How to Attach a Headboard to a Platform Bed
The traditional method for installing a headboard is to place it between your bed and the wall, trusting weight and friction to keep it in place. However, if you want to put your bed anywhere other than with the head against a wall, this plan doesn't work. You need to physically fasten the headboard to your bed's platform. With a platform bed this is usually a simple process.
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Measure the thickness of the headboard. Choose four wood screws one inch longer than the headboard is thick.
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Set the headboard up in position where you want it against the bed. Have an assistant hold it in place.
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Screw the headboard to wooden sections of your bed's platform using all four wood screws. Different headboards and platform designs will require different screw position. Aim to space out your wood screws as much as possible, and screw in as far from the ground as the structure allows.
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Measure the distance between the headboard just below the top of your mattress and the wooden platform running under the mattress about 2 feet from the head of the bed.
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Cut two wooden strips to the length you measured previously.
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Screw the wooden strips to opposite sides of the bed, forming additional braces to support a higher point of the headboard. Use two wood screws at each end of each strip, screwing them to the headboard on the top and the bed platform at the bottom.
References
- "Step by Step Basic Carpentry"; Ben Allen; 1997
Tips
- Metal bed frames generally have pre-drilled holes on their legs to accept screws.
Writer Bio
Jake Wayne has written professionally for more than 12 years, including assignments in business writing, national magazines and book-length projects. He has a psychology degree from the University of Oregon and black belts in three martial arts.
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