Assembly guide

Upholstered or wooden bed with a headboard

Fabric or wood headboard, two side rails, and slats. The headboard bolts are the fiddly part.

Time60 minutes
People2 needed
Difficulty●●●○○
Walkthrough3:00 video

Not what you bought? Try Metal platform bed frame · Mattress in a box · Toddler bed and bed rail

What you need

In the box already: Allen key · Headboard bolts and washers · Side rail brackets · Slats · Center support legs

Before you open anything

  • Build it in the bedroom with the door closed behind you. This never fits through a doorway assembled.
  • Lay the headboard face-down on the bed's cardboard or a blanket. Fabric picks up every bit of grit from a bare floor.
  • Get the mattress out of the room entirely if you can, or stand it in the hallway.

Please don't skip these

  • Never let the headboard stand unsupported while only partly bolted. It will fall, and it is heavy.
  • Slats must all be present and secured. A missing slat concentrates all your weight onto its neighbors.

The whole thing, step by step

9 steps

  1. Lay the headboard face-down on something soft

    Put the headboard face-down on a blanket or the flattened box. You will be working on its back, and fabric scuffs.

    • Face-down, padded surface
    • Legs or bolt plates pointing up at you
    • Have a second person steady it
    Watch out. Do not drag an upholstered headboard across carpet. It pulls threads.

  2. Find the hidden bolt holes

    On upholstered beds the bolt holes are often behind a flap of fabric or inside a dark pocket. Shine a light and feel for the metal plate.

    • Look for a seam or flap you can lift
    • Feel through the fabric for a hard metal plate
    • Shine a light directly into the pocket
    Tip. Push the fabric aside with a finger rather than cutting anything. The holes are always there, just buried.
    Watch out. Never cut fabric to find a hole. Check the manual's diagram again instead.

  3. Attach the side rails to the headboard, loosely

    Bring one side rail up to the headboard and start its bolts with washers. Finger-tight only. The frame needs to move to find its shape.

    • Washer between bolt head and bracket, every time
    • Thread by hand first, then a couple of turns with the key
    • Do both side rails before tightening anything
    Tip. Left and right rails are usually different. Check for L and R markings, often stamped or stickered on the inside face.

  4. Bring in the foot rail and close the rectangle

    The foot rail joins the two side rails and completes the rectangle. Bolt it finger-tight too. Now you have a frame you can square up.

    • Line up the brackets, start every bolt by hand
    • Keep everything loose
    • Check the rectangle looks roughly right
    Watch out. If a bolt refuses to start, the rail is upside down. Brackets usually only fit one way round.

  5. Fit the center support and its legs

    The center rail runs head to foot down the middle and carries most of the load. Bolt it in and screw its legs down until they touch the floor.

    • Bolt both ends to the head and foot rails
    • Screw the center legs in
    • Make sure each leg actually contacts the floor
    Watch out. A center leg hovering a quarter inch above the floor does nothing. Thread it down until it bears weight.

  6. Stand it up and square the frame

    With two people, lift the frame upright onto its legs. Measure both diagonals and nudge until they match.

    • Lift together, from the rails not the fabric
    • Measure corner to corner both ways
    • Push the long corner until the numbers agree
    Tip. Squaring a bed matters more than people think. It is why one side of the mattress ends up sitting proud of the frame.

  7. Tighten every bolt, twice around

    Now tighten everything firmly, working around the frame. Then do a second lap, because the first lap loosens things.

    • Headboard bolts first, they carry the most stress
    • Then side rails, then foot, then center
    • Second full lap
    Tip. Firm, not gorilla-tight. You are clamping steel to wood and you can crush the wood.

  8. Lay and secure the slats

    Drop each slat into its clip or onto its ledge, spacing them evenly. Screw down the ones the manual tells you to.

    • Even spacing, head to foot
    • Push each one fully into its clip
    • Screw or clip the end slats so the set cannot migrate
    Watch out. Count the slats against the manual. A bed short one slat will develop a dip exactly where you sleep.

  9. Sit on each corner, then make the bed

    Sit heavily on each corner and the middle. Listen for creaks and look for flex. Fix anything now, before the mattress hides it all.

    • Sit on each corner and the center
    • Rock side to side
    • Chase any creak to its bolt and tighten
    Tip. A creak that appears a month in is almost always a bolt that settled. Keep the Allen key in your nightstand drawer.

If something has gone wrong

I cannot find the bolt holes on the headboard

They are behind the fabric. Lift any flap along the bottom edge, or feel for a hard metal plate and part the fabric with your fingers. Check the manual diagram for roughly how far from the edge. Never cut.

The headboard wobbles side to side

The headboard bolts are not tight, or washers were left out. Washers spread the load and stop the bolt pulling through. Take it apart far enough to add them.

The side rails are different and I bolted on the wrong one

Easy fix. Loosen it off, swap sides, re-bolt. Check inside faces for an L or R sticker.

There is a gap between the mattress and the headboard

The frame is out of square, or the slats have drifted toward the foot. Square the diagonals and push the slat set back up to the head.

The bed creaks every time I move

Full tightening lap first. Then check for wood-on-wood contact at the slat ends and stick on felt pads. Also make sure the frame is not touching the wall — that knock sounds exactly like a frame creak.

Words you will see in the manual

slat
One of the wooden boards that spans a bed frame to support the mattress. Gaps wider than about three inches will make a foam mattress sag.
center support
The bar running down the middle of a bed frame, head to foot, with its own legs. It carries most of the load and is not optional on a queen or larger.
washer
A flat metal ring that goes under a bolt head. It spreads the load so the bolt does not pull through the material. Never leave one out.
square
Describes a frame whose corners are true right angles. You check it by measuring both diagonals: if the two numbers match, it is square.

This same guide covers

Upholstered platform bedsFabric or velvet headboard bedsWooden platform bedsBeds with built-in headboardsStorage beds with drawers

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