Burlap for a Bed

One of my younger brothers has lived with the hubby and me for almost two years. It's been a very interesting past two years. Imagine suddenly being the parents to a teenager; completely skipping the whole growing up thing. I can't say I haven't been the parent to him before because I was like a third parent to him when he was born. He's 11 years younger than me. It's been a growing experience for the three of us.

As a senior in high school he is much more concerned with recording his music and hanging out with his friends than doing things like cleaning his room or sometimes (urgh) doing his homework. As a teacher, the second part really gets to me and the other part just drives me nuts. I was that girl that always made her bed in the morning and cleaned her room for pure enjoyment. Cleaning gives me a great feeling of accomplishment. You can actually see the results immediately. Well, in order to alleviate a bit of my anxiety over his extreme messiness, I've been working to tweak his room to a point where even if it is messy, there will be something that keeps it looking at least a little done up. Crazy, I know.

On my quest to do such a thing, I have made and hung new curtains, bought new linens, new lampshade, new rug, and today a new DIY headboard.

Inspired by the youngsters over at This Young House, I decided to make my own headboard using a frame used to stretch a canvas (bought at an art store for $15), some burlap I already had laying around (I know, burlap? great texture), a roll of upholstery nails (bought with a 40% coupon), batting bought with a coupon from Joanns, and my handy stapler.

Start with the frame and the batting. Staple it all the way around.

After the stapling of the batting, continue with the fabric.

Make sure to keep it nice and taute

Then, add the nails around 3 sides.

Final step, hang up with nails as you would any other canvas.

All done!

I am in love with it. Of course the teenager wasn't as thrilled by the change. Teenagers. Soon enough the room will be clean all the time. I'll miss him when he goes to college. =(