What Is a Padded Headboard?

Luxury bed with pillows and padded headboard

Introduction

When it comes to choosing a bed, there are a variety of ways you can go. Potential bed owners can pick from dozens of color, material, and style options. It takes keen effort on your part to get the right bed that fits your needs and complements your room. One of those options is the padded upholstered headboard. Sometimes, they’re also referred to as tufted headboards. An upholstered bed frame is a stylish addition to any room for a variety of reasons, but many people are still unsure of what an upholstered headboard is. In this article, we’re going to break down exactly what the tufted headboard is all about. We’ll also dive into three key benefits of getting a padded headboard in your master bedroom.

antique white bed set with pink padded headboard

What Is a Padded Headboard?

According to BedGuru, the ultimate online bed brand, a padded or upholstered bed is a “bed frame” that incorporates “materials such as velvet, faux leather or suede” in its construction. These beds feature a diverse variety of both natural and synthetic fabrics. Let’s take a look at some of them.

Cotton

Cotton is the cheapest and most common fabric in existence, making it very popular. It provides a soft, comfortable feeling and is durable to use. A few shortcomings of cotton are that it is especially vulnerable to stains and fading.

Leather

The next choice of fabric is leather. Casper, a leading sleep e-commerce company, says that leather is the “most durable” fabric of them all. It is “leather is far more resistant to stains, scratches, and debris.”

closeup of a black leather padded headboard

Silk

This is the most expensive of all the fabrics. Apparel company Panaprium says this is largely because of its “limited availability and costly production.” It takes “5,000 silkworms to produce just one kilogram of silk.” The farming, killing, and harvesting of thousands of silkworm cocoons are resource-heavy, labor-intensive, and costly processes.****

Polyester

Our last upholstery fabric is polyester, a synthetic fabric that is a blend of cotton and other fibers. According to MasterClass, polyester is durable, moisture-resistant, and retains its shape. However. the fabric can be coarse or insensitive to your skin.

Comfortable hotel bedroom with felt headboard with natural fabri

Padded Headboards We Love

  1. Mid-Rise Upholstered Headboard-Adjustable Height
  2. Mid-Rise Upholstered Headboard-Adjustable Height
    $119.99

    by LUCID 

    Buy Now

    We earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.

    10/02/2023 09:09 am GMT
  3. Trina Upholstered Headboard
  4. Trina Upholstered Headboard
    $85.00

    by ZINUS 

    Buy Now

    We earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.

    10/02/2023 09:04 am GMT
  5. Lily Tufted Linen Fabric Upholstered Queen Headboard
  6. Lily Tufted Linen Fabric Upholstered Queen Headboard
    $102.11

    by Modway 

    Buy Now

    We earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.

    10/02/2023 08:54 am GMT

Benefit #1: Comfort

The primary reason that folks want to get an upholstered headboard is that it’s just so comfortable. The fabric you choose is oftentimes very soft, and this makes it quite comfy to sit up or lay back on your headboard. The rigidity of the headboard combined with the gentle quality of the fabric makes for a comfortable resting experience. Furthermore, this style of headboard works to “preserve heat” and maintain “sound control.” Those features help enhance your sleeping experience by providing you with the most peaceful environment possible.

The luxurious softness of your fabric will create the most pleasant environment for you to rest. You can throw some decorative pillows against the headboard to complement the softness, and voila! You’ve successfully created a lush, sophisticated look for your bedroom.

closeup of a light blue padded headboard

Benefit #2: Creative Liberty

The next key benefit of getting a padded or upholstered headboard on your bed frame is that it gives you maximum creative freedom throughout the process! You get to choose the fabric you want to use, the exact shade you’d like to feature, and even the style of stitching that you employ. Everything is under your control, allowing you to optimize the upholstery in your bedroom. Now that we’ve already looked at fabrics, let’s explore some color and stitching choices.

Colors

Here are some color-emotion correlations. If you want to incite feelings of love and passion in your room, choose a shade of red. For rejuvenation, vitality, and enthusiasm, go with a hue of orange. For a natural vibe of growth and freshness, select a shade of green. Finally, if you want to elicit feelings of peace, serenity, and cool vibes, then choose a hue of blue.

Stitching

Let’s look at some approaches to seams and tufting in upholstery. There is a French seam, a lapped seam, a plain seam, a top stitch, a double-stitched seam, and a flat-felled seam. For tufting, there is single line tufting, biscuit tufting, blind tufting, and diamond tufting. Which style of stitching you choose will play a huge role in the final look and feel of your headboard.

closeup of faux white snakeskin headboard

Benefit #3: Easy Cleaning and Maintenance

The final key benefit of getting a tufted headboard is that it is very “easy to clean”, and thereby low maintenance. Most people are busy in life, and we don’t have time to dedicate towards cleaning our furniture. We want to choose a bed that’ll be easy to clean and that won’t get dirty very easily. The good news is that most fabric upholstery satisfies both of those criteria!

Here’s how you can clean your upholstered headboard. As far as spills are considered, most fabrics are treated with stain-repellent, so it should be relatively easy to gently dab the liquid up with a damp towel. For dust, lint, and dirt caught in your fabric, use the handheld attachment on your vacuum. While these fabrics are low maintenance, it’s best to maintain a consistent habit of cleaning your upholstered headboard because otherwise, it can get very dirty.

closeup of padded headboard

Conclusion

There are many ways to customize your headboard frame, and it takes patience and effort to find the perfect headboard for you. Whether it be velvet, faux leather, cotton, or polyester, it’s important that you choose the headboard fabric that is right for you. Padding your headboard frame is a meaningful decision that brings a variety of benefits. Your bedroom décor has a colorful, dynamic addition to it. You get to exercise your creative autonomy by choosing a headboard fabric, a color, and a style of stitching. Tufting your headboard with upholstery fabric is a surefire way to liven up the mood of your room.

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