Curvy Reclaimed Wood Headboard Tutorial

Our next Headboard Week guest has an amazing bed + headboard to share with you! Using reclaimed wood gives so much automatic character — and old fence posts never looked so good (and I would know!) Here’s Suzie… please don’t drool too much over her gorgeous bed 😉

Remember, we want to see your headboard projects, too, so link up at the end of this post or here and show off your stuff!

Rustic Wood Bed From Fence Posts, The Accent Piece on Remodelaholic

Hey there, Remodelaholic readers! I’m so excited to be here today. I’m Suzie from The Accent Piece. I have a passion for building and doing projects around the house, and The Accent Piece is my place to chronicle all those happenings. I have recently just finished some built ins, built some planters out of scrap wood, and posted some free Photoshop tutorials. I would love for you to come check it out!

Reclaimed Wood Headboard Tutorial
by Suzie of The Accent Piece

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Recently, my husband and I needed a new headboard. We changed the style of our room and our old headboard stuck out like a sore thumb. Luckily, at about the same time, some friends of ours tore up an old deck in their backyard. When they called to offer us the wood, we did a happy dance around the house, then rushed over there to snag the loot as fast as we could (all the while trying our best to keep it cool in front of them).

We came home with this beautiful pile of potential!

make fence posts into a rustic wood bed, The Accent Piece on Remodelaholic

With this bed as our inspiration, we began piecing the wood together for the headboard.

rustic wood headboard from fence post, The Accent Piece on Remodelaholic

After the boards were laid out we folded a large sheet of paper in half, then drew one half of the headboard design on it.

draft a headboard shape for rustic wood bed, The Accent Piece on Remodelaholic

Then we unfolded it and taped it to the boards. Using that as a template, we were able to trace the design on to the boards.

curvy rustic wood headboard tutorial, The Accent Piece on Remodelaholic

Using our jigsaw, we cut the boards one by one…

how to build a rustic wood headboard, The Accent Piece on Remodelaholic

…until we were finished!

rustic wood headboard, The Accent Piece on Remodelaholic

We trimmed the bottom of the boards with our miter saw to be the same height, leaving the outer two longer so that it can stand on those legs.

build a rustic wood headboard, The Accent Piece on Remodelaholic

We used scrap pieces on the back to join the boards together.

join boards for a rustic wood headboard, The Accent Piece on Remodelaholic

use fence boards to build rustic wood headboard, The Accent Piece on Remodelaholic

The cutting and assembly actually went really quickly. After about two hours, the headboard was built!

ornate rustic wood headboard diy, The Accent Piece on Remodelaholic

The frame was a simple box with legs. We used two 1×2’s that ran the length of the frame and was an inch from the top to support the slats. In addition, we added a 2×4 going down the middle. The slats were made of 10 1×4’s. This was the only part that we had to buy and it came out to about $25!

We didn’t bother staining the slats because they won’t be seen.

attach rustic wood headboard to rustic wood bed frame, The Accent Piece on Remodelaholic

 

diy wood bed for rustic wood headboard, The Accent Piece on Remodelaholic

For the legs, I drew the shape I wanted on a 1×10 and mitered one edge of each piece so they fit flush on the corners.

thick curvy legs for a rustic wood headboard and bed, The Accent Piece on Remodelaholic

We stained it a mixture of Minwax’s Dark Walnut and Provincial. Then, we sealed it with polyurethane in matte finish.

And…here she is!

diy rustic wood bed and headboard, The Accent Piece on Remodelaholic

I love love love it. And you know what else I love? That besides the $25 we had to spend on the slats….it was free! Whoop!

rustic wood headboard and bed, The Accent Piece on Remodelaholic

Like I mentioned before, this was actually a fairly simple build – it took us about 4 hours total to build it.

easy rustic wood headboard tutorial, The Accent Piece on Remodelaholic

rustic wood bed and headboard tutorial, The Accent Piece on Remodelaholic

I love how it goes with the sliding barn door we built as well.

rustic wood bed and barn door, The Accent Piece on Remodelaholic

I’d say we’re pretty happy with it…now if we can only get Wiley to share it with us!

diy rustic wood bed, The Accent Piece on Remodelaholic

How to build a rustic wood headboard + bed -- The Accent Piece featured on Remodelaholic.com #headboardweek #diy #reclaimedwood

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Thanks so much for visiting us today, Suzie!

Visit Suzie at The Accent Piece to see more of her home, like awesome built-ins (she’s a kindred spirit!) and her son’s amazingly cute nursery!

And don’t forget to check out all the headboard week posts so far — and check back later today for another headboard tutorial!

burlap and wood trim easy headboard no tools required, Do Not Disturb This Groove on Remodelaholic

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Lorene has been behind the scenes here at Remodelaholic for more than a decade! She believes that planning projects and actually completing them are two different hobbies, but that doesn't stop her from planning at least a dozen projects at any given time. She spends her free time creating memories with her husband and 5 kids, traveling as far as she can afford, and partaking of books in any form available.

We love hearing from fellow Remodelaholics, so let us know what you like about this and leave any questions below in the comments. If you've followed a tutorial or been inspired by something you've seen here, we'd love to see pictures! Submit pictures here or by messaging us over on Facebook.

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11 Comments

  1. I love this bed!! I’m going to show my husband since we are wanting to redo our bedroom. So simple, yet beautiful!! Thanks a bunch 🙂

  2. I am going to start this project this week. Could you post(or point me in the right direction) the directions of how to build the box frame? Thank you!

    1. Hi AmaLei,
      We’d love to see pictures! As far as building the box frame, Suzy included some details at the end of the post, but if you’d like more details, I recommend checking out our friend Ana White — she has lots of detailed bed building plans to help you out. https://www.ana-white.com

      Thanks and good luck!

  3. I love the design. You gave very clear instructions. I am concerned about the use of pressure treated wood inside due to the chemicals. Did you polyurethane the headboard? Is that all you need to protect your health?

  4. The treated lumber can and likely will cause health issues being inside of the home. The arsenic used in the manufacturing alone is a real cause for concern.