Reclaimed Wood Barn Light Headboard Tutorial

I've been wanting to update my bedroom for awhile now.  My husband is a "guys guy" and he didn't want anything frilly or girly, so when we found our beautiful aztec print "Crossroads" Pendleton Woollen Mills blanket (shop here) it started the design. Ours had a small flaw n a corner so we got it half off!!!

 Then I saw this idea on pinterest (link here).  I loved the masculine and western touches.

And this is how mine turned out! It is still a work in progress, but I wanted to share the work so far. The big star is obviously the barn wood lighted headboard, I'm really excited with how I turned out and the best part, it cost less than $100 bucks!!!

Instead of nailing boards to the wall I wanted something I could move so I made an over sized headboard. To make the headboard you have to start with a frame.  We have a king bed so I just measured the width of the metal frame and used that for the width and then I decided on about 6 feet tall for the height.  

To make the base I used 5 (you may only need 4), 2x4's that we had left over from another project, but if you have to buy them they are only about $2 a piece.  I used one for each side and two as the cross pieces.  Just lay it all out flat, measure your cuts, I used a little jig saw to cut off the excess.  Then I used the last 2x4 and cut the shorter center piece, and I had some left over so I made two more short pieces to go at the bottom so there are four legs instead of two (sorry I forgot that picture).  

To keep it all together I drilled small pilot holes and then screwed everything down tight.  While I had the drill out I also drilled holes in the two outside legs big enough for the bolts to secure it to my metal bed frame.

Now for the wood front.  I got these 5 old boards (roughly 11 inches x 7 ft) at an industrial reuse store in my area for $4 a piece and they even cut them for me, but ask around you may be able to find some for free. I love that they are weathered and not perfect, to me the knots and uneven edges give it character.  I started the boards about 12 inches from the ground, laid them flat on the frame and once I go everything even I wood glued the boards to the frame.

With a little help from my home gym I weighed down the boards while the glue dried. At least those wights got a little use that day, I did have to carry them across the garage :)  These days my "projects" trump pumping iron nearly everyday!

The glue gives a little exra support and helps hold the boards in place while you screw everything together. I put two black wood screws in each board, trying to stay in a pretty straight line up the sides and along the edge of the top and bottom boards.  

I also did a row of screws up the middle, basically I wanted to secure the boards anywhere there was a frame piece on the back.  I chose the black wood screws because I didn't want the silver screw heads to stand out and just in case my line of screws wasn't super straight, which with my skills was bound to happen I wanted the screws to be hidden in the dark stain.

I did sand the edges just a little to smooth them out, but I didn't worry too much about it being perfectly straight I wanted it to be "rustic".

Now for the color.  You could totally leave the boards as is, but I wanted a dark wood, so I used Jacobern stain on a nice sunny day brushing it on and then wiping off any excess.

I tried to get the stain in every crack and crevice including the sides, any place that you might see when it is up against the wall.

You could stop here and be done, but I waned lights because I love these Hampton Bay Zinc barn lights that I found at Home Depot for $19.97 (link here) and it solved the problem of finding bedside lamps.  After adjusting a bit I decided on mounting the lights at about 5 ft up or about 3/4 up the boards.  If you are really tall and like to sit up and read in bed you may want to mount them in the top board, but this height works for us. 

Once you get the spot you want drill a hole in the center for your wires, then secure the bracket and light to the front.

Your three wires should come through the back like this.  

If you are handy with electrical things you may have a better solution for how to get this wall fixture to work off an outlet, but after harassing several employees in mulitple electrical departments I came up with this appliance replacement cord.

It cost around 8 dollars (and you'll need two, one for each light) but the wires are already exposed and all you have to do is wist together the coordinating wire in the cord with the wire from the light, cover the wires with a small plastic electrical cap and secure it all with some black electrical tape.

Finally, drag this massive beast (by yourself.. no recommended but hey where there is a will there's a way) into your room and secure with the bolts from your frame.  Because our bed is so low and the headboard so tall it leaned out just a little at the top, so I put attached some heavy picture hanging wire to the top of the headboard in he center and secured it to the wall with a screw just for a little extra stability and it works great.

Our outlet behind he bed is not connected to a light switch, plus it's in an awkward place and who wants to crawl behind the bed to unplug the lights??? So I bought this little remote off of amazon (link here) you plug the box it comes with into the outlet, plug the cords from the lights into it and the remote easily turns the lights on and off with the touch of a button.  Because of the angle and prongs of the plugs on the cords you may need an adapter too, but still an easy fix!

I love the galvanized lights. I will say I put in some regular light bulbs and the metal did get a little warm after awhile, so I switched to the spiral "fancy" energy efficient bulbs and it solved the problem.

The horns were from my dad, he didn't want them so I totally stole them, cleaned them up and gave them a new home.  Stay tuned for more on the desk and MR & MRS sign, you won't believe what that desk looked like before!!!

Our new bedroom still needs some work, but it is getting there!  Hope you like it as much as we do!

If you too have been pinning all the barn wood headboards for months like me, bu haven't yet tried it... do it! I did this by myself in one weekend and couldn't be happier with the end result, oh and he hubby liked it too... phew!! :)

Enjoy