I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with IKEA furniture. I love that it is so reasonably priced, easy (once you know how!) to put together and versatile. However, it is a bit samey, isn’t it? There also tend to be a lot of sharp edges, which is one reason why you might want to upholster an IKEA Malm headboard, if you have one of these beds at home. Softening the edges makes such a difference to how cosy your bedroom feels.
We have a house full of IKEA furniture, because it is so affordable. To make it more me, I tend to paint or otherwise upcycle it to give it a bit of character.
Why an IKEA Malm bed?
Now, I won’t lie, I hated the Malm bed. Whilst it’s true that it doesn’t squeak when you roll over and it is cheap at £260 for a whooping great super-king (easily sleeps four, if you’re that way inclined), it was also a bit of an eyesore. Not least because, being a super-king, it’s flipping massive!
So in short – great bed – good for sleeping on – but kind of ugly. FRET NOT! This upcycle is one of the easiest ever and gives Mr Malm a whole new lease of life. Read on, let’s learn how to upholster an IKEA Malm headboard!
How to upholster an IKEA Malm Headboard
It’s easier than you might think to upholster an IKEA Malm headboard. If you get stuck, the drop me a line in the comments and I’ll try to help.
What you’ll need:
- A headboard! Ours was a Malm, but this hack should work on any solid square or rectangle headboard.
- 8oz batting. I ordered mine from eBay. Make sure the batting is wide enough to wrap the board front and back, like when you wrap a gift.
- Upholstery fabric. We used Rothko Furnishing Fabric in Blue from John Lewis. As with the batting, you need enough fabric long and wide enough to wrap front and back.
- Tape measure
- Staple gun and staples
- Scissors
How long will it take?
It took me just 1 hour 15 mins, not including removing and refitting the headboard (because Oli did that for me). And not including time taken to choose fabric, which took approximately 4 months!!
This is a one (wo)man job (apart from the removing and refitting which, if you have a superking, will probably require a helping hand – don’t go putting your backs out!)
How to upholster an IKEA Malm headboard
Find a workspace
First, find a big enough space to work flat. It’s not a messy job, so I worked on the carpet in the spare room. This area is big enough to lie the board down flat and turn it.
Lay the headboard flat on the floor, with the front facing up.
Attach the batting
Position your batting about 1cm above the bottom edge on the headboard, leaving about 50cm overhanging the edge. You will wrap this bit around the back.
It’s important to leave this small gap, because the headboard needs to fit snug back on the bed. The fabric will not be wrapped underneath the board.
Holding the batting taught as you go, use the staple gun to staple all along the bottom at approximately 5cm intervals, like this:
Flip the headboard over, so the back of the board is now facing up and resting on the batting you have just stapled.
Wrap the length of batting you left around the edge and, keeping taught, staple against the bottom edge of the headboard as you did before. Do the same with the other side, stapling a similar length along the bottom at the other end of the headboard.
Only staple along the bottom, leave the side loose.
Cut any excess length away on the diagonal from the last staple, up to the top corner of the headboard, so a triangle remains. Do this on both sides.
Wrap the batting over the top of the board and holding taught, staple the middle part along the mid-section of the bottom of the board yet to be covered. You will have some excess batting at each edge. Cut this batting away along the same diagonal you cut before. You should end up with a sort of envelope as shown below.
Staple along these diagonal lines to secure the batting.
Make sure there are no bumps or bulges. A strategically positioned staple can secure any rogues bumps.
Attach the upholstery fabric
Turn the headboard over so that the front is facing upwards.
Lay your upholstery fabric over the top, keeping a length of about 50cm at each end (as with the batting) and position the fabric so that it’s lined up with the bottom of the headboard..
Make sure the fabric is facing the correct way up!
Staple along the bottom of the board, keeping the fabric taught. I put my staples in a little below the batting, about 0.5cm from the base of the board.
Flip the headboard over, so that it is resting on the fabric you just attached.
Take a moment to flatten the fabric and pull it out from the edges, so that it is nice and flat under the headboard.
Wrap the sides of the headboard.
Keeping the fabric taught, line the edge of the fabric up with the bottom of the headboard and staple along the bottom as illustrated below. Do this on both sides.
Now we cut into the fabric as illustrated below.
Next, cut away the square of fabric from the top corner, but leave an overhang of about 1cm, as this will be tucked in for a neat finish.
Creating a neat finish
Fold the fabric down over the top of the headboard.
Tuck in the edges to form a neat corner and staple:
Staple down the edge. As you can see, I haven’t been particularly uniform about this, as you’ll never see the back of my headboard!
Once you’ve done both sides, trim along the bottom and staple the fabric down.
And what do you know? You have yourself a newly upholstered headboard!
If you have a go, please let me know how you get on and tag me in your Instagram pics!
I’d love to see your results.
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