Cat Tower/Tree **Coming Soon**

Princess Themed Crown Headboard

With a new baby on the way in Sept. we are moving our daughter into a different bedroom. We decided to use some old furniture we had but spice it up a bit. She's going to have a princess themed room in Teal and Fuchsia colors and we decided to make our own headboard in the shape of a crown.

A few things went into the change for her room but we'll start with the headboard.

We went to Google to find some ideas and stumbled on the following (which appears to be for a twin bed, we have a queen to work with):

http://www.thebudgetdecorator.com

What was needed for this project - Material and tools:

•  2 3/4" 4x8 sheets of plywood
• 12 to 18 - 1 1/14" drywall screws (this is just what I had)
• Tape Measure
• Skill (Circular) Saw
• Jigsaw
• Cordless or Corded Drill (Phillips bit and drill-bit, size ?)
• Orbital and Belt Sander (60-100 grit sand paper)
• An awesome artist!

Steps to build:

1. Removed old headboard.
2. Measure width of bed (was approx. 61 inches) & height of bed with box springs and mattress (about 2 feet)
• Ripped 4x8 plywood in half using the Skill saw. This resulted in 2 2x2 sheets of plywood.
• Cut one sheet 61" wide. This makes our base piece for the headboard.
• Put the base on the back of the bed where the headboard would be. Set a couple pencils or some small flat object that slightly raises it off the ground (Make sure to raise it up a bit, before marking, if you do not you'll have a hard time moving the bed around because the base will be flush with the floor). Use a pencil to mark the holes from the bed-frame to mount the base. 
• Drill mounting holes. (Cannot recall the exact size, I used a drill bit that fit in the old headboards mounting holes.)
• BEFORE YOU GO ANY FURTHER - Make sure the base lines up and you can use the mounting bolts supplied.
3. Using the other full sheet of plywood, measure the center. 
4. Measure from center 30.5" each way. This is the same width of your base (61"). Or you can set the base at the bottom of the plywood and eyeball it in the center and make a mark on each side of the base. At this point, you should basically have an outline of your base on the sheet of plywood.
5. Drawing out the design was not something I am that great at. My wife drew the crown shape on the piece of plywood and used a circle Tupperware container for the ends of the crown.
6. Use Jigsaw to cut design.
7. Sand with belt sander to remove major imperfections and used orbital for more of the details. Ideally, a dremel tool would have came in handy for rounding out the ends and creases in the crown. 
8. Remember that left over sheet of plywood from cutting the base. Cut about 3-4 strips of it with the Skill saw  to use for mounting the crown to the base.
9. I put the headboard and base in my driveway and and set them on the ground with the sanded side down. Use the strips cut for mounting and line them up along the back with even spacing. 
10. Attach base to headboard with the mounting strips and the 1 1/4" screws. 
11. DONE!
12. Stand it up against a solid surface and touch up any perfections with the orbital sander (OR dremel tool)
13. Paint as desired and mount to bed.

Comments; if I had the room and extra man power, I would have waited to mount the base to the bed first. Then mount the crown to the base. This would be much lighter to carry to the room. I also had an issue where the crown piece was slightly warped so I wanted to make sure when I connected the base and crown most of the warp cleared up (which it did, thank goodness).

Here it is! Once we have it painted and mounted, I'll post pictures of the final product :)

Welcome to Joe's How to Blog!

Welcome to Joe's How to Blog!

Since I was a child I have always been interested in how things work, how to build things and fix things myself. My father has taught me a lot over the years and I thought of no better way to share the knowledge I've learned by blogging it...

This blog will be completely random and in no way is this an official instruction or troubleshooting manual for the items I post. If you break something attempting one of my methods for resolution, I am in no way liable. These are merely suggestions from personal experience.

Please feel free to comment on any post and provide suggestions or improvement for ways to do things. I find myself reaching out to many other blogs and websites for assistance because I hate paying for something I don't have to. If activity on the blog from me goes stale for awhile don't be surprised, I have a lot going on at any given time and have a difficult time finding "free time" for the internet.

Enjoy the Blog!

Joe