A DIY Priority — Make A Headboard For Our Bedroom

I warned y’all a few days ago that I’d be pretty scattered, jumping from project to project, and from the house to the condo and back, until the condo is finished.  But not even I would have guessed that a headboard for our bedroom would become a serious priority right now.  But it’s definitely on my top five list, and probably hovering around the #3 spot.  I’m hoping to make time this weekend to start on it, and hopefully even finish it.
So what’s the rush?  Well, the season.  Thank goodness we live in Texas, because our weather has been pretty mild so far, with only just a handful of cold days and nights.  And of course, to a Texan, a really cold day is anything in the 40’s or below, and a really cold night is…well…the same. 

But still, these few days of cold weather that we’ve had have really highlighted, once again, the fact that we live in an old, drafty house with old wood single-pane windows.  And we still have no HVAC system.  Or furnace.  Yeah…it’ll be an interesting winter. 

So every night I sit in bed with my pillows leaning against the window (remember…the head of our bed is under the big window in our bedroom), and on cold nights my neck just freezes.  And if my neck is cold, all of me is cold.  So I’d like to stop leaning against the window, and at least have the insulation of an upholstered headboard between my back and the cold, drafty window.
The other day when I was at Hancock Fabrics, I noticed that they had their Whisper Vinyl (my absolute favorite vinyl because it’s so soft!) on sale for 40% off, so I picked up a couple of yards in the navy blue.  Now I just have to decide what to do with it.  We already have a bed that I built right after we moved into our house, and it’s a dark stained wood.

So I’m picturing an upholstered headboard with a wood frame.  I’ve found four different designs that I really like, so I just need to narrow it down to the one that I’d like to use in my bedroom.  That’s a bit difficult since I don’t really have anything else done in there, and I’m still in the planning stages with the whole, overall design of the room.
The first one is this square tufted design.  I think this would be considered biscuit tufting, which I’ve never done before and would love to try…

 

via Belfort Furniture

I like that that one has a bit more of a contemporary style, because y’all know I like a little contemporary/modern mixed in with my traditional.

This one is similar, but the tufted sections are much larger and fewer.  I like the understated look.

via Interiors By E & J

Diamond tufting is always a favorite of mine, but I don’t think I possess the talent or the patience to try traditional tufting with all of the folds and deep tufts with vinyl or leather. I know there are people who can do that, but I’m not one of them.  This variation might be an option, though.  The diamonds aren’t created by folds, but are created by seams.  It also gives a slightly less-traditional-more-modern look to diamond tufting.

via Overstock.com

And then finally, there’s this design with no tufting at all, and a contrasting border with nailhead trim around the inside edge of the wood frame.  I think this might be my favorite, which is strange because…well…no tufting.  I guess the nailhead trim makes up for the lack of tufting.

via iFurn

That last one is very similar to this one from Tobi Fairley that I’ve had saved in my inspiration/DIY file for quite some time, except that the one above has a wider wood frame…

via Tobi Fairley

So I need to make this decision in the next few days, because I really do want to get started this weekend.  The weather is supposed to warm up again over the next week or so, and our coldest weather generally doesn’t hit until January, but I don’t want to put this off too long.  I want to be prepared so that when our coldest weather does hit, my neck won’t have to be two inches away from a cold, drafty window.