Here is the beautiful Pottery Barn inspired headboard we made ourselves. Myself, my husband and my 12 y/o niece had a blast making this headboard on one Saturday afternoon in September. And here is how we did it. This headboard would cost you 800$ at Pottery Barn. And yet a few hours later , here it is and it cost me only 65$ for the wood. After finding these plans online I made a list and headed off to Lowes. My husband and I sorted through the wood to find the straightest boards we could find. We used their cheap knotty pine. I was going for a rustic, driftwood look so knots were perfect. The Pottery Barn version also features knotty pine. Makes you wonder if it was the hand applied finish that makes the cost 735$ additional at Pottery Barn. But I also have hands and can apply a finish. So here is what happened.  

My garage was already being used that day so we used our family room to put this together. Duke is our dog, He seemed to enjoy laying down behind the wood. Makes me think we should build him his own dog house. Isn't he so sweet? So we took about 30 minutes to measure out all the wood and cut it. We used our handy miter saw. But if you do not have one you could use a circular saw or have them cut it for you at Lowes or Home Depot for a fee. Or you could cut by hand if you are working on your triceps. Take your tape measure and make sure the sizes are cut for you correctly.   

My niece neatly seperated all the cuts by size, She is an awesome assistant.

Here we are laying it out first. We did not nail it or glue it, just looking at it to see if we like the way the boards are together in this combination. The one mistake we did make was the side you see up was the side we liked however the side you like needs to be facing down not up. You will nail this headboard together so whichever side is facing up will wind up with nail holes. So if you are painting your headboard and plan to fill with wood filler and sand then it makes no difference except it is a little more work. But we were going to be staining it so nail holes cannot be filled as stain will not take to wood filler. So oooops. In the long run it came out beautiful and I liked the other side even more when all was said and done. Another suggestion I do not think was mentioned in the plans. After you make all your cuts take your hand sander and sand the ends of the wood so you do not have any jagged ends. In hindsight I would have done this myself.

Here is my adorable niece Miranda applying wood glue prior to nailing the legs in place. When applying the glue be mindful not to apply it in the center of the boards as you get down past the headboard to the legs. You want to apply glue to only the outer edge as you get down past the headboard to only the leg section. Also keep some damp paper towels handy to wipe up any glue that oozes out. Glue will look messy and will be very noticeable if you stain. Even if you paint you do not want to have to paint over a glob of glue. Dried glue can be scraped off but why make extra work and risk damaging the wood?

Here is my husband with the nailer. Making sure we all had on safety glasses.

Here is the fantastic headboard. I love it already. You could do anything with this headboard, Paint , stain, or just seal it as is. I love the look of fresh wood. I love construction. This was just a blast and thanks to Ana White for the inspiration and her wonderful plans to create this twin headboard. You can make it in King, Queen, Full or Twin. After constructing this beauty we hauled it outside and I lightly sanded the whole thing smooth. Sanding wood is critical before we stain it. Wood is routinely compressed by the machinery used to cut it and the mill.Compressed wood will not take stain evenly and will just sit on the top surface of the wood and look like you smeared it on somewhat. Sanding it opens up the wood allowing the stain to penetrate.

After I finished sanding the entire headboard with about 150 grit sandpaper I starting distressing it. Hoping that the stain would sink further into crevices and give my headboard and varied look. I distressed by poking holes with a nail in random groupings. I then followed up with that copper wire brush you see. I took the brush and with some force and went horizontally across the surface following the wood grain. The put lots of grooves into the wood, again hoping that stain will sink into crevices. I chose Rustoleum "Sunbleached" stain  for this headboard going with the driftwood theme. Rustoleum does not require a wood condtioner so I save myself a step here. But really I chose it because of this great color.  The best way to put on stain is with a rag. The box of rags you see in the image are the absolute best. They stay together. Much stronger than a paper towel. You just throw them away when you are done. Applying stain in this manner is the best way in my opinion. Wood is porous so applying the stain with a rag forces the stain into the fibers of the wood. Using a paint brush will not achieve the same results. It also takes alot longer with a brush and then you have to wash the brush out...  ugh.  Staining this headboard took me 10 minutes. That's right 10 minutes. So much easier with a rag, it's like you are just wiping it down. Because I can force the stain into the wood fiber I can put the stain on a little thicker and the wood absorbs more negating the need for 2 coats. Try it and see. Of course wear gloves. Do not soak the paper towel dripping wet. As much of the towel wet as possible without dripping all over. Wipe it on with the grain paying special attention to knots in the wood. Let it dry thoroughly for a day or so. Spray with Polycrylic which also only takes a few minutes. Polycrylic recommends then lightly sanding and spraying again 3 times. We did it twice. Seems fine to me. I'm Done. Woo hoo!  Gorgeous. Thank you Ana, You Rock !