DIY rustic headboard

Somehow in the middle of driving an hour to Syracuse every other day for my appointments, we managed to buy a new bed.  YAY!!  The one we had was getting quite old and quite uncomfortable.  Initially we thought we'd just get a queen, same as our old, but in the end we bought a king so we could fit the two of us and Hailey, our dog, because we like our space ;) Either way, we were going to need a new headboard.  Since we had already spent a good chunk on the actual bed itself, plus needing new bedding, I wasn't keen on paying $150+ just for a headboard.  I searched Pinterest and after tons of looking and reading blogs, this is what we came up with.  I'm completely in love with it, and for a total of under $50, I'm SO happy we decided to make it ourselves rather than shelling out the cash.  Plus, S got to use the new saw he got for Christmas, so that was a plus, obviously ;) 

For the wood we bought 2 2x4 and 5 2x6 boards.  I believe they were pine, but S did the buying, so I'm not 100% sure.  Each 2x6 was around the $4 mark though.  

We had already decided we wanted the height of the headboard (from the floor to the top) to be 55 inches and the width would be the same as the bed, so 76 inches.  

Once all the wood was home, we laid them out how we wanted them to be once they were put together and marked each one 1-5.  S then measured each one and cut and sanded them to have a more finished, smooth look.  He also marked and drilled the holes on each 2x6 where they would later be screwed into the 2x4's.  In total there were 20 holes, 4 per board.

   

When he finished sanding each board, he'd bring it in to me where I'd stain it.  We decided on a dark walnut color to keep it a nice, rustic brown.  Each 2x6 got 3 coats of stain, and each 2x4 got 2 coats.

  

After they were dried, we laid everything out to make sure it looked how we wanted to.  When it looked how we wanted to, each 2x6 got screwed onto the 2x4's.  

We then brought it upstairs and using nuts and bolts, it got fastened onto the bed frame.  

And that was basically it!  It seems to be pretty sturdy and was really very simple to make, mostly just time consuming.  This could be done with 1 person, but having us both work on it was really nice.  Overall, I'm obsessed and completely happy with the end result!!