Back when I was young and naive, I decorated my house like a person who DOESN'T own cats. I used loose-weave fabrics and cushy floor rugs and velvet-backed frames with abandon, y'all. ABANDON. (Seriously, what monster decided black velvet was good on frames?!)
Now that I am older and wiser, though, pretty much every design choice in our house has the following criteria:
- How much cat hair will stick to it?
- How easy is it to remove said cat hair?
Aaaand that's about it.
Now, for our latest project, let's step into my bedroom, if you please. ::WINK::
Nearly six years ago John and I completely remodeled our bedroom to look like this:
I'mma spoil this for you right now: it still looks like this.
Here's a photo I took yesterday:
I don't like a lot of change. What.
What you're not seeing, though, is how our headboard just got a huge upgrade. And I'm so excited about it, there is major Kermit flailage going on. Major.
First let me explain the problems with the old headboard:
PROBLEM 1: (Brace yourself)
The headboard fabric was basically Velcro for cat hair. And of course - OF COURSE - both of our new girls love sitting up there. This was both super gross and making our allergies go nuts.
The headboard fabric was basically Velcro for cat hair. And of course - OF COURSE - both of our new girls love sitting up there. This was both super gross and making our allergies go nuts.
PROBLEM #2: This is what my bedside floor has looked like for the past few years:
Wires EVERYWHERE. Believe it or not, that's all for my phone; there's an extension cord, a headphone adapter, and a pillow speaker I need for my sleep app. (The speaker was then forever falling on the floor.)
John also had a cord and headphones on his side of the bed. We both kept our phones on our nightstands, so the cords fell on the floor during the day (where they turned into dust traps) and tangled around our arms and torsos at night. I can't tell you how frustrating it was just trying to roll over; I'd invariably snag my speaker wire with my arm, which would yank the phone off the nightstand, which would clatter to the floor like a gunshot, which would wake up John. Worst game of Mouse Trap ever.
Plus it looked terrible, white wires covered in dust all over the dark wood floor. Vacuuming was a perpetual game of Chicken.
Ahh, but I had a dream, my friends. A dream... OF A HIGH-TECH HEADBOARD.
First we ripped off the old fabric:
Wires EVERYWHERE. Believe it or not, that's all for my phone; there's an extension cord, a headphone adapter, and a pillow speaker I need for my sleep app. (The speaker was then forever falling on the floor.)
John also had a cord and headphones on his side of the bed. We both kept our phones on our nightstands, so the cords fell on the floor during the day (where they turned into dust traps) and tangled around our arms and torsos at night. I can't tell you how frustrating it was just trying to roll over; I'd invariably snag my speaker wire with my arm, which would yank the phone off the nightstand, which would clatter to the floor like a gunshot, which would wake up John. Worst game of Mouse Trap ever.
Plus it looked terrible, white wires covered in dust all over the dark wood floor. Vacuuming was a perpetual game of Chicken.
Ahh, but I had a dream, my friends. A dream... OF A HIGH-TECH HEADBOARD.
First we ripped off the old fabric:
And burned it.
(I kid.)
We kept the foam to re-use, though.
Next we added a laminated shelf top ($12 at Home Depot) and John cut a square into the face of the headboard frame:
This is hard to describe, but next we essentially created a new cushion piece - using the old foam on a new piece of wood - to stick ON this frame. So only the very front of the headboard is padded.
Here we're lining up the new vinyl fabric:
