How to Add a Bookshelf to Your Headboard

Adding a bookshelf to your headboard can be a very difficult and complex task if you attempt to tackle it without a good set of instructions. Fortunately, with the help of this useful guide, you'll find that adding a bookshelf to your headboard can be a relatively simple procedure. So if any of you household handymen have been reluctant to get started on this job, read on to dramatically reduce your workload--and your stress levels.

Step 1 - Make the Preliminary Measurements

Before you can begin building your headboard shelf, you must first measure your frame and mattress with the aid of a tape measure. Carefully determine the width of the frame and mattress, taking care to be as accurate as possible. Rushing through these measurements is liable to cause serious problems later on. Having completed the measurements, figure out how large you'd like your new shelf to be. Most headboard shelves are 4 to 5 inches taller than the bed occupant's head in order to prevent their contents from falling off and potentially causing injury. Additionally, it is very important that your headboard shelves not be too tall, as tall headboard shelves tend to create safety hazards for bed occupants.      

Step 2 - Begin Cutting Wood

Having combined your preparatory measurements, you should have your new headboard shelf's dimensions. Using the measurements you just took, cut pieces of wood that will constitute the base and sides of the headboard shelf, then give them a thorough sanding. If all goes according to plan, you'll get many years of use out of this shelf, so it's in your best interest to make these boards as smooth as possible.

Step 3 - Make Dividers for Your Shelf

Now that you've taken care of your headboard shelf's base and sides, it's time to cut some shelf dividers. Using the same high quality lumber from which you cut the base and sides, cut as many dividers as you'd like your new shelf to have, remembering to give them a thorough sanding afterward.

Step 4 - Screw Your New Headboard Shelf Together

Now that you've cut your base, sides and dividers, use your drill and screwdriver to put them together. Make sure that the pieces are screwed together as tightly as possible, as shoddily screwed-together headboard shelves are a major safety hazard for bed occupants and are liable to collapse without warning, resulting in serious injury--or worse.

Step 5 - Apply the Finishing Touches

Once your bookshelf headboard has been assembled, give it one last sanding and a thorough varnishing, then place it behind your bed. Your new bookshelf headboard will make a convenient addition to your bedroom and prove very useful for years to come.