Shopping for Upholstered Headboards
Shopping for upholstered headboards can be a pleasurable task. After all, you are looking for a cozy spot where you can curl up with a book, a soft place to rest your head and a bold visual addition to your bedroom design. Upholstered headboards come in endless shapes, sizes, colors and textures. In general, the more detail your headboard contains, the busier your headboard feels. For example, features include the curves and cut outs along the top line, the amount of tufting, the patterns on the upholstery, the amount of different materials involved if it is an upholstered patchwork, and the texture of the buttons and any wood trim around the top or edges of the headboard. A busy headboard can be the perfect statement to draw the eye to the bed in an otherwise more neutral room, but it can feel over-the-top in more dynamic spaces. Consider the look you are going for when you are shopping for upholstered headboards to choose the right style for you.
Princess Chic
Choose a giant, elaborately curved headboard upholstered in deep magenta velvet and tufted with flat gold buttons for a teenage girl's bedroom. Pair the look with black and cream sheeting and pink and purple velvet throw pillows for a royal retreat for the princess in your life.
Hip Pastel
A soft geometric print on a simple untufted rectangular headboard is suitable for a guest bedroom in a young family's country house. Match this look with light wood dressers and side tables and a big, simple unframed mirror for effortless comfort and quiet style.
Modern Folk
Custom embroidery enhances a tall square headboard. Choose pillows with matching embroidery. The design might be Eastern European opulent or South American vibrant. If you already have fabric you love, DIY a headboard following online tutorials. It is a low-cost way of highlighting the fabric and creating a personalized piece.
Twin to King
Choose a set of matching headboards for twin beds in a guest bedroom. Select headboards upholstered in an oversized black and white fleur-de-lis that are symmetrical and designed to look like a king-sized headboard cut down the middle. Push them together to create a king sized bed from two twins for guests.
Vertical Stripes
Upholstery fabrics patch-worked into vertical stripes in two shades of the same color can make a headboard look ornate and contemporary at once. Two shades of yellow cotton paired with white eyelet sheeting and a sunny yellow coverlet is cheerful during summer and winter months. Two shades of red velvet upholstery paired with silvery sheeting, dark red bolster pillows and several heavily embroidered throws make a sensual respite.
Big Statement
A tall, narrow headboard creates a focal point in the bedroom. Choose upholstery that stands out against the wall color. Try a bold red and white animal printed headboard against warm gray walls. Or a royal blue and yellow print against toile de jouy wallpaper. Tall tufted headboards look more formal that plain varieties.
Hang It Up
Create a contemporary headboard by hanging upholstered wood directly on the wall over the bed, exposing a strip of the wall color between the bed and the headboard. This is a great option for creating a clean look in a modern room. Try red canvas with pink canvas-covered button tufting in a child's bedroom, or green cotton velvet against vintage wallpaper with an elaborate printed design.
Creative Kids' Rooms
Shop for unusual shapes like fire truck fronts and fairy castles for a special headboard in a child's room. Make your own headboards with plywood and a jigsaw to create unique shapes such as a horizontal lightning bolt or an ocean wave. Upholster them in fabrics that enhance the look. Consider a polka dotted cat headboard, or a bright blue canvas choo-choo train.
Basic and Bright
A high-contrast bedroom can feel modern and optimistic. Pair a headboard upholstered in solid turquoise with a wall painted canary yellow. Try a white headboard tufted with black buttons against a candy apple red wall. A light blue velvet headboard stands out against deep burgundy wallpaper. A subtle silver metallic sheen can look great against a muted ochre wall.
Bamboo Frame
Upholstered headboards aren't always all about the fabric. Choose a beautiful bamboo frame with simple cream canvas for a natural, soothing feeling in a subdued bedroom.
Whole Bed Luxury
Some bedframes are upholstered all the way around, including the sides and footboard. This luxurious feel works best in rooms full of lush colors and textures. Find high-sheen woven designs to contrast with elaborately detailed wallpaper prints in a Victorian renovation.
Nailhead Style
A rectangular headboard covered in a natural woven fiber and finished with nailheads in tarnished silver all around the border is a solid, austere look for a masculine bedroom. For an artistic update, use nailheads to create a pattern on a plain headboard. A horse's head can be playful; an abstract pattern can look restful.
Print Paradise
Upholstered headboards give you a great opportunity to bring colorful patterns into neutral rooms in an organized-feeling way. Use a black, white, red and green tropical print on two twin headboards in a room with neutral walls and natural bamboo blinds to give an average guest room character. Try red fabric with white polka dots in a child's bedroom for a look that can go straight through the teen years. Plaids are another excellent upholstery fabric for headboards. Deep green and navy blue plaid looks handsome against dark wood paneled walls; light blue and yellow plaid is ideal in a Cape Cod beach house.
Boutique Cool
Seek out limited-edition screen-printed fabrics to showcase on an upholstered headboard. Look for woodworkers who can build handcrafted designs customized to meet your needs. Your bed is an excellent place to indulge in a look you adore that is made of high-quality materials by skilled artisans. Take your time shopping and mulling over ideas until you settle on an upholstered headboard you love.
