How to upholster your headboard

Ready, aim, fire! A staple gun (from about €20 at good hardware stores) and some other basic tools makes it easy-peasy to create a new headboard, or upholster a naff old one with a brand new coat of your favourite fabric.

(Photographs and instructions adapted from Decorating with Laurence Llewelyn Bowen, published by Quadrille, in bookshops now.)

Finished product:

What you'll need:

• Staple gun
• Jiq saw
• Plywood
• Marker
• Foam
• Sharp Knife
• Permanent spray adhesive
• Large piece of fabric
• Lace or other trimming of choice

Step One:

Using the jiq saw, cut the headboard shape into plywood. Use the marker to draw the shape onto the foam. Cut foam to desired shape with a sharp knife.

Step Two:

Apply spray adhesive generously onto the foam cut-out.

Step Three:

Stick the foam and backboard together and lay face down on fabric.

Step Four:

Pull the fabric taut across a bare headboard and begin stapling around the back.

Step Five:

Begin in the middle of each side, fixing the opposite side before working your way around to the corners. Be extra careful to ‘pull and tuck’ here before committing anything to the stapler - chunky corners with visible folds are a dead DIY giveaway.

Step Six:

Choose a beautiful broad piece of lace, velvet, leather or other favourite trim.

Step Seven:

Glue the trim onto the sides of the headboard. Not only will this cover up any unsightly stapling mistakes, but it will literally give your new headboard some designer ‘edge’.