Headboards don't have to cost a whole bunch of money. With just about $70, you can build your own, or you can do what I did and rope your friend into assisting. Special thanks to Court Denham for his absolutely unpaid labor. Blogger Blair Culwell of The Fox and She did the original tutorial for theeverygirl.com. Find it at jfp.ms/headboard.

What You Need

Two two-by-fours for the height

Two two-by-fours for the width

A piece of plywood

Screws

Screwdriver

1/2-inch thick foam, enough to cover the plywood

Batting

Upholstery fabric, same size as batting or slightly larger

Staple gun

Staples

1. Measure how tall you want your headboard to be. Start from the floor and go to the spot on the wall above your bed that you want to be the top. Measure the width of your bed and add a couple of inches if you want the headboard to hang over the sides. To get the size of the upholstered part, measure from the top down to a couple of inches behind the bed. For my queen-sized bed, my frame was 5 feet wide by 4 feet tall with a plywood board that was 5 feet wide by 2 feet tall.

2. Assemble. Place your vertical pieces parallel to each other and put the other two between them perpendicularly. The top horizontal piece should align to the top of the vertical pieces, and the other horizontal piece should be at the bottom of your plywood measurement. Lay the plywood on top, making sure all edges are flush, and screw it into the frame. I used at least six screws on each side.

3. Upholster. Move the assembled frame out of the way and lay down the batting with the foam piece centered on top of it. Lay the frame on it, plywood-side down. Pull the batting around to the back and staple it onto the two-by-fours, going around and making it tight on all sides. Repeat this process with your fabric. Lay it pretty-side down and place the batting side of your frame in the middle. Staple around, pulling the fabric taught but not too tight. Watch out for wrinkles or waves that may form in the fabric if the tension gets uneven.

4. Attach. If your bed has a place to attach a headboard, drill holes into the legs of the headboard at the same height as the ones on the frame and attach it with a nut and bolt. If not, you can simply lean it between the head of your bed and the wall, and push your bed up against it.