Building the headboard involves many of the same techniques as used in creating the platform bed footboard. The primary difference will be how it is attached to the platform bed frame. The footboard is fastened to the bed frame itself. The headboard, however will be raised a good two feet above the top of the mattress. Instead of using a large backer panel that starts at the floor and goes to the top of the headboard, we’ll use posts to raise the headboard off of the ground.
The headboard will consist of the following:
- Two posts, each approximately 48″ tall.
I used an 8′ 2×3, cut in half to create two 4′ posts. However, knowing that these posts would be visible when viewing the sides of the bed frame, I wanted to make them more appealing than your typical framing stud. I used a thickness plan to plane down the rounded edges of the 2×3 essentially squaring it off. - A plywood backer that would be placed in-between the posts, not on top of them. We do this so the plies on the plywood are hidden. The plywood backer will be the finished width of the frame, minus 5″ (the width of two 2×3’s).
- The face frame.
The face frame will be identical to the footboard faceframe except for two things:- It may be taller, depending how tall you want your headboard to be.
- The two outside stiles will be 3″ wide, to cover the joint where the post and plywood backer meet.
Our post on creating the footboard details how to attach the face frame to the plywood backer. The challenge with the headboard is fastening the large backer between the posts. Since the face frame will provide stability once attached, the method you use to fasten the backer to the posts does not have to be “rock solid”.
You can drill pocket holes into the sides of the plywood backer, then fasten it to the posts with pocket hole screws.
Many woodworkers will suggest using a coarse screw thread for soft woods, which is what you’ll most likely use for the posts (considerably more cost effective). However, I’ve used fine thread screws on all of my projects, whether it be through soft wood, hardwood or plywood. Fine thread screws also work well on MDF. so if you were to purchase a bulk batch of pocket hole screws, I’d recommend going with a fine thread.
On another note, if you do wish to purchase pocket hole screws in bulk, 1-1/4″ length will work in almost every case. I prefer to join with 1-1/2″ whenever possible, but 1-1/4″ avoids the risk of poking through the face of the material when you decide fasten that way.
Once you have the backer fastened to the posts, proceed to attach the face frame over top. You’ll now see the importance of using 3″ width outside stiles.
