Rope Headboard Tutorial

My inspiration for this knockoff project actually came from two sources.  Pottery Barn was just the one I figured most people would recognize.  West Elm also has a natural fiber headboard.

Their version is made with banana bark.  It’s on sale right now, and it’s still almost three times more than the cost of my diy version.

First let me just throw one thing out there before we get to the tutorial.

When you open the package of rope (doesn’t matter what kind you decide to use) it will have an “odor”.  My hub actually liked the smell.  I like the smell of dryer sheets.  We’re all special in our own way.  The odor, smell, fragrance whatever you want to call it is not bad, but natural fibers just sort of have a natural kind of smell I guess.  This starts to go away after the rope airs out.  It smells the strongest when you first open the package.  It’s been about a week since I finished this project and the smell is pretty much gone now.  I’m telling you this so that I won’t get any nasty e-mails from peeps who decide to tackle this project asking me why I didn’t tell them that the rope smells.  Now you can’t say I didn’t give you a heads up can you?  It smells.  It’s not terrible.  And the smell goes away.  For that matter burlap has an “odor” too.  It doesn’t bother me, but I know some people can’t deal.

Moving forward, here’s what you’ll need.

Some pics were taken during the day, some at night.  That’s why there’s such a difference in the color.

An old door works great.  Measure your bed and cut it down to size if needed.  I had to cut about 3 inches off using a hand saw.  Keep in mind that the rope will add on about half an inch to each side.  I chose to use manila, which I found at Home Depot, because I like the variations of color in the rope.  There are a number of different options to choose from though.  Sisal rope would have worked great too but I wanted something darker against the wall color.  The main thing is not to use anything too thick.  The rope I used for the most part was 3/8″.  You will need some heavy duty scissors to cut this rope.  These are outdoor scissors; they’ll cut through branches.

Once your supplies are gathered, start wrapping.

The only place where you will need to wrap the rope all the way around is on the ends.

About half way through this project my hub came down to the basement and asked, “Why are working on the floor?”  He then brought two sawhorses in from the garage.

So. much. easier.  I thought well since you’re already down here…….

let me plug in the back up glue gun.  Gotta love that even after almost 11 years of marriage I can still bat my make-up-free-at-9:30 p.m. -eyes and get him to help me do things he’d rather poke his eyeballs out than do!  Yeah, that’s right- I still got it!  HA!

Ok, so back to the tutorial.  You will want to start on one end and move in about half way and then move to the other end.

Yes, we have an air hockey table in our basement.  Don’t be jealous.  When you get to the middle section and you’ve run out of rope, do not panic.  When you get to Home Depot and they’re out of the rope you need, do not panic.  When they call the other Home Depot in your town and they are also out of the rope you need, once again do not panic.  There’s no crying in diy.  There’s always a plan B.  Enter the same rope but in a smaller size.

It actually ended up being a nice happy surprise.  You can tell from the almost finished photo above that as I got toward the middle of the board the rope started to curve.  This was also not planned.  The rope sort of has a mind of its own, and it’s best to just go with the flow.  Using the smaller rope in the middle section actually made this surprise look more like I planned it that way.  It created a nice swirly pattern in the middle that I really like.  This is why I recommend working your way in towards the middle from both sides rather than starting on end and moving straight through to the other.

To hang this headboard I used two of these large hooks.

Well, the hubs actually did most of the work.  He didn’t use the wire.  That would not work.  This was too heavy.  He attached two of those metal hangers to the back and then used two of those crazy looking drywall hooks.  This worked like a charm.  That headboard is up there.  Not going anywhere.

To give you an idea of what the back of the headboard looks like.

Yeah, it’s pretty much a hot mess.  Who’s going to see this?  I used a couple pieces of Gorilla Glue brand duct tape in a few spots where the rope was being stubborn.  For the most part the hot glue worked very well.

Here it is finished and hung.

I actually borrowed those pillows from my family room because I thought if I used the real ones it would be a dead giveaway that it was my knockoff project and our entries are supposed to be anonymous.  Here’s how the guest room is really styled.

I still have a ways to go but this room is really starting to look like, well, a room; and the headboard helps a lot!

Here’s the cost breakdown on the headboard:
the door – FREE – collecting dust in my garage
most of the glue needed I already had on hand, I spent $10 for more glue sticks
rope – 3/8″ x 50 ft. – $8.21/bag x 12 bags = $98.52
rope – 1/4″ x 50 ft. – $5.60/bag x 2 bags = $11.20
total cost = $119.72
I rounded up to $130 because I used 2 of those hook things to hang it and I can’t remember the exact price I paid for them.

This project took a long, long time.  It’s a king size headboard!  That’s a whole lotta hot glue!  It was so worth it though, and I’m beyond thrilled to have this project done!

If you have any questions – post them in the comments section.

Have you been inspired to knockoff anything lately?

Today I’m also over at Decor Adventures talking about Fall.  Head on over!