belt | Jewels at Home

This is a great idea for a compact DIY headboard you can use in a small space – or anywhere you want! This idea first caught my eye when Emily Henderson featured Shwa Style’s version of this pillow headboard. A Pair and a Spare DIY also has a lovely version of this idea. And now, for my own take on this easy and stylishly funky headboard!

When I first created our tween boy’s room a few years ago, I made a DIY bed from Ikea bookcases, and the headboard was an Ikea floating shelf mounted on its side. These days, this room is home to different tween boy, and it was time for a cozy upgrade to his bed! I was thinking of buying leather straps for this project, but when I was at the Flea Market with my friend Ariana of Act 2 Decor, I saw these vintage belts and loved the idea of doing a twist on this project!

Upholstered headboards are really popular, but there’s part of me that just isn’t quite sure how to keep a fabric headboard clean. If you’re with me, then you should like this project, and you should also check out the washable quilted headboard slipcovers I made for our master bedroom in grey velvet and navy velvet!

What you’ll need:

Foam cushion. (Mine is actually leftover from our front hall bench, which I replaced with a console table.) It’s 1.5″ thick by 15″ wide by 40″ long to fit over a twin bed
Fabric to cover the foam. I lucked out that the green-blue fabric already on our hall bench cushion also works for the headboard. I just had to trim it to size
Two extra-long (54″) leather belts. I found mine at the flea market, but this belt is very similar
Four screws and four drywall anchors
Diaper pins or large safety pins

Here’s how to make it:

Cut your foam to size
Wrap the foam with your fabric. I originally sewed the cover for the cushion, but when I trimmed it, I admit I used safety pins in back to hold the extra fabric in place
Measure the height and placement of the belts
Put in drywall anchors at the top of the belts and screw in your screw, leaving the screw head out a little bit from the wall
Fold your belts into a sling for the cushion, leaving the tip sticking out the top of the buckle
Hang the belts on the top screws

Mark the location of the top hole in the belt and insert a drywall anchor behind it. Screw the belt into the wall through that top hole
Hang your cushion on the belts and secure in the back with diaper pins through a belt hole. This step isn’t in other tutorials, but it quickly became evident that this is needed, when your bed’s occupant is a twelve-year-old boy…
Enjoy your new headboard!