From Kitchen Cupboards to Stunning Headboard

I was given these old kitchen cupboards and was not sure what I was going to do with them until my sister asked if I could make her a wooden headboard for her spare room.

I started by removing all the hardware. I sanded down the surfaces to remove the build up of grease that accumulates over years on the surface. I decided to go for a two tone effect because the inside groove would be to time consuming to sand by hand. So I decided to mix lots of different scraps of wood that I had lying around and just stain then all with the same colour.

My posts are 90cm x 90cm and are made up of lots of different woods. I started by cutting a slot into the post for the cupboard doors to slot into. I choose to use a table saw to do this as it would be quicker that using a router. I cut my slots 2cm deep which is the depth of my doors.

The size of the mattress is 107cm. So I cut a length of pine for the top and the bottom for the cupboard door to sit in. The side posts were so heavy I wanted to give them some extra support to hold it all together.

I used some old fencing posts as support beams across the back. I clamped the two posts together and routered out a section so the fencing post slotted into the posts. I screwed the supports into the back. The colour did not match at all, but you will not see the back so I was not to concerned.

As decoration I cut 2 x 14cm x 14cm and 2x 9cm x 9cm and routered the edges to get a better look and added them to the posts. I screwed the 14cm ones into the posts and counter sunk the screws. I attached the 9cm blocks using a nail gun. I stained the wood with Cedar stain and gave it 2 coats of varnish.