The Easiest DIY Upcycled Headboard

I am a DIY person who can’t stomach throwing anything away, especially if it can be repurposed into something unique and useful for our home.  I am also a homeowner who loves finding solutions within a tight budget.  This project came from needing a guest room headboard and some leftover fencing I didn’t want to throw out. This had to be the easiest DIY headboard project ever!

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My husband and I are dog people. When you have several rescue dogs around the house, you need an outdoor pen. With an outdoor pen, you need a fence, so of course, we built one.  

The pen sits right outside our screened porch, where an above-ground pool used to be. The dug-out area was perfect for a dog pen, and a door leads directly outside from the screen porch.  

Like any home improvement project, we had leftovers—fence sections that were going to be thrown out or donated. Not one to ever throw something out, of course, I knew we could make something else with the leftover fence sections.

An easy DIY rustic headboard for one of our guest rooms downstairs in the basement immediately came to mind.

When this project was completed, our son’s wedding was just weeks away, and we needed to update two very unfinished and cluttered guest rooms. We really needed a headboard for one of those rooms, and this was the easiest solution that fit our budget.

The Easiest DIY Rustic Up-Cycled Headboard

For this project, you will need:

• Wood Fence Panel
• Paint color of your choice
• Paintbrush
• Coarse Thread Drywall Screws
• Level
• Drill

The section of fence we used was 30″ x 72″.  It was just four slats of a fence panel for the correct size.  

The bed in this guest room is a king-size bed, and the length of the fence section (or height if used as a fence) was already a great size to fit a king-size bed. 

First, I painted – and repainted, and again – the fence panel with white paint from my sample paint supply.  Being rough-sawn wood, the fence soaked up a lot of paint.  The paint color is Birchwood White by Valspar.

I lost count of how many coats of paint this took.  

To hang the headboard, we first measured the wall to find its center point and, most importantly, a stud to mount to the center back support of the fence section.

Then, we measured the distance from the floor to the top of the mattress to determine the height at which to hang the headboard on the wall. I wanted the headboard installed low enough for the top of the mattress to hide the back support brackets of the fence section.

Since the fence panel is heavy, you will want to mount at least the center screw in to a stud.

My husband mounted the headboard to the wall using a level, a drill, and 3″ Coarse Thread Drywall Screws. To provide the most support, the center back support was mounted first to a stud in the wall.

I love reusing something in unexpected ways.

“Those who hope in me will not be disappointed.” Isaiah 49:23

More home improvement posts for you to enjoy:

Painted Wood Paneling

Our Projects This Year For Our Ongoing 1970s House Renovation