Wall Shelf made from a Headboard

Have you ever seen a project that you just have to try to make? I have seen this headboard wall shelf project over and over again on Pinterest. Perhaps I see it a lot because I’m always doing headboard searches. I pinned it years ago, but it wasn’t until I actually started on this project that I finally “clicked” on the pin. The pin leads to an Etsy shop, but I’m not even sure it’s the right link. (you’ll see the inspiration piece at the bottom of this post)

Oh my… when I searched for this picture, I found it from a post in December 2009! What? I’ve been holding on to this headboard for almost SIX years! Oh my! Time is flying by. I seriously would have thought it was from 3 years ago. (if you have a minute you should read the post to see where I got this and how excited I was to do something with it)

Here is a picture from “back in the day”. After I dug this piece out of the headboard department in my storage area, I got busy and forgot to take a picture of it.

Do you remember my recent project using a desk and that $1 yard sale coffee table? This project is why I purchased said coffee table. I wanted an oval table top with some detail. I used the base of the table to hold that cabinet I made from an old desk.

Cut thrift store coffee table top

Doing my very best, I tried to find the center of the table top and drew a line. Then I measured over from that to get a smaller piece of shelf.

I used my table saw to cut off each side of the table to use for this wall shelf project.

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Add coffee table parts to headboard to make a wall shelf

After cutting the legs off of the headboard, I trimmed each of the ends of the table pieces to make them fit the headboard wall shelf.

Attach shelves to headboard

Apparently I was having so much fun putting this together, I forgot to take pictures of how I added the shelves. Those who know me well have probably figured it out. I used my favorite Kreg Jig K4 to drill many pocket holes to make the shelves good and sturdy.

I added some scrap lumber pieces to the back of the headboard wall shelf for hanging. Extra large d rings were secured onto the scrap lumber. I couldn’t add the d rings to the back of the headboard because it needs to have more clearance to hang on the wall than the d rings alone would allow.

Time to paint

Here you can see the pocket holes have been filled and readied for painting with my Homeright Finish Max. To make things easy on myself, I put the headboard shelf up on sawhorses for painting.

I mixed up some DIY chalky paint primer and painted 2 light coats, then did 2 coats of Behr Beluga (semi-gloss) as a top coat.

You can see the process of a Finish Max paint marathon here. I’ve already blogged about the desk turned into a chest, and the easy mirror frame.

Black headboard wall shelf

I was anxious to hang it on the wall to make sure that it would hang properly.

Can you see that beautiful paint finish on the bed posts? That is not possible using a paint brush. It took my six long years to finally use this free headboard for a project, and I LOVE it!

Funny thing… I love the color inspiration piece, but for resale at Glendale, I went with ‘just black”. What color would you want it to be if it were yours?

This white headboard shelf coat rack used the ends of the $1 coffee table.

This lingerie chest was made using an old desk and the base of the $1 coffee table.

gail

sharing here: Elizabeth and Co. Be Inspired (the place to get great ideas!)

disclaimer: I am happy to be a Homeright brand ambassador. Even in real life, I’m always telling people I meet about how much I love my Homeright products, especially my Finish Max. All thoughts, opinions, and projects are my own.