Upholstered Panels

ok, so a HUGE part of this remodel has been asking the question "how can we use as much of what they already have" and do something new and fun with it? just because you're redoing your house, doesn't mean you need to throw everything away and start over!

well, one challenge has been my parents' current bedroom suite. the bed is a king size monstrosity that they have had since they got married. the wood is really dark and it can just be overbearing. well, step 1 is to pare it down. we are letting my dad keep his wardrobe from the set and only using one (instead of both) nightstands. step 2 was figuring out what to do with the headboard. it is a huge wall unit of sorts and has all these panels. our first thought was to upholster each individual panel but that seemed like it was going to be too precise for us. long story short, we decided we would upholster the entire head board. but given the construction of the headboard, we were allowed to upholster panels that we will slide up into the headboard (this will all make much more sense when the after picture is posted with the upstairs before and afters).

so here are the very easy steps on how to do a project like this:

step 1:

get all your pieces. you will need your fabric, batting, panels (if necessary). you will also need scissors and a staple gun.

step 2:

lay the panel (or whatever is to be upholstered) on the batting and cut around it, allowing for the length to be folded around to the back.

step 3:

staple the batting to the back of the paneling, pulling it tight as you go.

step 4: repeat step 3, only this time with the fabric. (when using a striped fabric, it's even more important to make sure you get it straight. luckily, our stripes are so close together you go cross-eyed if you look at it too long so it's not as obvious if you do mess up)

step 5:

admire.

i love using liz as a model.