Beautiful Handmade Headboards
Why have a Headboard?
A headboard serves an aesthetic purpose in all bedrooms: being the focus for the entire design of a bedroom, bringing comfort and as a visual centre piece to grab attention.
Headboards are an inexpensive way of transforming a bedroom and really is an alternative form of artwork!
On a practical level, it stops your pillows from falling down the back of the bed and makes reading in bed cosier.
For a big bedroom a large and more elaborate headboard can be needed to create a sense of scale, drama and help to fill some wall space. In a small room it can help to make it feel really snug.
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Comfort and Luxury
Being comfortable often has a significant effect on sleep quality. Whatever overall look and feel you want for your bedroom, the right headboard can give you all the rest and relaxation you deserve.
Our bespoke handmade headboards, will add a touch of luxury to your bedroom and come in three different styles, all of which include piping in the same or contrasting fabric. All bespoke headboards are approximately 10cm deep and are available in the following sizes: single, double, king and super king.
There is a choice of three shapes – the classic rectangular, softly rounded and an elegant sculptured shape.
Sculptured Headboards
The unique shape of our sculptured headboards can create a feature in any room. Wonderfully dramatic and Provencal in style. I love the way the two rows of piping frame in the Cow Parsley design below coordinate with the charcoal butterflies, and at the same time accentuate the beautiful shape of the headboard.
Our popular sculptured headboards are also available in king and super king sizes too.
Rectangular Headboards
Understated, modern and inviting, a simple rectangular headboard shape is a good choice for a modern bedroom.
You can also get our rectangular headboard in king and super king size to suit your preference.
Modern and smart headboard upholstered in Sepals and Petals, is one of my favourites! Or for something a bit more delicate in the vertical design of the Gypsy Garland, perfect against the dark wall colour: Hicks Blue from Little Greene. Great balance and a really impactful statement to the bedroom. The perfectly pattern matched single headboards in Lattice Leaf bring this whole room to life!
This headboard in Plain Dotty is timeless and ageless…it feels so calming with the addition of a melee of Duck Egg cushions. Equally the Lapland Stripe from my Scandinavian Wovens are perfect for rectangular headboards with its light but beautifully striped design.
Very subtle but incredibly effective headboard in Up the Garden Path makes the room feel very light and airy. Fun and powerful, the other headboard in my Wild and Free design is a feature in its own right with its charming illustrations that everyone can enjoy; it isn’t just for the kids!
Rounded Headboards
Neat, stylish and contemporary, giving a softer, gentler and more traditional feel our luxury rounded headboards can make a feature in your bedroom.
Also available for king size and super king size beds.
This For the Love of Rose headboard with contrast piping in Plain Linen Union, creates a rustic and fun feel, and gives the occupant of the room scenes to gaze at.
This is my traditional rounded shape covered in a now discontinued Dainty Daisy, from my Botanical Collection. The bedhead takes on a more modern feel.
Our easy process to order your headboard:
1. Choose the shape of your headboard
Rectangular, Rounded or Sculptured. Look at the shape and style of your room and see which one would suit the architecture as well as the feel of your room
2. Select your headboard fabric(s)
The next step is to select the main fabric.
Then, if you want, choose a second fabric for contrast piping along the front edge of the headboard, or for the double row needed for the sculptured shape. This is a chance to visually link your headboard to the curtains, blinds and other soft furnishings in the room.
All my headboards are made with a fire redardent lining, so they can be used in hotels as well as in domestic settings.
We can also easily arrange for stain repellent treatments, just tick the box during the ordering process.
3. Select the perfect headboard size
Check the measurements to be sure you have ordered the right size. Our measurements are taken from the top of the mattress to the top of the headboard. Height for a rectangular and rounded headboard is approximately 76cm above mattress. My sculptured model measures approx 120cm above the mattress, so making it a more dramatic. All three headboards extend down by 20cm behind the mattress and are made approximately 5cm wider than the standard UK bed sizes. This is so that when the bed is made up, the headboard doesn’t look too narrow for the frame.
4. Choose your headboard fixing
These headboards are best wall mounted being heavy and pretty solid, having said that they are can also be attached to the bed.
They come with the appropriate wooden battens, including the screws and wall plugs. Just choose the fixing you prefer in the drop down menu when you choose your required size.
5. Delivery
Your beautiful headboard will arrive with you within 6 weeks of ordering. It will be boxed and well wrapped, we will ring you before dispatching to make sure you will be in to receive it.
The history of our headboards
A brief history of headboards. I started reading up about headboards, and thought I would share my findings with you…
The pictorial history of the headboard starts with the Egyptian pharaohs. Headboards carved in ebony, silver and gold (clearly more for show than comfort) are depicted in many early drawings.
Next were the Greeks and Romans. More practical in their approach, they designed a basic wooden platform with a wooden headboard to protect themselves from cold drafts.
The headboard, provided a barrier between the wall and the edge of the bed. Walls are known to get very cold and damp within the home, and this was even more true centuries ago when insulation really didn’t exist.
A headboard was able to help shield off some of this cold from reaching the sleeper.
Just imagine…in Roman times the headboard allowed them to eat and even socialize around the bed, making the bedroom the main entertaining area in the home, guests being able to lean against the wooden headboard and sit around the bed too.
With the Middle Ages came the canopy and fourposter designs. More intricate and elaborate, the bed became the most expensive and important piece of furniture in both rich and poor homes. The curtains around the bed existed to keep out the cold and in wealthier houses were placed on podiums high up in the room where the air was warmer.
Upholstered Headboards
Upholstered headboards (or stuffers, as they were originally known) became popular during the 17th century, as the demand for comfort increased and draping fabric on canopy beds died out. The bedroom became more private during this time, and the need to show off had moved to other rooms in the home! Here are some examples of some DIY upholstered headboards which could possibly inspire you to do one yourself?!
In red is an old 19th century French wooden bed, reupholstered in my Botanical Trellis in Raspberry. Being 4ft wide and low to the floor, my grandchildren sleep in this bed when they comes to stay with me. And in green is the beautifully vibrant Down to Earth with a coordinating quilt and cushions.
Why not add texture? Here we have a couple of examples of buttoned headboards which create beautiful shadowed grooves, very unique. One was in a Plain Linen Union, with the other in Harris Tweed.
This attic bedroom needed this rounded headboard shape. It fills the wall space between the old beams beautifully and is covered in my Up in the Air linen union. The other is a very smart headboard made from our Plain Linen Union, toning with the beautiful green paint colour, with the soft blue separating the two in a subtle manner.
These are on site photo shoot images where we simply added smaller pieces of fabric to existing headboards by securing the fabric at the back. As they were only for the purposes of a shoot, it was easy to remove everything once the images were completed. Highly effective! Maybe you could try the same? We would suggest using a staple gun if you were wanting the fabric secured for a longer period of time.
I hope this information encourages you to order a new headboard to cheer up the winter months.
Pair your made to order headboard with our made to order lampshades best for bedrooms to complete the look of your bedroom.
Founder and owner of Vanessa Arbuthnott Fabrics. Vanessa creates content around fabric types, blind styles and curtain designs to best suit the needs of Vanessa Arbuthnott customers.
