Tiles can be an easy and affordable material to update the look of any ceiling, but that's far from their only use. You can also use ceiling tiles as a headboard to give your bed a brand-new look! This is a simple and fun DIY project that almost anyone can handle without the need to hire outside help. Best of all, since you'll be building the headboard on your own, you can customize the look however you want.
How to Build a Headboard Using Ceiling Tiles
1. Determine Your Measurements
If you're interested in using ceiling tiles as a headboard for your bed, you first need to determine the measurements for your specific bed. For example, a standard queen-size bed measures 60 inches wide. In this case, you may wish to use 20-by-20-inch ceiling tiles because you'll be able to fit exactly three across on your headboard.
The height of your headboard will be up to you, but remember that you'll want the headboard to extend about 4 inches below the top of your mattress. So if you want your headboard to use two rows of 20-by-20-inch ceiling tiles, you'll want its height to be 44 inches. Taking the measurements in this scenario into account, that means you'd want to cut a piece of plywood that's 60 inches wide by 44 inches high.
2. Cut Your Materials to Size and Assemble the Headboard Frame
As for constructing the headboard itself prior to adding the tiles, there's no need to overdo it. A piece of plywood and a few two-by-fours is all you'll need to create the support structure.
To determine what size the legs of your headboard should be, measure the distance from the top of your mattress to the floor and then add on the height you want your headboard to be. Again, let's say you plan to use two rows of 20-by-20-inch ceiling tiles (40 inches) and the top of your mattress is 2 feet from the floor (24 inches). For this situation, you would cut two of your two-by-fours to a length of 64 inches.
You'll also want to cut two other two-by-fours to use as horizontal connecting pieces for the legs. Since a two-by-four is actually 3.5 inches wide and you'll be affixing two of them to the back of the plywood, the horizontal connecting pieces will need to be 53 inches long.
Use wood glue and screws to attach the vertical pieces to the opposite ends of the back of your plywood. Then, attach the horizontal pieces at the top and bottom of the plywood, forming a box that outlines the back of the headboard with two legs hanging down.
You'll want to install a couple of vertical support beams in between your horizontal connecting pieces as well. In this scenario, with a headboard that's 44 inches tall and has two-by-fours running across the top and bottom, you'll need your vertical supports to be 37 inches long. Cut two of these and position them a third of the way across from either side.
3. Paint or Stain
You'll probably want to paint or stain your headboard to match the tiles you'll be adding to it. Now is the time to apply paint or stain, letting it dry thoroughly before you add the ceiling tiles.
4. Install Tiles
Use glue or finishing nails to add the tiles to your headboard.