Bed Headboards – Do You Really Need One?

They are considered a necessary part of the bed, but headboards can be optional or designed in a way that they provide maximum functionality. This article delves into the subject of headboards, whether you need them, and how to make them glam up your bedroom décor.

A brief history of headboards

Headboards date back to the Victorian era, when they were added between the wall and the head of the bed. Due to a lack of insulation in the overall construction of the house, the walls could get extremely cold during the winter seasons. People would unwittingly touch their heads to the wall in their sleep, and wake up with headaches or discomfort during the cold season. The first headboards were often crude in design, made out of a non-conducting material like plywood, and draped with a cursory sheet or curtain to make it comfortable on contact.

Later, the headboard was modified into a softer variant, with a cushioned or quilted top. This was used to prevent the pillow from edging into the gap between the wall and the bed during the night. Instead of being tacked onto the bed frame, the new variant was attached to the wall. However, it often necessitated an adjustment with the mattress on the bed, depending on the headboard’s thickness.

Headboards today: Do you really need one?

Today, headboards perform a purely cosmetic function. Houses today are well insulated against the weather, so you don’t really need a headboard as a barrier between a cold wall and your head. Also, if your bed frame is such that pillows are unlikely to fall into the gaps between wall and bed, or push themselves into a tight crevice as you sleep, then a headboard might not be needed at all.

However, from a purely aesthetic standpoint, a classy headboard can be the difference between having a drab bed area and a fabulous one. It takes up the room’s décor and appearance by several notches, and enhance the bed’s visual appeal as well. You can have fun with it as well – match the headboard’s colours with those of your mattress

Making headboards functional

But if you are one of those home owners who want every piece of furniture to have more than just a visual appeal, then it is time to apply some novel design principles to the headboard.

• For instance, why not have a headboard that doubles up as a storage space? You can have a thicker headboard made of wood, and with a hollow inside: you can store extra cushions or blankets in there, or even have a pull-out drawer operating on one side. Inside the drawer, fix shelves where you can store books, instead of taking up shelf space elsewhere.
• You can even have a collapsible headboard that folds onto the mattress after use. But you will need to get it custom-made. Also, it must fit perfectly over the mattress, so checking mattress dimensions with the online mattress store is key before purchasing it.
• Some leading online mattress stores in UAE also retail headboards, or have good suggestions on how to use headboards with your existing mattress.

Some ways to have fun with headboards

• Use a headboard as a ‘backing’ for your bed – make it firm but not hard, with a quilted overlay. You can use it as a backrest when you sit up in bed watching a movie, or reading a book, or working on your laptop before sleeping.
• Instead of a headboard, in case you don’t need one at all, hang equal sized canvases in a row, to create a beautiful, artistic effect for the bedroom.
• If you don’t want a headboard but abhor a blank wall above the bed, you can install a couple of shelves. However, make sure that the shelves are not likely to graze your head and injure you in any way. The shelves can hold nightlights, trinkets, extra books, even a flower vase.

Customise your mattress such that an extra half at the top can be folded up to use as a headboard. This is often an extra part of the mattress stitched on such that there is a joint between the extra piece and the rest of the mattress.