If your bed doesn't have a headboard, you can make your own and hang it on the wall.
Cut a piece of ½in/13mm medium-density fibre board (MDF) to size and smooth the edges. Paint or stain it, then hang it on the wall with heavy-duty picture wire or mount it with screws or toggle bolts. If you want to make the headboard more striking, dress it up by gluing on a geometric design in wood lath.
To make a padded headboard, start with a shaped piece of ½in/13mm plywood or MDF, smoothing all edges. Cut a piece of polyurethane upholstery foam about ¾ in/ 19 mm thick to the exact size of your board, and hold it in place with double-sided carpet tape. Lay your fabric over the foam; turn the whole lot over, then carefully pull the fabric taut enough to round the edge of the foam. Staple the fabric in place. A decorative matching trim can be tacked in place around the perimeter. Trim off surplus fabric. If your bed has fixing screws set into the back frame, glue and screw two battens, about 2 x ½in/50 x 13 mm, to the headboard, having cut two slots large enough to slide over the fixing screws. Position the battens to line up with the screws.
For a still softer effect, mount a pair of cafe curtain rods, one above the other, behind the bed and stretch fabric between them. To create generous folds, sew enough widths of fabric together to form a panel three times wider than the length of the rods.
Another attractive heading can be formed by fixing two pieces of curtain pole at right angles to the wall above the bed, and draping fabric across them to form a canopy. Or attach a single pole at right angles to the wall, in the centre above the bed and drape fabric on either side of it. Secure the fabric to the wall with loops of cord.
To support the curtain poles at right angles to the wall, use socket brackets fixed to the wall with screws and Rawl-plugs. When inserting the poles into the brackets, it is extremely important that the poles fit really tightly, or they will tend to droop under their own weight and the weight of the fabric draped across them.
