DIY Door Headboard

I have had this old door in my garage for over a year now that I have planned on turning into a headboard.  I finally got tired of telling people why I had an old door sitting in my garage and took advantage of a weekend home alone.  I was planning on having Matt help me assemble this door turned head board, but got a wild hair and decided to do it all by myself.  There are a ton of great tutorials all over the internet on how to turn a door into a headboard and I checked a few of them out.  Many of the tutorials were informative and had great results, but just looked too intense for me.  I decided I would use only what I had lying around the house and figure out how to do it as inexpensively and simply as I could.  I am proof that a "sort of" handy girl, on a budget, in a hurry can make her very own headboard in just a of couple hours!  Here is what I did...

SAND:  I liked the color of the door as-is, but wanted to give it a bit of rustic look so I lightly sanded the edges (and probably exposed myself to lead).  Is that why I felt dizzy afterward?

CLEAN:  I wiped down the door to remove the dirt, cob webs and sanding dust.

TOUCH UP:  The edges of the door did not match the white of the front and since they are going to be exposed, I used a can of white paint that we had to paint the edges.

Next, I had to decide how to turn this door into a headboard.  I considered using a french cleat, but didn't feel like going to the store or spending money so I wandered around our garage looking for something to use.  Luckily, we have been remolding our house so we have all kinds of trinkets lying around.  I found a few pieces of particle board on the side of the house and figured they were most likely not needed for anything. 

Next, I went into the bedroom and measured the distance from the floor to where the base of the headboard would be.  I made sure the legs of the headboard were the same length and used a drill to screw the board to the back of the door.  This probably took way longer than it should have...

Now, tell me that doesn't look professional!  (Kidding)

I somehow managed to move the headboard inside without nicking a wall or scratching the floor!  I leaned the headboard against the wall and pushed the bed up against it so "secure" the headboard in place.  

I am excited to have an inexpensive headboard that took very little time!  What do you think?  If I can do this...

  so can you!

*Once the headboard was in place, it seemed a bit high and I wanted to use a stronger wood so I switched out the particle board legs with 1x3 pine.  I shortened the legs by a few inches so that the bottom of the headboard rests at the top of the mattress.  Much better!