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I've DIYed an upholstered, king-sized headboard (5'x6'10"), but after trying to bolt it to the bed frame, I've realized that the bed frame is much too light to prevent the headboard from toppling over. What's worse is that there's an electric baseboard heater running the length of the wall (where the head of the bed is), and wall mounts are not an option (apartment living, yay). While there's plenty of room at the foot of the bed, I'd rather not have the bed in the middle of the room.

I'm guessing the best thing to do is to add some counter-weights to ensure that the headboard can stand on its own without being bound to anything. Unfortunately, I don't know what the ideal counter-weights are, nor do I want to build something that would be difficult to transport in the event we have to move. What would be the best course of action?

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  • You might want to provide at least a sketch of the headboard. Does the headboard have legs? Usually headboards either attach to the wall, or have legs to allow them to stand on the floor.
    – Tester101
    Commented Jan 21, 2014 at 13:09

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The bed frame that you showed at the link (pictured below) is, as you have determined, not at all suitable for having a large headboard attached to it.

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This frame is really meant to be used without any surrounding bed adornment or to be used as a mattress support inside of a full surround bed set. The link picture tells it all:

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The side panels of this bed set adjoin to the headboard to make a nice solid support.

I would never make a headboard by a bed free standing; especially one that is five feet high. The last thing you would ever want is the thing tipping over on you when you are sleeping in the bed or doing some active activity on or near the bed.

One choice you have is to construct a full bed set. Alternatively you could DIY a support frame that sits directly on the floor and bolts to your head board at one end. The corners of this frame could be joined using pieces of angle iron screwed to the wood. The picture below could give you an idea to work with. Such a floor frame could be made shorter and narrower than the mattress so that it is kind of under the bed. You could even make it out of dimension 2x8 lumber and pad it with a fabric or upholstery material.

enter image description here

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It's amazing to me to see how experts make a mountain out of a molehill. However, getting cinder blocks filled with quikcrete and supporting the legs of the headboard for 24 hrs should do it. Also, you can support the back of the headboard using Flex Seal. Carol

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