DIY – How to Build a Picket Fence Headboard

When trying to find creative ideas for your bedroom one of the best things to tweak is your headboard. You can create a whole new themed room based on your headboard. A great headboard idea would be a picket fence. This could be placed in a child’s room or a rustic country style room as well. For a child’s bedroom you can paint the pickets white or any color and thread fake daisies or vines through the spaces between the boards. You can also plant horses through the pickets for a young boy’s room. For a rustic room find either old pickets that have faded out, or take new pickets and rub them with sandpaper to rough them up, then paint them with crackle paint you can find at home depot. For a more severe and unique look you can also paint the pickets a high gloss black to go against a stark wall of white, red, or any jewel tone.

What you need:

– Fence Pickets (Used or New) – Make sure length will bring the pickets up and over your bed at least 2 feet
– Screws or Nails – Need approximately 4 – 8 per picket depending on length
– Paint or Stain of your choice
– Drill or Hammer
– Anchors if the headboard will not be attached to a bed frame or center with the studs in the wall

First before putting the headboard together you need to decide what kind of picket fencing you want. Are you looking for rustic? If you are then make sure the pickets are not smooth. If you are looking for a feminine touch make sure to sand the boards down if they are not smooth. Also you need to decide whether the headboard is going to be fastened to your wall or the bed frame. After you have painted, sanded, or stressed your picket fence boards to your liking then you can start putting the headboard together.

You can do this in many ways if you want all the pickets right next to each other, or you can space the pickets a few inches which allows you to thread vines, flowers, or stuffed animals through it.

If fastening to your wall you want to start by starting at the center of your bed and work your way out, it looks fine if the headboard is a little larger that the bed but it looks odd if you have a weird gap in the middle because you ran out of room. Make sure to measure you pickets and the space you have so you know for certain how many will fit and how much space you want between the pickets. Now when fastening a picket to the wall use two screws 6-8 inches from the top, then move down about 18 inches and put two more. You don’t necessarily have to pre drill however it may make things easier. Now if you want the pickets to be a more cohesive unit, you will need to fasten the boards together with 2 pickets on the back as you would a fence. You can put the whole piece together then fasten to the wall. However if it will not be fastened to the studs in the wall you will need to make sure to put anchors in the wall first when you are planning and screwing it in. Then fasten it to the wall this will give it stability.

If you want to fasten the pickets to your bed frame it will need to be a wood bed frame. Then when fastening you will need to make sure to use two screws on each picket toward the bottom of the frame and two towards the top. If when done fastening it is not as stable as you like you can also then make sure to fasten one screw through each picket into your wall.

With a picket fence headboard you can make them as individual as you want it to be. Plus it is a unique and not terribly expensive way to spruce up a boring bed frame.