Tufted Headboard

One minute you find yourself cleaning poop off the wall, a lil' bum, and a lil' hand (TM I? Just another great benefit of being a mom!) the next minute you're knocking off a Ballard Designs headboard! They call me supermom crazy! 

(Woa coloring! I promise it's not neon green!)

I love the result, but think twice about making your own.  I started thinking this would be an easy project... ha! I laugh at myself now.  It's pretty time consuming and my forearms and fingers are killing me today!  Thank goodness the hubby came to the rescue with a 2nd pair of hands or I would still be tufting today.  Maybe I should clarify, upholstering the headboard- pretty easy, tufting the headboard- pretty ridiculous! Would I do it differently next time? No way! Love how it turned out, but it was definitely not the easiest project on the block. 

Sadly, I was not feeling the snapping pictures along the way.  So there's no tutorial, here's a couple others I found online.  Ticking and Toile, Centsational Girl, Green Your Decor.

Here's the break down on my cost and a few extra tips...

• Sheet of plywood cut down to size at Home Depot only $10 because I had to wait a little while and didn't take the whole thing home. LOVE that store- they are so helpful and generous!
• Cheap Mattress pad cut in half and doubled up- $15 (This reduces the cost drastically and worked great!)
• Fabric- $5 (I used a cheap twin sheet from Walmart and just doubled it up. This also lowered cost)
• Package of Batting (which I used for other projects as well)- $5
• Spray glue- $5 (already had on hand, and will use in the future)
• Loooong heavy duty needle- $1
• Upholstery thread- $2 (already had on hand, and again will use in the future)
• Washers/Screws/Nails- $2ish (already had all on hand)

Tools used were...

• Jigsaw- To cut out the design.  I free handed one side, then used a piece of large paper to duplicate on the other side.
• Drill- To drill the holes in the back for tufting.  Make the holes LARGE, it will make finding the hole so much easier when you are coming back through- learned that the hard way. :)
• Staple gun- for attaching the batting and fabric to the plywood.
• Ruler- To mark all of the spots for tufts. I actually found a quilting ruler/guide worked wonders!

Now we just need pillows and wall art!