What you'll need:

• Fabric
• Measuring tape
• Staple gun + Staples
• Upholstery nails
• Rubber mallet

After searching unsuccessfully for the perfect headboard, I decided I would bite the bullet and attempt to make one. Huzzah! It turned out it was one of the easiest and most effective DIY projects I've done! Below are some tips and tricks I learned along the way:

What you'll need:

• Fabric    
  
• Particle board
  
• Staple gun (and staples- lots!)
  
• Foam 
  
• Batting
  
• Scissors
  
• An extra pair of hands to help maneuver the board is really helpful!
  

Step 1: 
Decide on your headboard design. Below are some traditional options. I went with the Redcliffe design. Next, determine how you want your headboard to be mounted ie: to the wall or do you want to include legs on your frame. I decided I would mount it on the wall using screws and hooks and two L brackets to hold the bottom.

Step 2:
Get your wood! I went to Home Hardware and had a 1/2" thick 4' by 8' particle board cut to 3 1/2' by 5'. I cut the headboard a little taller so as to allow for extra height as I wasn't exactly sure of how high I wanted the headboard to be.

Step 3:
Pad that sucker. Decide how puffy you want your headboard to be. I actually had some mattress foam of the right size kicking around so I used that but any decent foam will do.  It was about 1/4" thick and worked perfectly. I wanted the sides to be padded as well, so I cut the foam approx. 6 inches longer on each side. Affix your foam with a staple gun- don't be stingy with the staples; you want the foam to be secure. Trim any excess foam around staple line (it doesn't have to be pretty).

Step 4: 
Do the same with the cotton batting. I like the additional light padding it supplies. Cut any excess foam and batting from around the staple line. 

Step 5:
Time for your fabric! Tip: fabric by the yard can be quite pricey, so as an alternative, check out curtains! They are often sold in individual panels and are MUCH cheaper. I found exactly the fabric I wanted (in curtain form) and I saved about $30 :) Steam or iron your fabric to make sure it is wrinkle free before applying to your headboard.
You don't have to pull the fabric too tightly across the frame as this will cause your edging to look a little puffy in spots (you'll see what I mean).

Step 6:
Initially I had wanted to do a tufted headboard. I bought a couple of button kits so I could make the buttons in the same fabric and the process was really easy. I decided to leave my headboard plain in the end but will post the pics anyway. I also had in mind to border the outside of my headboard with nailhead trim, but again decided a plain headboard suited my space better. You can purchase individual nails or you can buy the trim as a strip which is much less time consuming to apply (and less expensive for large projects). I found a package of ten yards on amazon for about $20 and it is available in different colours. 

Step 7:
Mount it to your bedroom wall. Now , there are all sorts of suggestions out there about how to mount a headboard, but I can assure you after much trial and error THIS is this easiest way! Measure where you want your headboard to be and use a stud finder to locate the safe spot to drill your screws (don't forget to start with a pilot hole). Find a length of wood that is almost flush with your padding when it is against the back of the headboard. Cut two pieces to equal length and angle the side of each so that one will slide into the other. Mount one of the pieces to the wall and the other to the back of the headboard in such a way that the pieces will slide into each other. The best part about mounting it this way is that you have some wiggle room to adjust the placement of the headboard- you just slide it along the track.

Today I made my very first fabric purchase online! 
I live in Victoria, B.C and though I did look at the few local fabric stores I couldn't find what I was after at a price I thought was reasonable. So, as any discouraged shopper would I thought I'd look online. Well, the Canadian sites that I came across were a little disappointing compared to their US counterparts in terms of  price point and choice of fabric. I ended up buying from Fabric.com on the recommendation of several Canadian bloggers who had encountered the same difficulty. The shipping wasn't outrageous and I got exactly what I wanted for much less even with the exchange rate.
I am going to recover pillows I bought for my daybed and wanted fabric that was super cheerful and welcoming. Here's what I ordered...i'm pretty excited :)

I love to catalogue awesome sites when I come across them in my web travels and Pinterest has been a great forum for that. Now that I've started my own blog, I can share them with you here. Enjoy!