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Pretty Headboard Bench

Published by Gail | Published June 9, 2011 | Updated July 7, 2022
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How to make a pretty headboard bench without arms.

how to make a large headboard bench without arms

Free headboard and foot board

This is the bed that Cathy and I picked up Free at a yard sale that will become a pretty headboard bench.

The Blue and Yellow pieces will be used for future projects. The Black piece was used for And They Lived Happily Ever After. For this bench I used the pieces outlined in red.

This bed had seen better days. It was unusable as a bed. The side rails were missing and the part where the left side rail (full size) goes was missing. This bed was for a full or a queen set. Cathy and I typically cut larger beds in half to make corner benches because they are easier to handle and re-home.

Corner benches made from headboards

black corner bench

corner bench made from a full sized headboard

white corner headboard bench

small red corner bench

We do that because when we made a full size into a bench, it was so heavy that she and I could move it from place to place, but we could not lift it into the truck by ourselves. It was too B I G !

Not a corner bench, but it's a KING size bed . . .

King Headboard Bench without Arms

large maple headboard bench

See this extra large maple headboard bench? It doesn’t look too big or too heavy, but it was!

I talked Cathy into not cutting this latest bed. I thought we should make it armless, and she agreed. As I was looking for something to use as front legs, Cathy suggested we use the original legs from the footboard. GENIUS!

You can see where I cut the front legs off with the compound miter saw. We used side rails from another bed for the left and right side and the piece across the front. The flimsy piece in the back was not going to be strong enough to support a seat, so we added a 2x4. I have started filling the pocket holes NOT visible with drywall mud, and the ones that are visible with wood putty.

You can see that we used our new technique of pocket screws using my Kreg Jig Jr

constructing a headboard bench

One last thing to do, add a front cross brace. This will be done with more pocket hole screws.

Using a paint sprayer on a DIY headboard bench

So, it seems we got a little busy and forgot to take in progress pics. You can see that we added the side rail across the front. (we did this with the pocket holes)

Then it was off to the paint booth for a smooth coat of black paint!

Here, you can see that we added a 2x4 for extra support across the middle.

Hardwood flooring for a headboard bench seat?

This bench will have scrap pieces of hardwood (laminate?) flooring.

This bench is not yet complete. We have not attached the seat yet. Cathy’s husband was on vacation, and then the heat wave set in. Hopefully we will get this bench and a cute little twin bench finished soon. When this bench is finished, I’ll update this post.

I’ve shown you a lot of benches today, which is your favorite? I have to say that I didn’t like this bench the whole time we were working on it. It wasn't even on my top five list after I got primer on it. I only started liking it after I started painting it black!

Assembling pine seat for bench

UPDATE:

The bench is now finished.

I changed my mind about the seat. I decided to go with planks (lengthwise) instead of flooring.

When connecting my boards with the Kreg Jig Jr I clamped them so they didn’t shift left to right as I screwed them together.

Because I changed my mind about the layout, I removed the one brace that ran lengthwise and cut it into two braces from front to back. (I used the Kreg Jig Jr for making pocket holes for this step also.

Notch seat for bench

Testing the boards to make sure the notches are right.