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I live in a small town and people have gotten to know that I build from recycled materials, so I am always being given free wood furniture to build with. That is how I came to have these kitchen Cupboards I was not sure how I was going to repurpose them at the time. Then my sister asked if I could make her a headboard for her spare room. I thought I would try and make them from these. And this was the outcome which was even better than I had envisioned. I am a self-taught DIYer, and I make up my projects as I go along. So saying that I am not saying this is the correct way, but it is the way that I have done it. Happy to get any info.
I started by removing all the hardware. I sanded down the surfaces to remove the build-up of grease that accumulates over years of use. I used 120grit sandpaper and an orbital sander to remove all the old varnish and stain.
I decided to go for a two-tone effect because the inside groove would be too time-consuming to sand by hand, and the orbital did not fit into the groove. Make sure you remove all the old varnish or the new stain will not absorb and your doors will be patchy.
My posts are 9cm x 9cm and are made up of lots of different woods. So I thought they would be a good fit for my cupboard doors.
I started by cutting a slot into the post for the cupboard doors to slot into. I did this on a table saw because I thought it would be a lot quicker than using a router. I did multiple passes on the table saw until I ended up with a groove of 2 cm wide and 2 cm deep.
I only cut out the height of the cupboard door and a 2cm at the top and 2 cm at the bottom to accommodate the top and bottom supports. I remove all the excess wood with a hammer and chisel.
The size of the mattress is 107cm. So I cut a length of recycled pine 107cm for the top and 170cm for the bottom for the cupboard doors to sit in. I wanted the headboard to sit flush with the mattress and the posts outside the mattress on either side. I needed grooves in the top and bottom supports so I used the table saw again to make a groove as above. They were not matching in colour but that was part of the appeal for me. To put it all together I lay the 2 side post and the top an bottom post on a table and the cupboard doors were glued and slotted into the grooves.
The side posts were so heavy I wanted to give them some extra support to hold them all together. To do this I wanted to add a support bean that screwed in across the back. I only had an old recycled fence post that was the correct length but because it was at the back and you would not see it I was not too bothered that it was ugly wood. I wanted the headboard to sit flush against the wall. To do this I had to router out a section of the posts for the support bean to fit into. I clamped the two posts together and marked the area to be removed. I made a fence for the router and remove the area for the support beam.
This is what the back looked like once I had finished not that pretty but it works and no one will see it.
As extra support where the table saw blade stopped because I did not make the groove all the way to the bottom, I added a small bracket. If you look close at the main picture you can see it. I also used a nail gun to secure the top and bottom supports to the cupboard doors. As decoration, I cut 2 x 14cm x 14cm and 2x 9cm x 9cm and routered the edges to get a better look and added them to the posts. I screwed the 14cm ones into the posts and countersunk the screws. I attached the 9cm blocks using a nail gun and glue.
I sanded all my pieces as I went along, so I stained the wood with Cedar stain and gave it 2 coats of varnish. I loved the final product and using all the different woods I think made it look great and unique.
To see more unique DIY projects made from recycled materials www.uniquecreationsbyanita.com
Unique Headboard
