DIY Teen Boy Headboards

Create a headboard that suits your teen's personal style.

Even teenage boys enjoy a well decorated space to call their own. Create a focal point with a clever DIY headboard for the young man in your life. Enlist his help as you implement one of these bedroom projects, transforming his room with just one single design change. From simple headboards that utilize items you may already have around the house to those crafted with store-bought pieces, there is an idea your teen is sure to love.

Things You'll Need

• Chain link fence
• Hack saw
• Fence posts
• Fence rails
• Tension rod brackets
• Screws
• Screw gun
• Vintage album covers
• Adhesive putty
• Plywood
• Wood molding
• Plexiglas
• 12-inch by 12-inch cork board pieces
• 12-inch by 12-inch mirrors
• Paint
• Insect collection
• 4-inch by 4-inch frames
• Painter's tape

Instructions

1. 

   Repurpose an old chain link fence.

   Give new meaning to heavy metal with a chain link headboard. Use a hack saw to cut the horizontal rails to length between two fence posts. Slip tension rod brackets around each post and fasten them around the chain link fencing. Screw two more tension brackets, placed near the top of the posts, directly into the wall above your son's bed to hold it in place. Your teen can hang ball caps, notes, pictures and mementos from the links.

2. 

   Old albums are given new life in your teenager's room.

   Use his love for vintage music as the inspiration for an album cover headboard. Measure the width of his bed and the length between his bed and the ceiling and cut a piece of plywood to fit that space. Adhere the album covers to the plywood with adhesive putty. Cover with pre-cut Plexiglas and complete the framed headboard with thin wall molding before hanging it.

3. Paint 12-inch by 12-inch squares of cork board in colors that complement your teen's bedroom decor. Screw the cork board pieces into the wall above his bed. Alternate the cork board pieces with 12-inch by 12-inch self adhesive mirrors for a truly one-of-a-kind headboard.

4. Pull your son's fifth grade bug collection from the closet or collect new species for this particular headboard project. Frame the various bugs and spiders in 4-inch by 4-inch frames. Either form a collage with the framed insects or make a single horizontal line above his bed.

5. Paint the wall to create a faux headboard. Tape off a section that you want to utilize as the headboard. Paint stripes, circles or a combination of geometrical shapes in this space above the bed. Consider stenciling sports balls, musical notes or even his name on the wall.

References

• Lovely Undergrad: More Do-It-Yourself Headboards
• The Frisky; Faux Headboards; Catherine Strawn; January 2010