Vintage fabric paintings can replace traditional headboards.
With a little creativity, you will discover that the options for shabby chic headboards are almost limitless. Transform traditional headboards by recovering them, or use wall hangings in place of headboards. Also try salvaging unusual objects or fixtures and using them instead of traditional headboards. Functional objects, such as shelving, can be used as headboards as well, which will help to conserve space and maximize storage in smaller bedrooms. Does this Spark an idea?
Old Windows
Salvaged antique windows from dumps or purchased at thrift or antique stores make handsome shabby chic headboards. For safety reasons, remove the glass from these windows before using them. If there are any sharp edges on the windows, try sanding them down or covering them with fabric. Once the windows have been safety-proofed, mount them over your bed for a headboard effect. Distressing the paint on the windows can further enhance their shabby chic appeal. If desired, fill the windows with fabric or decorative padding. You can also try hanging whimsical pictures, small mirrors, strings of beads, your hat collection or antique fans in the window panels.
Vintage Fabric Paintings
For an intriguing headboard, search for fabric paintings at thrift stores. A durable fabric painting is easy to hang about your bed, and it will appear funky and fun. Because these paintings are light, inexpensive and easy to store, you can even choose to purchase multiple fabric paintings, and swap them out as the seasons, your bedroom decor or your moods dictate.
Folding Screens or Doors
Wooden, metal or fabric screens can make excellent shabby chic headboards. Folding doors will work for this purpose as well. If your screen or door is wooden, you can paint it in distinctive shades or cover it in fabric. If your door or screen is metal, you can use it as an auxiliary hanging system for jewelry, ties, hats, scarves, gloves or pictures. If you door or screen is made of fabric, you can recover it with a vintage fabric, such as an old quilt, bedspread, curtain, table cloth or rug.
Fabric Headboards
Vintage fabric can quickly and cheaply take a regular headboard from bland to shabby chic. Almost any type of vintage fabric can be used to recover a traditional headboard, as long as you have enough of it. However, even smaller pieces of fabric, such as vintage handkerchiefs, can be stitched or glued together. Fabric coverings can be sewn to headboards, or may be easily secured with pins. If you use visible safety pins or contrasting thread to secure your fabric to the headboard, it will give your headboard an edgy, modish look. You can also frame your favorite vintage fabrics and hang them over the bed where a headboard would normally go.
Headboard Illusions
You don't necessarily need a real headboard at all to achieve a shabby chic headboard effect. Try painting or stenciling an old-fashioned headboard design directly onto the wall above the head of your bed, or hanging a bolt of fabric, ornate mirror, vintage mantelpiece or collection where a headboard would normally be placed. For a clever trompe de l'oeil, why not take a photo of an especially beautiful antique headboard, blow it up, frame it, and hang it over your bed? At first glance, it will appear as if the photo really is your headboard, and it will take viewers a moment to decode the illusion. Finally, you can always cut antique-print wallpaper in the shape of a headboard, and glue it to the wall above your bed.
Tags: shabby chic, chic headboards, shabby chic headboards, traditional headboards, your headboard
