I’m the least crafty person I’ve ever met. Seriously. Not only do I NOT have the patience for crafting, but I also hate getting dirty, using paint or glue, kneeling on the floor, going to the craft store, waiting for things to dry (Sally Hansen Insta-Dri nail polish FTW) and picking up paper/fabric/glitter off the floor. I’m just not built for crafting.

The ironic thing is, I’m kind of obsessed with DIY projects. Not like, reindeer cookies or knitting, but things like “DIY coat racks” or “DIY complete bathroom renovations.” I’m pretty sure that last one isn’t actually on Pinterest – but we’re attempting it anyway. Update coming next week with before/after shots – it’s REALLY close to being done!!!

But I guess technically I should be calling these projects MYHDI. Which is a ridiculously long acronym I just made up for “Make Your Husband Do It.” It’s like DIY except you don’t have to get dirty, touch paint or glue, or pick things up off the floor. Depending on your husband though you may have to…ok I’ won’t go there. Nothing in life is free, I’ll just leave it at that. Especially when you decide to change your mind about a paint color after the entire room has already been painted.

Anyway I’ve been wanting to get a headboard for the bed in our guest room because the way the room is set up, the bed is up against a window, and it feels weird to prop pillows up on a window. I’m sure it’s fine but it feels unsafe, and unfinished. In our old house the head of the bed was against a nice, solid wall – so it hasn’t been an issue until now.

Well I went on all my favorite bargain sites (craigslist, wayfair, etc.) and the cheapest queen sized headboard I could find was over 100 bucks, plus shipping. I know that probably sounds really cheap, but I wanted to spend approximately zero on this project, so buying new (or used) was out.

Next step, search DIY headboard on google. First, I found this. I read through about 5 steps before I realized these people were absolutely psycho – way out of my league. They used a jigsaw to custom cut two pieces of plywood that they liquid nailed together. Uh uh. No way. Already too many materials and I’m not waiting for glue to dry.

So then I found this, which is right up my alley. I’m actually a little bit obsessed with this girl’s blog because she is a super talented interior designer and she gets a ton of her stuff from Target, which, I mean, how can you not love? There are about 50k too many interior designers out there that say they create budget friendly designs and then they show you a $450 gold lacquered pumpkin (on sale from $650) and tell you it’s a steal. Yea, thanks but no thanks. This girl is more of the “buy a pumpkin from goodwill and spray paint it” variety – which, as long as Dan is doing the spray painting, I’m all about. So anyway, her tutorial looked easy, fast and cheap so I gave it a try and fellow non-crafters rejoice – this project is ACTUALLY easy!!

I spent about 20 minutes (not including the time I spent going back to the fabric store after I bought the wrong length fabric) and $36 on this headboard and I am pretty psyched with how it came out. Just to keep full disclosure here, the plywood we used for the headboard we found in the barn at our house, left by the previous owners. So that was free. If you need to buy plywood, it’ll run you another $15 bucks. Also, since Dan is super handy, he already owns a drill, lots of screws, and a staple gun – if you don’t have those things lying around, you will need to procure them.

Here’s how we did it – with a couple adjustments from the original tutorial on Danielle Oakey’s blog.

DIY Full/Queen Headboard Tutorial

1. Buy 2 yards of fabric and 4 yards of batting (the stuff you put in quilts)

2. Cut a 4×5 foot piece of plywood (they will cut it for you at Home Depot or Lowes if you ask, we nailed together two separate pieces we had laying around in the barn.)

3. Lay one layer of batting out on the floor and place the plywood on top of it, staple the batting to the back of the plywood to secure it

4. Repeat step 3 with another layer of batting (you can also use foam instead of batting if you want a more plush headboard, but it costs more)

5. Lay out your fabric (with the front of the fabric facing down) and place the plywood on top of it, batting side down. Staple the fabric to the back of the plywood, just like with the batting.

6. You’re freaking done rockstar! How easy was that? Now just place it behind the bed – you can bolt it onto a metal bed frame to keep it from sliding around, or just screw it into the wall at the base – and decorate the bed with some fun throw pillows.

Despite the fact that this room is in need of some serious design, a new bedspread, fun throw pillows, etc. etc. – I’m pretty happy with how the headboard came out, and the fact that it was ACTUALLY quick and easy and cheap. Not quite as cheap as free, but pretty close.

In other sort-of-crafty news, this past weekend I decided to make a gallery wall in Mia’s room. This little project involved only a hammer and nails (my parents gave me this super girly petite hammer as a housewarming gift and I LOVE it) and it took less than 10 minutes.

Oh and in case you need an extra dose of cute to get through the rest of the week, I give you this: