DIY Brass Headboard, Part 1
The top photo is so cute I had to post it. Within hours after taking it, we got rid of that bed (but kept the kid!) because I am making a headboard! This is a simple DIY project that I’ve already gotten started on and I hope it turns out well.
As I mentioned when I listed out my 2021 projects, I have been wanting to get a new bed. Daniel bought our bed before we met and I think it’s just time we got a new one. We recently bought this platform bed from The Zinus Store on Amazon. We were looking for a basic platform bed with absolutely no frills or details (the point is the headboard will be the star) and this one was reviewed well by Wirecutter (see here).
And now for the pretty part. My idea for the headboard is to essentially have a sheet of aged brass as the backdrop/piece of art behind our bed.
I was inspired by a DIY brass wet bar that Alison Victoria created on her HGTV show “Windy City Rehab” (see here for the DIY). It’s been on my mind for years but I wasn’t sure where I wanted to use this brass trick. And then I started thinking about a headboard. So here we are.
The first part was to build the actual headboard with wood, and then adhere brass and age it. Then, hang it.
For the actual headboard, I had two pieces of birch plywood leftover from the media console I made. They were 4 feet by 2 feet and 3/4″ thick, so I glued them together to make one long sheet that is 8 feet by 2 feet at 3/4″ thick. This is the perfect length to span the wall behind our bed between the radiator pictured on the left above and the wall pictured on the right.
To hang this heavy piece of wood, I built a French cleat using scrap wood, also 3/4″ thick, that a neighbor had. The French cleat (see here for more on what that is, but you can also buy them pre-made) is almost 5 feet long. I cut the French cleat using a circular saw since I don’t have a table saw and screwed one piece into the headboard and will screw the other piece into the wall in order to hang the headboard.
Once the building of the wood was actually done, I moved on to the brass.
I ordered pure metal tooling foil in brass from Blick (see here). With each sheet at 12″ wide and 10 feet long, I ordered two.
I used wood glue that I already had to glue the sheets down – two sheets side by side going the long way – and clamped down the brass sheets to help them stick to the wood. I also hammered in nails in certain places where the brass didn’t adhere as well.
And then I aged the brass by mixing 1 Tbsp of salt with 1 cup of white vinegar and spraying it all over the full headboard.
I’ll share what this looks like when it’s all done and set up. Wish me luck!
