Love the Pottery Barn style but not the price point? Me, too! I’ve got a DIY Pottery Barn dupe upholstered headboard tutorial for you that can elevate your bed and save you over $1000 dollars. On top of that, it’s washable, making it easy to clean if you’ve got littles running around your house.
Pottery Barn is the pinnacle of timeless, classic furnishings and decor in my book with elevated but not pretentious neutrals, cozy chic vibes, and well-built designs. The price points are reasonable for the quality of furnishings given the market today, but who doesn’t want to save a buck or two where they can? Especially if you can personalize the look… or if you’re not sure you’ll love the canopy bed look in 5 years.
Why washable? This DIY Pottery Barn dupe upholstered headboard project had some specific parameters for me. If you’re familiar with the blog, you know I lived in a rental house that exposed me to toxic mold and sent me down a rabbit hole in terms of my health. Unfortunately, I lost most of my possessions because of the mold since porous items cannot be cleaned. I know that might sound extreme to think about purging most of the things you own in your home, but when you’re sick from mold, you’ll do nearly anything to recover. For this project, I wanted it to be easy to clean if exposed again so I wouldn’t have to purchase a new bed… again. That’s why it’s washable.
Inspiration
Here was my inspiration from Pottery Barn:
There was one existing tutorial I found online for a DIY upholstered headboard for the exact bed frame I bought, but the person who created it attached the headboard to the wall above the bed frame instead of attaching the headboard the bed. Novel idea, but that wasn’t going to work for me. It was after looking carefully at Pottery Barn’s design in all of the photos included on their website that I decided on a design for my headboard.
After searching for months, I realized there wasn’t anything on the market that would allow me to get the height I wanted like that of the Atwell bed, so I settled for something affordable and easy to clean instead as I designed this DIY Pottery Barn dupe upholstered headboard.
Encouragement
If you’re wondering if you’re handy enough for this DIY upholstered headboard project, don’t give it a second thought! Nearly anyone can put this headboard together within just a few hours (aside from the painting and sealing process for the plywood).
My husband, bless him, often can’t see my vision when I approach him with a new project, and he was certainly skeptical about this one, but has been impressed with how it turned out. He is very much the kind of person who likes to just buy things already made. How on earth did he end up with a DIYer like me?!
Materials
- Amazon
- Home Depot
- 48×96 inch, 1/4 inch thick Plywood cut to 33×78 inches
- Home Depot will cut this for you in store for free if you ask
- Have them cut length BEFORE width so you have leftover wood for a foot board if you so desire (I had to explain this to the store associate multiple times before they understood what I wanted- but don’t give up if you are met with resistance!)
- Lath self-driving screws with drill bit included
- Make sure the screws will drill through metal
- Drill
- Level
- Black paint: I purchased 1 quart of Behr Dynasty Interior Flat/Matte in Black from Home Depot
- Sealant (I sealed the wood to make it less porous and susceptible to moisture)
- Small paint roller
- Paint tray and plastic paint tray liner
- 48×96 inch, 1/4 inch thick Plywood cut to 33×78 inches
- Target
- Hot glue gun and glue sticks
- Black electrical tape (Target had the best price on electrical tape when I purchased it, but you can get this at any hardware store)
- JOANN Fabrics
- Batting 81×48 inches (ask for 2.25 yards)
- Fabric 81×38.5 inches (ask for 2.25 yards)
- The link for fabric above is for a similar fabric available online. If you want to find a different fabric, I recommend shopping for something that’s upholstery level and doesn’t have a lot of stretch to it.
- The fabric I used is unavailable online but may be at your local JOANN Fabrics store. Here’s a photo of it up close and a photo of the tag:
Costs
Here’s a breakdown of the costs when I created this headboard in January 2023:
| Black metal canopy king bed frame | $171 |
| Black electrical tape | $2.39 |
| 2 rolls of CertiPUR-US foam cushion 24″x96″ | $70 ($35 each) |
| Batting | $10 |
| Industrial velcro | $16.95 |
| Fabric | $56.25 |
| Plywood | $29 |
| Lath driving screws with drill bit | $12.77 |
| Hot glue sticks | $8.19 for a pack of 24 sticks |
| Gorilla hot glue sticks | $8.87 |
| Black paint | $15 |
| Sealant | $21.48 |
| TOTAL | $421.90 |
The Pottery Barn Atwell king bed retails for $1899, so I saved myself a total of $1477.10 by DIYing this project. And right now in February 2023, there’s an even better sale on the bed frame than when I bought it. I already had the drill, hot glue gun, level, measuring tape, fabric scissors, and a small paint roller on hand from previous projects, so I excluded them from the costs above.
How to Make the DIY Pottery Barn Dupe Upholstered Headboard
Prep the Bed Frame
Before starting on the headboard, put the bed frame together. I found it to be relatively simple and straightforward to assemble, and I have two tips for you to make the process go smoothly:
- Make sure you really do wait to tighten everything until the whole bed frame is all put together.
- There are advisement stickers on several parts of the frame. Put black electrical tape over those stickers to cover them up. Many of the reviews for the bed frame state that the stickers are difficult to remove and leave a sticky residue, so save yourself some time and energy by covering them up and go on your merry way!
Prep the Headboard Materials
Once the bed frame is set, you’ll want to measure for the plywood and upholstered parts of the bed. I’ve shared my measurements above in the materials list, which you’re welcome to follow, but I recommend double checking that they fit the setup you’ve got.
Last thing before creating the headboard: I washed the batting and fabric in advance to ensure they were ready to go. I also ironed the fabric before starting the assembly to make sure it was flat and free of wrinkles.
Steps to Create the Headboard
1. Paint the largest piece of plywood black on both sides. We did two coats of paint on ours, and then sealed it in with a wood sealant.
2. This is a two-person step. Once the painted plywood is dry, set the plywood up on the outside of the bed frame at the head of the bed, so facing the wall behind the bed. Use the level and make sure the plywood is straight. I lined up the bottom of the plywood with the bottom horizontal bar on the bed frame so that the plywood extended several inches above the top horizontal bar on the frame.
3. Use the drill, included drill bit, and lath self-driving screws to attach the plywood to the vertical side bars. We put two screws in each corner and one along one along the bottom middle horizontal bar for good measure. Don’t worry about the metal bars in the middle hitting the wood and making a sound- once you’ve got the upholstered part attached, that won’t be an issue.
4. Measure the space between the two vertical bars at the head of the bed (75 inches long for my set up) and cut the length of both pieces of foam to fit. I used measuring tape and a sharpie to mark my measurements and the fabric scissors to cut it to size. After trimming for the length, measure for the width of the foam. I settled on 29 inches in width because I wanted to cover the metal headboard attached to the bed frame and then have the upholstered part extend slightly above the top of the plywood by an inch like the Atwell bed. This will leave just enough foam left for a foot board.
5. Attach the foam pieces with hot glue to create the desired width of the headboard, being careful not to get in on your floor beneath the foam.
6. Lay out your headboard pieces flat on the ground in order starting with the fabric on the bottom. Make sure you place the fabric so that the side you want to be able to see on the finished product is directly touching the ground. On top of the fabric, center and place the batting. On top of that, lay the foam right in the middle.
7. Before gluing, make sure there’s enough on every side to fold the batting and fabric up onto the foam. Also make sure that the batting and foam are centered in line with any patterns in the fabric.
8. Using the hot glue gun, start gluing the batting beginning with each corner. Starting with the corners is essential if you’d like a polished, rounded look to the edges of the headboard.
9. After gluing the corners, fold up the batting on the shorter sides and glue the shorter sides of the batting to the foam.
10. Fold up the longer sides of the batting on to the foam and glue batting to foam.
11. Double check the centering of the foam-batting piece on the fabric before you repeat the process of adhering the fabric to the foam. This is the time to make sure that the fabric is exactly where you want it to be. Once it’s set, begin by gluing the corners to the foam-batting piece, just as you did with the batting corners.
12. Carefully fold the shorter sides of the fabric on to the foam-batting piece. Glue the short sides of the fabric to the foam-batting piece. I know it looks messy and far from finished here, but stick with me!
13. Fold up the long sides of the fabric and glue to the foam-batting piece. I was glad I did the long sides last because it allowed me to tuck the short sides in and making the back look neat and clean.
14. Cut the industrial velcro. Make sure to cut strips of the velcro with the soft and hard side together. I cut off 6 pieces each measuring at least 7 inches in length. *If you’re wanting a more permanent fixture that you don’t need to wash, you could use a staple gun here to secure the fabric to the plywood instead of velcro.
15. Attach velcro to the back of the upholstery ensuring that the softer side of the velcro is attached to the upholstered side of the headboard. I placed one piece about 1.5 inches inside of each corner and one at the top in the middle, and the last one at the bottom in the middle.
16. Line the upholstered part up with the plywood and then attach the other side of the velcro to the plywood. I needed a second set of hands for help with this part to make sure I had the upholstered part lined up just the way I wanted. I used Gorilla hot glue to attach the hard side of the velcro to the plywood for extra support beyond the adhesive on the velcro.
Finished Product
I’m really happy with how it turned out! So happy that I decided to craft a foot board from the leftover materials I have to make the bed look even more like the Atwell bed from Pottery Barn, Stay tuned for that tutorial!
To wash the upholstered part, gently remove the soft side of the velcro and toss the upholstered part in the wash. Easy peasy!
Let me know if you have questions!
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