DIY Painted Headboard Tutorial

What's happening?! I'll tell you. I am going to show you how to get your very own, SUPER cheap DIY Painted Headboard!! I LOVE it!! I've seen a lot of versions on pinterest, but not one quite like mine (that doesn't mean someone smarter than me already did it exactly the same way)... It was SUPER easy to do and only cost me a couple bucks as opposed to a couple hundred or thousand an actual headboard would cost.. and remember people, I'm all about decorating with a budget, or more accurately, NO money.

Check out these lovely painted headboards - there are SO many creative people out there!!

 polka dots - source

mountain - source

turquoise monogrammed - source

white oultine on gray - source

The last one is the most similar to mine, and I loved the idea of leaving my whole headboard dark..but that's a lot of dark in one room... In the above pictures, they have white walls as well so it's a little easier for their room to not look like a cave... like mine would...

To begin, you need tape - GOOD tape, not crappy tape, we don't want paint bleeding here people!! The less touch-ups you have to do, the better..you can spend all that extra time playing cars with your son!

So.. measure where you want your headboard to go on your wall - make SURE you are TOTALLY HAPPY with the placement as you are stuck with it once it's painted!! No rearranging allowed!!

 I have a king sized bed and I wanted this headboard to be wider than my bed... so mine measured 80 in wide... and about 6 1/2 feet tall. I wanted it to make a statement!

Now paint all around your tape with your background wall color...

Now, my headboard has two colors to it. The main color is white... and the border around my headboard is a light gray. If you want a border, tape that off.. I just added another tape row to my outline.. does that make sense??

Paint your main color, and then when that is dry peel the tape off, and re-tape around your border.. I should have taken a picture of that step, but you get it right??

Here it is totally painted.... Like I said, the main part is white, and the outline is a light gray. It makes for a smoother transition than just dark gray to white I think..

I don't know why these are uploading blurry... I lose. But you get the idea, just ignore my gross nightstands and mismatched lamps... It'll look much better once I get to tackle those... but for now... Here's what my room looks like!! I LOVE it!! Such an improvement!! Do you remember what is was before??

Ugly. That's what it was. And while some parts might still be ugly here, it's still an improvement.


Total Cost for my Painted Headboard:
White Paint = Free (got it from my apartment complex)
Light Gray Paint = $2.50 (used a sample paint jar from Home Depot, just had them make it in the color I wanted)
Painters Tape = Free (I already had a lot)
Paint Brushes = Free (already had those too)


Can't beat $2.50 for a headboard, I win!!!!