How to

Pick the Right Headboard

for Your Bedroom

Picking the right headboard seems like a pretty simple task, but it is a big purchase so it deserves a little extra attention. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Americans ages 15 and older spent an average of 8.8 hours asleep every day in 2014. Given how much time you tend to spend sleeping or just relaxing in bed, it’s easy to argue that your bed should be as comfortable as possible. To help you make the right choice for your home, check out our handy tips below.

Some people start by picking out their bedroom furniture and then selecting a headboard to match and we're here to say that's a great way to get started. Choose your bedroom furniture and then select a headbaord that works well with your bedroom style. Will you choose something rustic in reclaimed wood or go romantic with a high, upholstered and tufted headboard with a nailhead trim? You decide!

If you like to read, watch TV, or just generally hang out in bed, choosing the headbaord first might serve you better. Think about what kind of back support you like to have while you’re in bed and how much support you want to get from pillows and cushions. An angled headboard might be the right choice for you if you're not crazy about having lots of pillows. If you’re tall, a taller headboard with plush padding will ensure you're comfortable.

Visualize what you want your bedroom to look like. A lot of interior designers start with a single inspiration piece, such as a pair of printed curtains, and build the room around it. If you have one of these items in mind, picking out your headboard is a simple matter of finding something that plays nicely with the inspiration piece you’ve selected. You can also choose the general style of the headboard that best fits in with the bedroom set you want to purchase. Oh, and did we mention that you don't have to match all your bedroom furniture in a set? Just mix, match and make it yours.

Headboards can also stand in for storage furniture when your bedroom is quite small. If you're short on square footage, you'll want to make the most of all your space so a purely decorative headboard might not be the best choice. Instead, look for storage headboards to increase your storage space where it matters most. You can also make the most of your space by using a small bookcases as bedside tables.

Of course, you’re not required to have a headboard at all. Platform beds are a modern alternative to the traditional bed shape. Most platform beds have no headboard or footboard, so you can choose what you want at the head and foot of your bed. This way, you can build up a bank of pillows against a wall to customize a comfy setup for sitting up in bed. If you don’t want to leave the wall behind your bed completely bare, put a large piece of art up there to complement the overall look of your space.

DIY headboards are another solution. They’re fairly simple to make, and as long as you have a solid piece of wood that you can anchor to your wall to serve as the base for the DIY headboard. Use foam and cotton batting to pad your headboard on the inside, and then pick a piece of fabric to cover the whole thing. Pottery Barn sells fabric by the yard that coordinates with other furniture pieces in our collection. Using this by-the-yard fabric, you can create a custom headboard made to your exact specifications for a polished and finished look.