d.i.o. headboard

Back in November, I decided I was tired of our college-looking, sans headboard bed.  Obviously, with a new house, new exciting expenses (i.e. shovels, lawn mower, garden hose, ladder), we didn't want to spend $600 on a new headboard.  So I put my D.I.O. (do it ourselves) thinking cap on and thought of some  options.  I love the look of the massive headboards in nice hotels and wanted the same for our room. 

So, we headed to Home Depot to check things out.  First, we thought about using MDF boards (2'x4') and drilling them into the wall.  But then the headboard would be about 2 feet wider than the bed and we didn't want that.  We walked over to the doors and windows section and checked out the hollow, panel doors. We decided to go with three 28"x80"doors at $23 a piece.  This way, it would only be about 2" on each side of the mattress yet tall enough to have the dramatic look I wanted.

Before:

We had to remove the random, 1970s light and light switch so we could add the doors.

My electrician, Ehren, tucking all the capped wires into the wall so it is flush.  Don't you love the candlestick light?

Up go the doors.  Cozy is already exhausted.

If you ever need advice on a project and you're at Home Depot, my sister said to "ask the oldest man with the dirtiest apron".  When we needed to know how to drill a hollow object into a solid stud, we asked said employee.  He told us there is about 1 solid inch around the perimeter of the doors.  We found the studs in the wall and drilled into them (staying within that solid inch).  We also learned the hard way to make "pilot holes" prior to drilling in the wood screws.  We're learning a lot, I tell ya.

Next, I primed the doors with white, interior primer.  It took about 3 coats to cover completely.  The nice thing about primer is that it dries fast (approximately 1 hour between coats) and rolling it was super quick.  Once it was dry, I started the labor-intensive process off taping off the chevrons.

Since the headboard is seven feet wide, I made each chevron one foot wide.  Five hours later (ughhh) I was done taping and it looked like this...

The easiest part was painting within the tape and the funnest (I know that's not a word) part was ripping off the tape.  The time-consuming taping and measuring was way worth it.

We got new nightstand lights that were more proportional to the height of the bed.  IKEA of course. 

Ooooh, details. 

I'm a little obsessed, can you tell?  I love that it's the focal point of the room.  It has that contemporary, crisp feeling that I'm looking for in this house.  It's amazing what you can do with a few doors and a couple cans of paint.  Plus, Ehren is happy that I saved us at least $500 - who wouldn't be?