DIY Painted Pallet Headboard

I wanted to make this project for so long and I finally made it. To be honest I hate the look of simple bed with no headboards and most of my life that’s I had. Ever time I saw those gorgeous beds I was like “Oh I want that bed”. I’ve always loved pallets so after I made my round up about DIY headboards on a budget I knew I had to make my own. I made a gorgeous painted pallet headboard of my own.

DIY Painted Pallet Headboard

I need to say this. I wasn’t alone in this. The final push I needed to make up my mind and make my Pallet headboard was Lisa’s tutorial from Recreated Designs. She had this amazing and creative way to make one and that was it! I was hooked! Also my dear hubby helped me all the way. It was such a fun time together.

I knew I wanted something on a budget, something simple, something pretty and something WHITE! I’m obsessed with white lately.

I need to be honest here. I don’t know if I did everything the right way. I only know I had a tight budget. I asked a carpenter that has made a few things for us, and he said it was ok. I’m sure there must be many other better ways to make this but I’m showing you the way I made it.

DIY Painted Pallet Headboard

I knew I wanted something on a budget, something simple, something pretty and something WHITE! I’m obsessed with white lately.

I also wanted to be able to easily dissemble it when I had to move out.

I have near home a home improvement store similar to Home Depot. They sell wood in long strips of wood about 3.9 mt. {156 In.} with a really good price. You can also choose the width and thickness. What Love the most is that they have cutting area where they will cut the wood to the correct length we desire for a small fee. I knew that was the place.

So this is how I made my pretty painted Pallet headboard.

Supplies:

6 wood boards 150 X 14 cm X 2 cm {59 X 5.5 X 0.8 In.} {I used pinewood because I love the wood marks and holes}.
2 pieces of wood 5 cm X 5 cm X 90 cm {2 x 2 x 35 In.} for supports on the back
6 sets of bed brackets {I used the screw type not the hook one. Also the store only had 4 so I had to improvise with corners}
Wood Screws {Lots of them. Usually corners and bed brackets brings their owns but just in case}
Screwdriver
White mate indoors and outdoors paint.
Transparent mate sealant spray.
Thick brush.
A Towel {one that you can dispose later}
Wood sandpaper.

I got the wood cut at the home improvement store all in the measures I needed them.

*If you a more rustic look, you can check Lisa’s tutorial, she gives you great tips to achieve it. Mine is not so rustic.

The fist step is to sand down the edges and corners of the each board so it won’t be so sharp and it kind of give a small rustic look.

Once each piece has been sanded up, clean each strip to remove all the dust.

I wanted for the wood marks to be visible and yet a white look. You can create this effect by watering down the paint. I made it 1:1 proportion of paint and water.

Start painting each board. To get the look I wanted it took 3 coats letting each coat to dry for a few minutes.

You might ask why watering the paint down if I’m applying so many coats. Well the paint as they come is really thick and it would cover completely the wood in one coat. When you water it down, the wood absorbs slowly the paint and water in each coat and reveals the marks. Also you measure how much you want the white to show up.

Let the paint dry for a couple hours.

Then with a damp towel rub lightly the each board. This makes the paint more even and allows you to reveal more some wood marks in specific places that might have too much paint.

Let it dry again completely and spray the transparent sealant. It dries really quick so this is an easy process. Just to be sure let it dry for about 30 min so the smell goes away a bit too.

The final step is adding the support pieces.

Lay all the boards together back side up in the order you want them.

Measure about 20 cm {8 to 10 In.} from the edges toward the center and draw a line along all the boards. This helps to have a guide to keep boards in place and then to place the support piece.

As I said I wanted the pallet headboard to be easy to dissemble, so we used bed brackets. I also didn’t want screw heads visible and this was the best option. But you can just screw them together. This part is totally up to you. I’ll explain how we did it with the bed brackets.

Place the support piece in place following the line but the line should be visible on the end side.

Place the bed brackets between 2 boards. With a pencil, mark borders and holes on both: boards and support piece. For better results do this process with all the brackets and corners.

Start screwing on all the pieces.

This is how I wanted it to be:

But this how I had to make it because I couldn’t find any more bed brackets anywhere near home. I’m so control freak and paranoid that I even added those flat joints just in case LOL. My hubby was like “UGH”.