DIY Window Headboard

One room in the house that hasn't received much love since move-in is the guest room. It's been painted, and new bedding was purchased, but beyond that, it's been kind of... stagnant. One project I've been meaning to do for months now is to create a headboard to fill up some horribly blank wall space above the bed. 

Oh, and please pay no attention to those wispy sheer curtains on the window - those were left from the previous owners and have not yet been replaced. See, I told you this room has been on the backburner!

A couple of months ago, I bought this old, battered window at Habitat for Humanity's ReStore, not knowing exactly what to do with it, but I kept it in the guest room hoping to transform it into a headboard of sorts.

A few weeks ago, while looking for headboard inspiration, I came across the following photo on, where else, Pinterest. 

I loved the rustic, whimsical look, but knew I couldn't incorporate a busy pattern behind the window. The guest room's bedspread has a strong pattern going on already, so it would be best to keep my headboard project neutral. So, I went to Jo-Ann Fabric and purchased a couple yards of standard burlap to stick with the rustic theme.

Then, I came home, measured exactly how much burlap I would need, and cut away. You'll have to forgive the lack of illustration here, but I seem to have lost my photos of my cutting & attaching process. I promise, it was simple: I measured, cut to size, then attached it all by staple gun around the window frame. I finished by trimming off the excess burlap. A five-year-old could do this, people.

Or maybe even a cat.

I was happy with the burlap addition, but knew it needed something else. So, drawing upon my inspiration from Pinterest, I sewed a little bunting to drape over the window when hung. I loved the look of the bunting on the window even before it was hung, and hoped it would look great on the wall.

Then, Eric brought up a good point - if this were just a normal frame, the hanging would not be an issue. However, this window still had its glass in tact. Glass + drilling is usually not a good combination. We searched online for ideas to safely hang a somewhat heavy window to a wall, but it all seemed.... difficult. Finally, mostly because we are lazy DIYers, we just decided we were going to play roulette with drilling the window straight to the wall, and cross our fingers we wouldn't shatter glass all over ourselves in the process. Eric drilled first into the window itself - no broken glass! Then, with my muscles of steel, I held up the window up while Eric secured it to the wall.

Success!

To hang the window, we just used 2" construction screws, and screwed them at each corner.

The 2" screws definitely did the trick. This puppy is not falling off the wall anytime soon. Guests - you can feel safe sleeping under this thing!

For how simple this project ended up being, I'm so happy with the outcome. I love that I was able to find coordinating fabrics to make up the bunting that didn't clash horribly with the bedding. And although it's placed a little too high above the bed to technically be classified as a headboard, it just adds so much to that once-boring space at the head of the bed.

Here's a rough rundown of the total expenses:

Old window: $2.50 (purchased 1/2 price from ReStore)

Burlap: 2 yds @ $3.49: $6.98

2 bundles fat quarter fabric (on clearance): $9

20-pack 2" construction screws: $1.94

GRAND TOTAL: $20.42

But really, with all the leftover fabric and screws, I think the actual cost of used supplies has to be closer to, like, $12. 

So, now we're really making headway on our "forgotten" guestroom. And if we had any reservations at all, Mr. Pancakes cleared them up right away. As soon as the installation was hung, he hopped on the bed, inspected the new piece, and gave it two very enthusiastic paws up. Or, you know... tried to get our attention so we would go play fetch with him.