How to Make a Headboard for a Teenage Girl's Room

Turn a dull wall above your teenager's bed into a sentimental work of art.

Fashion a headboard for your teenage daughter's room using sentimental favorites she can treasure for a lifetime. Unless you are adept at small construction projects, enlist the aide of a friend who is comfortable with power tools for this project. Invite your daughter to join you in the process of creating a stylish headboard as well as memories of your collaboration. The headboard can be completed in of a couple of hours on a lazy weekend afternoon.

Things You'll Need

• Plywood
• Skill saw
• Screw gun
• European hangers
• 1/2-inch screws
• 2-inch wide molding
• Protractor
• Pencil
• Miter saw
• Spray paint
• Nail glue
• C-clamps
• Photos
• Mementos
• Craft glue
• Paint brush
• 1 1/2-inch screws

Instructions

1. 

   Plywood is the base of your headboard frame.

   Cut a piece of plywood so that it is the same width as your daughter's bed and about 3 feet tall with a skill saw. Use a screw gun to screw European hangers into the four corners of the back side of the plywood with 1/2-inch screws.

2. Cut four pieces of 2-inch wide molding to create a fitted frame around the plywood. Use a protractor and pencil to mark 45-degree angles on the ends of each piece of molding. Cut the ends along the markings with a miter saw.

3. Spray paint the molding in colors that complement your teen's bedroom decor.

4. Attach the molding to the edges of the plywood with nail glue. Clamp the molding to the wood with C-clamps, allowing the glue to set for one hour.

5. Sort through several photos, invitations, mementos and other memorabilia with your teenager. Compile a stack of favorites that she has collected over the years.

6. Place the headboard on a flat surface. Scatter the various pieces on the collage frame. Whittle the choices of pictures and keepsakes down to the number of items that fit in the allotted space. Toy with the arrangement of the items on the headboard until you are satisfied with the layout.

7. Turn each article over, one at a time. Brush the back with craft glue and turn it back over onto the wood. Press firmly. Continue this process until each piece is glued into place. Tuck the edges of those items bordering the collage under the lip of the molding.

8. Mark the spot that the four hangers attached to the headboard will be placed on the wall with a pencil. Screw 1 1/2-inch screws into the labeled areas, leaving one-fourth inch of the screws above the surface of the wall.

9. Line the hangers up with the screws and affix the headboard to the wall.