How to Upholster a Bookcase Headboard

By upholstering a bookcase headboard, you can give the biggest piece of furniture in your bedroom a whole new look and change the feel of the entire room. Many patterns offered in upholstery fabric also come in lightweight, coordinating curtain fabric. Consider sewing curtains to match your new headboard. If you are not handy at sewing, simply drape several yards of the fabric on a curtain rod above and around the window in a swag effect. Also consider mounting a curtain rod as wide as the headboard on the wall above the headboard and draping the fabric as around the window to make the headboard seem to extend toward the ceiling.

Things You'll Need

• Screwdriver with bit to fit style of screws in headboard Headless nails Upholstery fabric Scissors Tape measure Hot glue and glue gun Heavy-duty staples and staple gun Claw hammer and pliers (optional) Sewing machine and thread (optional)

Instructions

1. Unscrew the bookcase to disassemble it. Tap a nail partway into each point where a screw was placed. The nails serve as markers only. If the back of the bookcase is nailed or stapled in place, use a claw hammer to carefully pull off the back. Remove the nails or staples with a pliers.

2. Measure surfaces of the headboard to determine the amount of fabric to buy. Most upholstery fabric comes in 54-inch widths. One width will seamlessly cover a full-size or smaller headboard. A queen- or king-size bed will require two pieces to be sewn together with a seam down the middle. Measure up and around the back of the headboard, around each side, and over and under each shelf.

3. Cut a rectangle of fabric 3 inches wider than the width of the headboard and long enough to wrap over the top of the headboard, around the front, underneath the top and overlapping the starting point. If you have to piece the fabric, sew two equal widths together to make the desired width. Center the fabric on top of the headboard, staple at the back to begin and wrap around. Press down on the fabric while wrapping to allow any marker nails that you went over to push through. Fold over the ends gift-wrap style and hot glue in place.

4. Wrap each shelf and each side by repeating the procedure for the top of the bookcase.

5. Wrap the back of the bookcase, beginning at a point behind the mattress and going up the front and over to the back, continuing all the way to the bottom. Stop under the lowest shelf.

6. Reassemble the headboard, pulling out each nail marker as you replace individual screws. If applicable, reattach the back with staples.