How to make a louver door headboard...

If you follow my boards on Pinterest, you've see that I've been adding headboard ideas......I've also been a little "pin happy!"   

We recently switched to a bigger mattress and had to ditch our bed frame. So, I currently have a bare wall as a headboard....and you all know how much I love bare walls!

My friend, Faith, emailed me last week with this idea for a headboard.  I've seen it other places, but I think that she did an excellent tutorial!

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When we moved to our present house a year and a half ago we decided to “retire” the headboard/footboard that we’d had since we were first married.   It just didn’t fit our décor anymore. 

Here's our bed before:

The idea came to me one day as I looked with disgust at some ugly bi-fold doors that the previous owner of our home had installed in what I thought was a very awkward location.  It occurred to me that louvers on the doors kinda looked like louvered shutters and louvered shutters would go nicely in our room…as a headboard!  

I had plans printed from ThisOldHouse.com, but we tweaked them a bit. 

First, we measured how tall we wanted our finished headboard.  Then, we got out the tools and got busy.  The top of the doors needed to be evened up a bit.  One set had more space before the louvers than the other did. 

Then, we cut both sets of doors to the length that we previously decided upon.   

Next, we used some scrap wood that we had to brace across the bottom of the doors and then another scrap to brace down the middle of the two sets. 

At first my hubby said no-way when I mentioned that I wanted crown molding across the top of the doors.   Both of us have had bad experiences with cutting trim and getting those, crazy angles.  I did some quick searching and came up with an alternative that make things SO much simpler!  There’s a product out there called Flip Face. It’s crown molding that’s double sided.  When you make your 45 degree angle cut all you have to do is flip it upside down and it forms a corner.  Only one cut!  SO easy!  Another trick is to place it in your miter box (or on your miter saw) exactly like it’s supposed to go on the wall or wherever.

We made the cuts, and nailed the pieces together and then onto the doors using finishing nails.  Then, we realized we had a little problem.  Our plan was to put a 1x6 board on top of the crown molding, but we were afraid the molding would spit and plus, the 1x6 was a little warped.  (Why we didn’t see that at Lowe’s I don’t know).  Luckily, the width of the white doors was the perfect size to make up the difference, so I lopped off a couple of pieces from the extras and nailed them on top of the doors.

Then, we nailed the 1x6 onto those pieces and flipped it over and nailed from the front of the molding into the 1x6. 

All that was left was to prime and spray paint it.  We installed it onto the bedrails with some screws and fender washers! 

The room is still in a work in progress, but we won’t be losing any more pillows!  We had a great time building this together and I think it was money well spent!  We’re both REALLY proud of ourselves!

Total for the project: $39.48

Set of louvered bi-fold doors: $12.50 (we had one already)

Flip Face Crown molding: $11.84

4D Finishing Nails: $2.78

Fender washers (all they had was a BIG box): $6.58

1x6: $5.78

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Thanks so much, Faith!

Here are some of my other headboard ideas that I've been pinning....

Shanty 2 Chic

Simply Sadie Jane

(She also has a tutorial for that amazing bedding!)

Remodelaholic

(Made from cabinet doors!)

If you like these ideas, then c'mon over to Pinterest and checkout my other boards! 

 If you'd like an invite to join Pinterest, just email me 

and I'll send you one!