Upholstered Pool Noodle Headboard

You know I love a good upholstered headboard. In fact, THIS upholstered DIY headboard tutorial is one of the first projects I ever had go viral! But Nick and I recently upgraded to a king size bed, and I’ve been dreaming up another upholstered headboard design. Last summer, I had the idea to use pool noodles instead of foam (foam is SO EXPENSIVE) and I even ordered fabric. But by the time I got around to buying pool noodles, stores had phased them out and you couldn’t buy them anymore. But guess what! It’s summer again! And pool noodles are readily available! Let’s make an upholstered pool noodle headboard, shall we?

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Supplies for Upholstered Pool Noodle Headboard

• Pool noodles (I used 4″ noodles, and you can get them almost anywhere! I’ve seen them at walmart, target, dollar stores, home improvement stores, etc!)
• Fabric of your choice (I used this boucle fabric)
• 2″ plywood backer (according to the size you need for your bed)
• Jigsaw
• Serrated knife
• Staple gun
• Fabric scissors
• French Cleat

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A post shared by BETHANY JOY SY |diy•renovation•parenting| (@realitydaydream)

Step 1 – Choose headboard size/shape and cut

You’ll want to start out by measuring the length of your bed on the headboard side, or look up the dimensions of your size of bed. For my backer board, I just got a sheet of 1/2″ plywood. My original plan was to tie a string to a pencil and trace on a half circle. But I kinda wanted it to me a more subtle curve than a semicircle, and I was lamenting to hubs about it. He took it as a mathematical challenge. I almost can’t even look at this pic because it makes me sick. 😉

He then used our CNC machine to cut this out. But if I were you I would just use a jigsaw. This is the one I have and love.

Step 2 – Cut pool noodles to match the curve

I drew a pencil line on the board where the headboard would meet the mattress, because I don’t need the pool noodles and fabric to go all the way down behind the bed. And that way my pool noodles can go farther! I just used a serrated knife and cut them all approximately to size along the curve. It doesn’t have to be exact at this point, but err on the longer side, because we’ll come back and trim them to perfection before finishing the upholstery. I also numbered each one with a sharpie to make sure I didn’t get them out of order later. If you’re using a different fabric than I’m using, make sure it’s not so thin that the sharpie markings will show through (or the color of the noodles for that matter).

Step 3 – Upholster over the pool noodles

To start out the upholstery process, I traced a straight line down the center, and hot glued the middle pool noodle in place so it won’t move while I’m stapling around it.

The fabric I chose is this beautiful boucle in an off-white color. I love the texture that it adds!

Note: learn from my mistake! When I ordered fabric, I got enough to cover the headboard, but wasn’t thinking about all the surface area it would take to wrap around each pool noodle. Take the length of the head of your bed, and multiply it x2.5 to get the length of fabric you need.

I would normally use just a regular staple gun for this like I have in the past, but ever since my surgery I’ve had nerve damage in my hand that prevents my grip strength from being able to squeeze that hard. So Nick got me a pneumatic staple gun, which is AMAZING. It seems bougie, but if you already have an air compressor, the actual staple gun is only $40 bucks!

I laid out the edge of the fabric enough to just cover the noodle, and stapled along both sides.

Then I simply slid the next pool noodle snuggly in next to it, and stapled along the edge of it too! Repeat repeat repeat!

Step 4 – Finish off bottom edge

I stapled along the bottom edge where the headboard meets the mattress and cut off excess fabric. Nobody will ever see that part!

Step 5 – Finish top of upholstered headboard

At this point, you’ll want to stand your headboard up and pull back the fabric from the top of the noodles so we can trim the noodles to be perfectly arched with the back board. If they’re inconsistent at all, it will really show when we’re done. Using your serrated knife, just allow it to rest on the wooden curve while you slice along the pool noodles.

Using fabric scissors, cut the fabric so that each pool noodle has it’s own flap of fabric along the top.

For this part, you will definitely need two people. One to roll the fabric into a ‘tube’ and pull down tight, and the other to hit it a few times with the staple gun. Take care to make sure each section is free of wrinkles and its pulled tight and consistent with the others. If this part isn’t done well, it will really show.

The back will look like this when you’re done.

Step 6 – NONE! We’re done!

We’re done! Are you ready to get this thing in place in the bedroom? I am!

You could absolutely use a french cleat to affix this to the wall behind your bed. But I’ll be honest, we just slid ours behind the bed and it’s pretty darn sturdy. You do you! WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THIS BEAUTY THOUGH?!?!

I love how it turned out so much. It feels like it finishes the room! And my mountain mural isn’t covered up too much… perfection.

Do you think this is a project you might try? If so, I’d love to see it! Please tag me on the socials (@RealityDaydream on Instagram, Facebook, Tiktok, all the places!).

Click here to see all the other unique headboard ideas I’ve had over the years!

Bethany

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