How to reupholster the base of a bed with your own hands: master class + tricks and tips

Ways to reupholster a headboard

During restoration, it is possible to make a designer bed with a headboard as desired. When changing upholstery, preventive maintenance is carried out in the form of cleaning from dust, repairing broken parts, and impregnating the wood with antiseptics. As a result, you can change the color, style, shape and texture.

Types of work:

Soft headboard. It does not require fastening ties or buttons; it is suitable for those who do not want to spend a long time fiddling with the reupholstery.

The back is designed in the form of squares. Suitable for those who have several pieces of fabric, which are laid on the base in the shape of convex diamonds or squares. They make a plain surface or in a patchwork style.

Carriage tie. The soft layer is fastened with rivets or nails in the form of a geometric pattern, sometimes with folds.

When upholstering the headboard, decorative details, stucco molding, forged elements, and carved figures are used for decoration.

Upholstery prices

All prices for services.

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Prices depend on the complexity of the work, cost, number of consumables and urgency. To find out the approximate cost, study the price list or consult with our staff. They will help you purchase upholstery materials at low prices. It will cost more to order exclusive solutions for the restoration of antique furniture.

Preparatory work

To cover the headboard, 4–5 m of fabric are prepared as standard, and the panel is decorated with 5–8 large buttons.
They are rarely placed in their natural form; more often they are covered with plain or contrasting fabric. Tools:

• stapler, tape measure (from 3 m), ruler, chalk;
• carpenter's square, stationery knife, scissors, pliers, nail puller;
• screwdriver, flat and Phillips screwdrivers, chisels;
• glue gun in tubes, brush, clamps, wood saw;
• sewing machine, basting pins, needles, seam ripper.

Materials: staples for a stapler No. 8, paper or thin cardboard for a pattern, glue, threads No. 30 - 20. Finishing is done with upholstery fabric, you need a felt pad, padding polyester or foam rubber.

The old covering is removed from the back and mattress. If it is not going to be used, it can be cut. Decorative nails are carefully removed with a nail puller so as not to break the head (if they are needed). Get rid of old foam rubber and padding polyester, remove the cotton or canvas padding on the mattress.

The procedure for releasing the base when reupholstering the headboard and removing layers when repairing and changing fabric on a spring mattress:

• The old fabric is laid out on an ironing board, and folds, creases and elongated areas are smoothed out using an iron.
• The parts are transferred to cardboard, a pattern is made from the ironed part, outlining the contours with a pencil, you can take old wallpaper, glue newspapers together so that the element fits entirely.
• The new material is laid out on a flat surface in two folds, facing inward, in order to simultaneously cut out parts for two parts of the headboard.
• The contours are drawn with sharpened chalk, making small allowances (0.7 - 1.0 cm), and cut out with scissors.

If the trim pieces do not fit on the fabric, first sew the pieces together and smooth out the seam. Then they lay out a cardboard pattern and outline the outline. A machine is used for stitching.

The connecting seams are placed symmetrically relative to the center of the entire backrest or identical parts are made for two parts of the headboard. Usually they are sewn together with a stitch seam, then along the face they are re-stitched along the edge by 0.1 - 0.2 mm.

How to reupholster the base of a bed with your own hands: master class + tricks and tips

This method is suitable if the upholstery of the bed base is worn out, dirty, or you just want to change it. For example, in our case, for a small bedroom, we wanted the furniture in it to be light. Therefore, it was decided to change the dark fabric upholstery to a new, light pink color.

All work was completed in 1 day. Here the reupholstery took a little longer than it might have, as the original dark upholstery could show through the new light pink fabric, and the base was first reupholstered with an additional layer of white fabric. If your fabric for upholstery is thick enough, you can skip the “lining” step.

How to sew a sofa cover: 3 master classes

You will need:

— fabric for reupholstery;

- if necessary - fabric for an additional “lining” layer;

- tools to disassemble and then assemble the bed base;

- tailor's pins;

- fabric scissors;

- sewing machine and threads;

- furniture stapler and staples;

- if necessary - small nails and a hammer.

Bed valance skirt: master class

Step 1

Disassemble the bed, remove the legs and other parts that will interfere with the upholstery. To avoid confusion later during assembly, you can mark the right/left parts and write down on a piece of paper at what distance from the edges of the parts the fastening points are located (holes for screws, etc.).

Step 2

First - the headboard, the “lining” layer. Take a piece of fabric sufficient to wrap the part with a large margin (minimum 20-30 cm, the excess can then be trimmed). Wrap the headboard with fabric, inside out. At the corners, secure the folds with pins. Then remove the fabric, stitch the corners and trim off the excess.

Turn the part for the headboard upholstery right side out and place it on the headboard. Wrap the edges of the fabric, pull them quite tightly and secure with a stapler. You can start from the middle of each side, gradually moving to the edges. Ideally, two people work: one stretches and holds the fabric, the second secures the fabric with a stapler.

Step 3

Now - the outer layer of fabric. Here the excess fabric is simply neatly folded into folds, and the folds are secured with a stapler. You can do the same as in the step above, sewing up the corners and cutting off the excess.

Step 4

When finished, return the headboard fastening elements to their place.

If you use two layers of fabric, as in our case, you can, after the first layer is ready, find, by checking the notes, places for fastenings, and mark them by screwing in and out the screws. It will be easier to find these holes later.

Step 5

Tighten the side and end parts according to the same principle. The corners on these bed parts can simply be cut off (see top photo). In places that are difficult to reach/inconvenient to work with a stapler, you can use small nails and a hammer.

Step 6

All that remains is to return the parts to their place and assemble the bed.

Photo and source: abeautifulmess.com

Upholstering the bed with leather and other fabrics

If you need to upholster your bed with genuine leather or other high-quality furniture fabrics, leave a request! We offer several types of upholstery in different price categories and styles. Thickness, density, breathability or other parameters matter (depending on customer requirements).

Our consultants will provide additional information. Call from 9:00 to 21:00, ask questions, place an order. Discounts for regular customers, as well as preferential categories of citizens - up to 10%. The turnaround time for upholstery renovation is one day. The warranty is 12 months.