hang them as they will be lighter. Two of my doors were solid and very heavy.
2. I created the headboard to go all the way to the ceiling. To do this I needed to add a 1″ x 2″ piece of lumber horizontally on the wall with wood screws so the bottom of the doors could rest on it for support. To figure out where to place it, I subtracted the height of the door from the height of the room. The difference is where I placed the board.
(The thin boards you see in the photo were placed under sections of my 1″ x 2″ that were slightly warped. I didn’t feel like running out to the lumber store to get a new board so I just added the thin boards behind the horizontal 1″ x 2″s to ensure a solid base. They won’t be seen once the bed is pushed back against the wall. My 1″ x 2″ was already cut up to the sizes you see. You do not have to do this – one long 1″ x 2″ or 2″ x 4″ is fine. I just was using what I already had on hand – I made the it work for my needs.)
3. Mark where the studs are in the wall. Place the marks under the horizontal 1″ x 2″ board so you can see them once the doors are up.
4. Find the center of the wall and mark this under the horizontal board and the ceiling to use a centering guide. Use a piece of painter’s tape to make the mark, so you don’t make any pencil marks on your ceiling and wall.
5. Start by placing the center board first, then work out to each side. Each door was placed on the horizontal board and then screwed into the wall in two places (top and bottom of door) and into studs. We counter sank the screws and covered the screw heads with Spackle/wood filler. I also filled the holes where the doorknobs used to be on the doors. Once it was dry, I sanded the areas smooth with 100 grit sandpaper.
6. We used a jigsaw to cut out the corner of the end door so it did not cover the electrical outlet. ( *** the thin boards I mentioned above – you don’t need)
Nice and neat. Once the bed and night table are back in place you won’t see this.
7. I used the crown molding from the previous bed hanging. It is screwed right into the top of the doors.
8. I used white caulk to fill in any gaps and also along the top of the crown molding. I then primed and painted everything with Valspar Bistro White in semi-gloss.
A very inexpensive way to make a statement in a bedroom. The doors cost me $27 total. I had the crown molding, but that would have cost about $20 if I needed to buy a new piece. Add in the cost of the paint and the headboard costs under $50 to make.
I really, really like it. It is solid and easy to prop a pillow against to lean on when reading in bed. Now I have to paint the walls. They are going to be a slightly lighter blue than they are now. I have all the paint and supplies ready for that undertaking and now just need to do it.
You can find the other updates I have done in the room so far in these posts:
How to Update Shiny Brass Lamps
Dresser Makeover with Poet’s Paint and Embellished Knobs with Buttons
Great idea! Think it would look great with some antique sconce lights on each side for a little ambiance.
Hi Jalanie – Thanks for the idea. :-)
You have amazingly creative projects that look so fun and pretty simple to do but are also quite elegant and interesting.
I absolutely love the bi fold doors for a head board. It is so elegant and classy yet so simple.
You are very talented! Love the headboard idea.
Gorgeous and quite genius of you…..looks beautiful.
WOW Diane these are incredible. You are so talented. I could never think to do that.
I’ve got an entire article out featuring cool headboards (http://www.designguidancecounselor.com.php54-3.dfw1-2.websitetestlink.com/?p=75), but I haven’t seen this one before! It’s fabulous! Great job!!!
Great idea with the bi fold doors. I love how it turned out and it does make the room look so big.
Vanessa
I love what you’ve done with the folding doors! absolutely wonderful!! Another idea I’d like to share would be to use a garden trellis. I’ve seen some at JoAnn’s Fabric store that are black wrought iron or white, and they are 20″ wide and 6′ tall. You would need three of them to fill width of a queen size bed, and tack them to the wall as a headboard. Haven’t done that yet, but, it’s been on my mind. Any ideas?
Hi Linda – It would be pretty easy to hang the trellis since they are open. I think I would paint cup hooks the same color as the trellis and use those to attach each one on the wall. Along the bottom you could use pipe straps from the plumbing aisle in the hardware store to secure the bottom of each trellis along the wall.
My entire comment didn’t show up. I want to convert my guest room into a sewing room and thought converting the regular be into a Murphy bed was possible. Do you have any experience or suggestions with doing that? The bi-fold doors could be used as the base of the bed (attached to a solid piece of plywood perhaps) so when the bed was not in use, the doors would be visible and not just a plain wall.
What a fantastic idea. We got rid of six sets of bi-fold doors about ten years ago.
another fabulous project. The genius part is having thought of it! I can’t wait to find another bed so that I can try my hand at a headboard. The one we have now looks like it came from the set of “Bonanza”. Ig.
I love this idea. I have often thought of using a door as a headboard. Our wall goes up so far then slants or curves up to the ceiling so I would not be able to use the beautiful crown molding but a nice door up as far as I could go might be fun. I really need to work on our bedroom. I have so many ideas for it. I usually come here for inspiration first because you have such great ideas for budget minded people.
I think this is an amazing look.
What appears to look like days and days of construction, you magically come up with one of your fantastic ideas that is inexpensive and not very complicated at all.
I enjoy reading your blog, it gives me confidence to tackle projects because of your concise instructions.
And I always look foreword to your blog to see what creative idea you are going to present for the day
Thank you
Xxxx
M
Because my husband and I move A LOT I like that this could be a good apt idea with a little adaptation…hinging the doors together and the doors not reaching the ceiling.
Think about that when posting some of your ideas.
Hi Pamela – When Ed and I first were married we moved 5 times in less than 10 years. When we moved into our current house I dearly wanted built-in book shelves, but we didn’t add them since we thought we would move again. Been in the house 21 years now. :-) I got so used to moving all the time, I didn’t want to commit to something forever so I understand how you feel. You could definitely hinge the doors together like I did for the the folding screen I made that used to be in the corner of my bedroom, but add more doors to make it wider. It would look great as an easy to move headboard.
Saw your smiling face in my HGTV
magazine yesterday !!!!
You are just everywhere!!!
How do you find the time?
Love this headboard. It makes an instant
statement and no matter what color the room is in the future it will always look
good.
Thanks Deb – I didn’t have to do much for the HGTV feature. It was all done through email. Finding the time to do all that I do…this blog of mine is my full-time job that I can spend all my waking moments on. It makes me happy that I can make a living doing what I love and sharing what I know. XO
Love this! I’m a little tired of all the tufted headboards I’ve seen. This is such a great alternative!
Your new headboard looks great. My daughter needs something like this in her apartment. I’m going to have to check out the Habitat resale stores. Thanks for your easy to follow instructions! Vikki in VA.
Hi Vikki – Thanks. I enjoy going to the ReStore. I have two nearby. I never leave empty handed. Happy 2015!
Diana, You really have seen the New Year with another of your inspirational ideas. Looking forward to the rest of the year. I cannot do too much in my home but I sure do wish I was starting out afresh . :)
Love it. It looks great! I would love to have something like this in my master bedroom.
I love the new look. Hard instead of cloth is a clean, easier way to go now a days anyway….. don’t you think? I used to love the luxuriousness of tripled fabric….. but not so much any longer. I loved yours……. but love this more.
Hi Sheryll – Thanks – In trying to simplify – the doors do add a new simple freshness to the room. I am excited to get the rest of the room done now. Perfect project for the winter months. XO
I love the huge statement this headboard while still being simple. What a great look. I am staring at my own bedroom wall right now wondering how I could make this work with about 5 inches of existing crown molding. Well done!
Hi Susan –
Maybe you could build a box that will go over the existing crown molding above the bed where the doors would meet it. I am sure it can be done, but may need some mitered cuts so that it can simply go over the existing molding.
I love the clean lines of this headboards – beautiful, well done
I love the height of the headboard, it’s beautiful!
Brilliant! I wish I had a bed without a headboard so I could try this! Super simple and looks custom.