Almost Free Headboard Tutorial!

I say "almost free" because all you need is a can of chalkboard paint and some chalk and you can have any headboard you want at any time- all for the cost of chalk (once you paint your wall, that is)!  I think you can get a quart of chalkboard paint (covers an 8x12' space) at Lowe's or Home Depot for under $15. 

I am NOT claiming this to be an original idea, I totally jacked it off of the cute little movie, 500 Days of Summer.   Once I saw it, though, I knew I had to do it.  I have used chalkboard paint before in my son's room, but just made a rectangle with a faux frame around it for him to draw on.  But I painted a whole wall (the wall where the head of my bed is placed) with the paint and have had fun with it for almost a year now.

I know I probably should have cleaned/spruced up my night stands, but this is just how I roll.

I've been wanting to draw a headboard for a while now, I just haven't found one I liked.  So I went to a few different websites and ended up using this as a reference photo.

So once my son helped me move my bed out of the way, I got my chalk ready and pulled up the reference picture on my computer.  I have to give a shout out to my son, Q, for taking most of the pics.  He was a good sport, watching a movie in my room, but every so often he would turn around on his own and check out how it was going and snap a pic- I didn't even have to ask him!

This may not be a full fledged tutorial since I just drew on my wall, essentially, but I'll give tips under some of the pics...

I draw and write notoriously crookedly (can I use two adverbs back to back like that?), so I tried really hard to "eyeball" it throughout.  There was much stepping back and looking, correcting, and frustration at times, but it was well worth it!

I kept a rag with a small bowl of water handy to correct mistakes; it dries quickly, thank goodness!

I started out just sketching the outline of the headboard.  I didn't make the lines go all the way down, because the pillows will cover that part; even though getting chalk on those pillows will be inevitable, I wanted to reduce the chances as much as possible.

Then I went back and added some highlights.  I really wasn't too careful about this because my attention span is small when it comes to projects.  I also knew that once I stood back and looked at it, the end result would still be really cool.

(That's my "concentrating face", I guess- I was looking at the reference picture on my computer to get the highlights right).

Here it is before I put the bed back into place...

...And here's the finished product- not perfect, but not bad either.  I think its looks really cute behind my bed!  Any suggestions for what else to draw on the wall?  I'm open to ideas!

If you decide to do this, this is the decorating blog I went to- http://www.decorology.blogspot.com/ - she has a whole list of products you can buy for your home on the right side- that's where I found the pic I used for reference.  Happy painting and drawing!