DIY Cloud Headboard Tutorial

Thank you to DAP for sponsoring this DIY cloud headboard! All opinions are entirely my own. This post also contains affiliate links, but nothing that I wouldn’t recommend wholeheartedly. Read my full disclosure here.

We’re rocking and rolling on our daughter’s bedroom makeover. One of the finishing touches was to build a new headboard and she requested a cloud shape, which is so fun!

We already had a metal bed frame that was still in good shape, but if you also needed a bed frame you could build a solid wood frame to attach the headboard to. In that case, you wouldn’t necessarily need to hang the headboard on the wall (step 7) because it would be attached to the bed. 

Cloud Headboard: Step-by-Step Tutorial

Step 1. Cut OSB sheet into a cloud shape

Using a circular saw cut the OSB to the correct width as your bed. For our Queen size bed, we cut the sheet down to 60.5″ because a Queen mattress is 60″ wide. 

Next mark the cloud formation on the sheet of OSB. Start with a pencil until you’re happy with the shape and then go over it with a permanent marker. 

NOTE: If we were to do this project again, I would probably make bigger bumps (both wider and taller) on the cloud to make the shape more pronounced. Once you get the batting and fabric on, it smooths things out and the shapes get less pronounced. 

Once the cloud shape is drawn on the board, you can cut it along the lines using a jig saw with a wood cutting blade. Move slowly to get your cut lines smooth and accurate. 

​After it is cut to size, sand the edges where you cut with an orbital sander and 80-grit sandpaper. 

Step 2. Glue foam to the board

If you can find a piece of foam is larger than your headboard, that is ideal. The widest I could find was 24″ and our headboard is 28″ tall at the highest point, so we had to piece together some scrap foam pieces on the very top. It worked out fine for us and you can’t tell on the finished product, but it was kind of tedious. 

The DAP Weldwood Multi-Purpose Spray Adhesive can create either a permanent (by applying on both surfaces) or repositionable bond (by applying on one surface). 

Spray the adhesive generously on to the foam and the wood cloud. Wait about 1 minute or so until it gets tacky and then press them together. 

Step 3. Cut foam around cloud shape

Start by cutting the edges of the foam using a utility knife with several passes. You can also use a serrated bread knife (or even an electric bread knife) to get a clean lines, but we found the utility knife did the job just fine.

If needed, add more scrap pieces of foam to the top of the cloud and glue on to the board with more spray adhesive. 

We also applied the adhesive on the edges of the foam where we had smaller pieces put together at the top. This helped keep everything together so you can’t see the foam edges on the finished product. 

Step 4. Staple on batting

The piece of batting we used was large enough that we could fold it in half to provide some extra cushion. Lay the batting flat on your work surface and place the headboard on top (wood side up). Be sure the batting is pulled taut so there are no wrinkles on the front side. 

Grab your staple gun and 1/2″ staples and start securing the batting on the back of the cloud, close to the edge.

Start with the sides of the cloud, then the bottom edge and lastly the top. Pull consistently taut as you go.

Take your time on the corners, folding where necessary and cutting out excess so it doesn’t bulk up too much. Add plenty of staples to keep everything secure.

After you’re finished, trim off the excess batting.

Step 5. Add fabric over the cloud-shaped headboard

If needed, iron your fabric beforehand so there aren’t any wrinkles. We unfortunately ended up having to change the fabric at the last minute because we couldn’t get some horrible wrinkles out of the first fabric.

Place the fabric face down on your work area and place the batting-covered headboard on top. Use the same staple gun and 1/2″ staples just like you did with the batting.

For the attaching the fabric, we started on the bottom edge first and then did both corners and sides and lastly working up to the top of the cloud.

Again, take your time on folding corners slowly until it looks good, cutting out excess fabric where needed.

In general, smaller folds are better because you’ll keep the folded marks on the back whereas larger folds will be seen from the front of the headboard.

Step 6. Make a french cleat

To hang the headboard on the wall, we used one of our favorite methods of hanging heavy items – a french cleat. You can buy a metal french cleat, like this, but they are really easy to make yourself if you have some scrap wood and a table saw that can cut 45-degree angles.

Take a piece of scrap wood (we used some extra OSB) and cut a long piece in half length-wise at a 45-degree angle with a table saw. Those two pieces will fit together perfectly because they were cut from the same board. One piece will attach to the wall and the other piece will be attached to the headboard.

Step 7. Hang on the wall

Attach one half of the french cleat to the back of the headboard with a brad nail gun and 1″ brad nails.

Attach the other half of the french cleat to the wall where you want to hang the headboard with an impact driver and 2 1/2″ #9 wood screws. Be sure to find the location of studs with a stud finder first so you can make sure you’re screwing it into the wall at studs.

Be careful to install the french cleat pieces correctly so they fit together, we weren’t paying attention and installed the one on the wall wrong at first. We noticed our mistake when we went to hang up the headboard and realized the french cleat was on backwards, haha!

Once both pieces of the french cleat are installed, you can simply place the cloud shaped headboard on the wall. Ta DA!

I was shocked how simple this headboard project was! It is very easy to accomplish over a weekend if you have all of your supplies gathered.

The color is a perfect match to her bedding and it is soft and comfy. It is nice to be able to sit up in bed and lean against the headboard with a cushion behind you, which comes in handy for bedtime stories.

As I mentioned earlier, the one thing I would change if we were to do this project again is to make the cloud shape have less bumps, so they could be more pronounced. We found that the edges softened quite a bit when you add the fabric and batting.

All that say, we still LOVE the headboard and had so fun making this idea of our daughter’s come to life!

Just a few more small projects in her bedroom and then we’ll be done! Stay tuned as we wrap things up.