**Building a Headboard: A Step-by-Step Guide**

As I ran my hand over the wooden slats, I could feel the slight unevenness that came from using a sander to knock off some of the rough edges. It was intentional, as I wanted to maintain the rustic look and avoid any potential hazards. The headboard was going to be made from a pallet wood slat pattern, which I had designed myself. With its unique blend of natural beauty and DIY charm, it would be the perfect addition to any bedroom.

**Cutting and Preparing the Legs**

To create the legs for my headboard, I needed two 2x4s that were cut down to a length of 54 inches each. Using a table saw, I trimmed the rounded edges off the lumber, ensuring a clean and square finish. I wanted each leg to be sturdy and durable, providing a solid foundation for the headboard. To achieve this, I also attached some additional support beams made from 1x4s and 1x6s.

**Assembling the Headboard**

To assemble the headboard, I began by attaching the legs to the back of the main pattern section using pocket holes and screws. This ensured a flush fit between the front and back panels. Next, I attached a finishing frame made from 2x4 lumber, which would provide additional support for the top panel. By pre-drilling some holes and screwing it together with long screws, I created a strong bond that would withstand the weight of any mattress or bedding.

**Adding Details and Finishing Touches**

Once the main structure was complete, I added some finishing touches to give my headboard its unique character. Using a natural stain, I brought out the grain and color of the pallet wood, creating a beautiful and rustic finish. A satin polyurethane coating protected the wood from scratches and spills, while also adding a touch of sheen to the overall design.

**The Final Product**

After completing all the necessary steps, my headboard was finally complete. It had a herringbone pattern in the center, which added an extra layer of visual interest to the design. With its unique blend of natural beauty and DIY charm, I knew that this headboard would be a hit with anyone who saw it.

**Conclusion**

Building a headboard is a fun and rewarding project that can add a personal touch to any bedroom. By following these steps and using some basic materials, you too can create your own unique headboard that reflects your personal style. Whether you're a seasoned DIY enthusiast or just starting out, this guide provides all the necessary information to help you get started on your next woodworking project.

**Additional Resources**

If you enjoyed this article, be sure to check out my other woodworking projects and tutorials at I Like Wood.com. You can also find me on Facebook, Instagram, and Patreon, where I share updates, behind-the-scenes insights, and exclusive content for my supporters.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey I'm Bob and I like to make stuff today I'm going to show you how to make a king-size headboard start with a sheet of 1/2 in plywood it doesn't really matter what you use this is going to be the backing for your pattern and you're not even going to see it now you find the center of the board draw a line and then from that point draw some 45° angles this is going to serve as a guide once you start laying out the pattern I went through my stack of pallet wood to find the narrowest piece which in my case was about 3 in so I ran all the pieces over the table saw to trim off one rough Edge then I set the fence to 3 in and ran everything over again this would give me a nice clean Edge on both sides and all the pieces would be the exact same width next I just used the miter saw to trim off the ends of all the pieces so that everything would sit very squarely together take some time to lay out the pieces to find the pattern that you like once you've got that pattern go ahead and put some glue down and then line up the center pieces to the lines that you drew initially you want to make sure that these are in the right place because they set the angle and the placement for everything else put some glue down and then nail them down with Brads these take no load at all so they don't really have to be connected very well and the glue and simple Brads is more than enough you want to make sure that the pieces overhang the edges um anywhere that you can and anywhere that you can't you can come back and fill in later with a scrap Now flip it over and use the plywood as a guide don't cut the plywood just cut the pallet pieces off along the edges these pieces that you're cutting off are going to be the filler that you use to fill the gaps in your pattern now use those pieces to fill in the center section you'll also want to fill in any of the the gaps that were created by the other pallet pieces not being long enough I had a couple of them and it actually turned out to look pretty cool filling them in with these little pieces now go back and trim off the excess again there should be a lot less to cut off this time but it's the same principle next you need to find the center of your pattern but it's not actually the highest Corner that you see it's halfway between where the pieces on the left and the pieces on the right overlap and if you look at it you'll understand what I mean now once you find that center point measure halfway out on each end and then trim off any excess you have on both sides you'll probably have one side that's longer than the other now I ran over it with the sander just to knock off some of the rough stuff um you could make this a lot smoother if you wanted to but in this case I wanted to keep it kind of rough and just take off anything that was dangerous then you're going to want to cut some 2x4s down to length for the legs now in this case it was going to be 54 in tall so I went ahead and trimmed two pieces down and then ran them through the table saw to knock off the rounded Edge that kind of comes standard on 2x4s these days I wanted to have a nice Square leg and once I knock those Corners off it didn't look like it was a 2x4 it looked like an actual nice piece of lumber I also cut down some 1X fours and 1X sixes for a support on the legs and details on the top which you'll see in a minute I Made pocket holes in the back of the pattern section to attach the legs I wanted the front of the pattern section and the legs to be flush so I made sure to put it together upside down I set the 1x4 in place evenly spaced on both ends and made sure that it was flush with the back of the legs so that the headboard will set against the wall I made sure to counters sync the screws so that they go all the way down because there's going to be a second layer of wood go on top of this lip put some glue on that piece and then lay on the thicker 1x6 this was cut down to around 4 in I believe I used Brads because they were easy to fill the holes and not as obvious as screws would be I cut a 2x4 down to the same width as the pattern section this is going to act as the finishing frame from underneath the pattern I squared off the edges of this one just like I did the legs on the table saw but I wanted this one to be a 1 and 1/2 Square block I added a pocket hole to each end and screwed it into the legs now ideally this piece won't even be seen it should be behind the top of the mattress but while you're screwing it in you would just want to make sure that it's flushed with the front of the pattern section I pre-drilled some holes and then drove some long screws down into the plywood and the pallet wood sorry about the focus here but I was putting some pocket holes into the 1x6 which would act as a support going between the bottom of the two legs like before I wanted this support to be flushed with the front of the legs so I used a clamp and a 2x4 to create a surface there for them both to lay on while I screwed it together and that was all for construction now for finish I used a natural stain which I'm really enjoying lately because it doesn't change the color of the wood it just brings out the Grain and the natural color that's already there I only did one coat of poly over this because it doesn't really get handled much it's not going to take much wear and tear and I made sure to use a satin finish because I really like the natural look at the wood so when you're all done you get this now I put a herring bone pattern here in the center uh because this was a commission piece and that's what the client wanted uh you can put any pattern here in the center it's not going to change the construction it's just going to change how you you know lay the pattern out and so there's a lot of different types of looks you could get with this same basic headboard thanks for watching and I hope you like this video and if you did please share it share it on Facebook on Twitter on uh Pinterest on Instagram however you share stuff with the people that you know please share this one if you want to see more projects and all sorts of other stuff that I do be sure to check out iak stuff.com everything I do ends up at I like.com these videos and blog posts and free plans and all sorts of stuff you can have a conversation with me on Facebook I do a lot of communication there and I like to see pictures of what you guys are making um so you know check me out over there I've met a lot of awesome people on Instagram and I love uh seeing what people are making and talking to people over there so be sure to check that out if you would like to support my projects be sure to check out patreon it's the best way for you to help me buy tools and buy supplies so that I can keep doing these thanks for watching guys and I'll have another video coming up very soon and I'll see you next timehey I'm Bob and I like to make stuff today I'm going to show you how to make a king-size headboard start with a sheet of 1/2 in plywood it doesn't really matter what you use this is going to be the backing for your pattern and you're not even going to see it now you find the center of the board draw a line and then from that point draw some 45° angles this is going to serve as a guide once you start laying out the pattern I went through my stack of pallet wood to find the narrowest piece which in my case was about 3 in so I ran all the pieces over the table saw to trim off one rough Edge then I set the fence to 3 in and ran everything over again this would give me a nice clean Edge on both sides and all the pieces would be the exact same width next I just used the miter saw to trim off the ends of all the pieces so that everything would sit very squarely together take some time to lay out the pieces to find the pattern that you like once you've got that pattern go ahead and put some glue down and then line up the center pieces to the lines that you drew initially you want to make sure that these are in the right place because they set the angle and the placement for everything else put some glue down and then nail them down with Brads these take no load at all so they don't really have to be connected very well and the glue and simple Brads is more than enough you want to make sure that the pieces overhang the edges um anywhere that you can and anywhere that you can't you can come back and fill in later with a scrap Now flip it over and use the plywood as a guide don't cut the plywood just cut the pallet pieces off along the edges these pieces that you're cutting off are going to be the filler that you use to fill the gaps in your pattern now use those pieces to fill in the center section you'll also want to fill in any of the the gaps that were created by the other pallet pieces not being long enough I had a couple of them and it actually turned out to look pretty cool filling them in with these little pieces now go back and trim off the excess again there should be a lot less to cut off this time but it's the same principle next you need to find the center of your pattern but it's not actually the highest Corner that you see it's halfway between where the pieces on the left and the pieces on the right overlap and if you look at it you'll understand what I mean now once you find that center point measure halfway out on each end and then trim off any excess you have on both sides you'll probably have one side that's longer than the other now I ran over it with the sander just to knock off some of the rough stuff um you could make this a lot smoother if you wanted to but in this case I wanted to keep it kind of rough and just take off anything that was dangerous then you're going to want to cut some 2x4s down to length for the legs now in this case it was going to be 54 in tall so I went ahead and trimmed two pieces down and then ran them through the table saw to knock off the rounded Edge that kind of comes standard on 2x4s these days I wanted to have a nice Square leg and once I knock those Corners off it didn't look like it was a 2x4 it looked like an actual nice piece of lumber I also cut down some 1X fours and 1X sixes for a support on the legs and details on the top which you'll see in a minute I Made pocket holes in the back of the pattern section to attach the legs I wanted the front of the pattern section and the legs to be flush so I made sure to put it together upside down I set the 1x4 in place evenly spaced on both ends and made sure that it was flush with the back of the legs so that the headboard will set against the wall I made sure to counters sync the screws so that they go all the way down because there's going to be a second layer of wood go on top of this lip put some glue on that piece and then lay on the thicker 1x6 this was cut down to around 4 in I believe I used Brads because they were easy to fill the holes and not as obvious as screws would be I cut a 2x4 down to the same width as the pattern section this is going to act as the finishing frame from underneath the pattern I squared off the edges of this one just like I did the legs on the table saw but I wanted this one to be a 1 and 1/2 Square block I added a pocket hole to each end and screwed it into the legs now ideally this piece won't even be seen it should be behind the top of the mattress but while you're screwing it in you would just want to make sure that it's flushed with the front of the pattern section I pre-drilled some holes and then drove some long screws down into the plywood and the pallet wood sorry about the focus here but I was putting some pocket holes into the 1x6 which would act as a support going between the bottom of the two legs like before I wanted this support to be flushed with the front of the legs so I used a clamp and a 2x4 to create a surface there for them both to lay on while I screwed it together and that was all for construction now for finish I used a natural stain which I'm really enjoying lately because it doesn't change the color of the wood it just brings out the Grain and the natural color that's already there I only did one coat of poly over this because it doesn't really get handled much it's not going to take much wear and tear and I made sure to use a satin finish because I really like the natural look at the wood so when you're all done you get this now I put a herring bone pattern here in the center uh because this was a commission piece and that's what the client wanted uh you can put any pattern here in the center it's not going to change the construction it's just going to change how you you know lay the pattern out and so there's a lot of different types of looks you could get with this same basic headboard thanks for watching and I hope you like this video and if you did please share it share it on Facebook on Twitter on uh Pinterest on Instagram however you share stuff with the people that you know please share this one if you want to see more projects and all sorts of other stuff that I do be sure to check out iak stuff.com everything I do ends up at I like.com these videos and blog posts and free plans and all sorts of stuff you can have a conversation with me on Facebook I do a lot of communication there and I like to see pictures of what you guys are making um so you know check me out over there I've met a lot of awesome people on Instagram and I love uh seeing what people are making and talking to people over there so be sure to check that out if you would like to support my projects be sure to check out patreon it's the best way for you to help me buy tools and buy supplies so that I can keep doing these thanks for watching guys and I'll have another video coming up very soon and I'll see you next time\n"