Designers Say You Should NEVER Ditch a Headboard—Here's Why
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We’ve seen a certain trend popping up on our social feeds and in our favorite furniture brands: more low-profile platform beds and fewer included headboards in bedroom design. The toned-down, “less is more” look. As minimalist styles like Japandi continue to show up in modern interiors, designers are mentally preparing for clients who are looking to skip the headboard altogether.
“They want a really open feel in their bedroom,” Audrey Scheck says. “So we would be able to really highlight the wall as a whole, versus just looking more restrictively at that specific piece of furnishing that’ll make a statement on the wall.”
Even with the appeal of streamlining the bedroom design, skipping a headboard can be a lost opportunity for a wow factor. Turns out, the design community has a pretty strong view on this: headboards are here to stay. Natalie Papier can’t imagine a world where her bed doesn’t have a headboard, and not just for the comfort of resting against it. “There are so many amazing headboards out there that add to the design component. I don't think that headboards subtract from the room design, even if you want a more modern, sleek look.”
Ahead, here are three reasons why design professionals advise keeping your headboard—along with a few alternative solutions if you really want to ditch yours.
It Makes the Space More Comforting
It’s easy for aesthetics to be the first thing that comes to mind with a headboard, but don’t overlook the function they serve. Los Angeles-based designer Victoria Holly says it’s crucial to create distance between yourself and the wall, preventing your head from hitting it. A headboard provides back support, and it keeps your pillows or other items from falling between the bed and the wall.
When it comes to the comfort of your headboard, material matters. Designers Jennifer Jones, Elizabeth Bennett, and Barrett Oswald all prefer an upholstered piece. It makes sense—when you’re propped up in bed reading or answering emails late into the night, it’s much more comfortable to lean against something padded. Jones prefers mohair and velvet, or a wool blend. That doesn’t mean you could never have a wooden headboard, but Oswald would reserve it for a guest bedroom, where you don’t need it on a day-to-day basis.
“All the beds that we do right now have an upholstered element to them, just because it really gives that softness,” Bennett says. “Not only does it dampen the sound in the bedroom, but it just gives a really soft, tactile place to land.”
For clients with busy households, Scheck says, headboards are pretty prominent features in bedroom design. “People who have kids or pets need some sort of a bench at the foot of their bed, because a kid is climbing on it to get into the bed, or a pet is using it as a step to get up on the bed,” Scheck. “So we'll often anchor those with a bed frame or a footboard, and those just tend to be integrated with headboards too.”
It Brings a Wow Factor
Rather than viewing headboards as a burden, treat them as an aesthetic opportunity. You often make design decisions in a room from largest to smallest impact. Aside from the flooring and wall paint colors, the bed frame (including the headboard) is likely your biggest piece. It pulls a room together, and Jennifer Jones says “a bedroom feels unfinished without one.”
“It's one of the rooms in the house that you really want to feel layered,” Jones says. “To create that tactile feeling that makes us humans feel comfortable and cozy, you need to have as many fabrics and textures mixed in as possible.” If your bedding is more basic, the headboard is your opportunity to get dramatic with color, pattern, or silhouette. It doesn’t have to be oversized to be effective, though. Holly says a low design or simple rattan panel can help transition from the wall to the bed, bringing some necessary depth.
It Anchors the Room
The headboard gives the bedroom its anchor, and without one, Bennett says, the bed can easily feel like an out-of-place trampoline or platform in the middle of the room. This is especially true in rooms with lots of windows, where the bed can be lost in all the stimuli.
“Unless it's some super modern, avant-garde bed floating in the middle of the room, not against a wall, like a loft kind of design, that could make sense,” Jones says. “But in 99% of houses, the bed is against a wall, and you really need that headboard to ground that space and to make it look complete.”
If you’re dead set on skipping the headboard, you’ll definitely need something to replace its role as the anchor. It could be a pair of striking sconces, going all in on a color for the room, some texture in the bedding or rugs, or a really large bolster pillow. No matter what, Bennett says, something needs to define the positioning of the bed.
“You would still want something to anchor the wall above the bed because that's a lot of negative space,” Papier says. “Unless you have a large piece of art or you do some type of wallpaper treatment on the wall. Otherwise, it feels pretty sparse.”
How to Get Creative With a Headboard
While most designers aren’t ready to ditch the headboard just yet, they are getting creative with how they design around it. Bennett has implemented the “incorporation” trend, where the headboard is integrated with the wainscoting and molding. The nightstands are built to match, and the result is a far more seamless look, where the headboard almost blends into the wall as opposed to being a standalone piece of furniture.
“The majority of our clients are really looking for escapism within their own homes,” Bennett says. “They want their primary suites to feel like a hotel or like a reprieve from the chaos of the day-to-day.”
If you don’t find a headboard on the market that speaks to you, take a page out of Lauren Ashley's book and DIY one. Ashley found a Crate and Barrel room divider that she loved and saw its headboard potential. She hired a carpenter to deconstruct it and take it apart, adjusting the heights of the different panels. Making the center panel the tallest, the piece draws the eye upward and makes the room feel taller.
If You MUST Skip a Headboard, Try These Instead
If you’re set on skipping the headboard, don’t just leave the space bare. There are still other ways to create a defined focal point in the bedroom. Designers share their go-to favorites and main inspiration below.
A Large Work of Art
Because the bedroom is such an intimate space in the home, your choice of artwork is incredibly personal and individual. Scheck says to focus on “something that makes a statement.” You could go the sentimental route, with a family heirloom or a landscape of a place that means a lot to you, or keep it more abstract. “Visually, when you walk into a bedroom, most of the time they're oriented in a way where your eye is drawn to that wall that the bed is positioned against,” Scheck says.
Ashley had her heart set on a canopy bed frame, which meant sacrificing her bright sunburst headboard. Instead, she used it as a large art piece that still draws the eye into the room and makes it feel grounded, allowing for both a minimalist bed design and a finished look.
A Paint Treatment
If you’d prefer to skip hanging or mounting something, then it’s time to get creative with color. A paint treatment is a great way to match aesthetics, even if it skips the function. Jones loves to use this as a headboard alternative in kids’ rooms, creating the illusion of a headboard visually.
“Painting out a third of the wall darker than the rest of the room, so there's a linear headboard — like a stripe, basically — that goes behind the bed,” Jones says. “It grounds that area more and provides more emphasis for it, instead of just like a mattress shoved up against the wall.”
An Upholstered Wall
Another popular headboard replacement is an upholstered wall that extends beyond the bed. While it’s not traditionally attached to the bed frame, it still provides a strong visual anchor on the wall behind the bed. Plus, it keeps the function of a headboard, giving the head somewhere upholstered to rest. Bennett, Oswald, and Jones have all noticed the rising trend, appreciating its clean, linear aesthetic that mimics a hotel suite.
“The headboard will span the entire length of the room behind the bed, and then there will be integrated nightstands, either cantilevered on the same piece of furniture, or in front of it,” Jones says. “So it creates an entire moment on that bed wall. It's not just about the bed itself, but it becomes a design element for the wall, for the room.”
Pile on the Pillows
The bed is often the coziest part of the bedroom, and to maintain that level of comfort without a headboard, you can always focus on a tasteful arrangement of pillows. This is Oswald’s preference, though she admits the look can be somewhat counter to the minimalist look that drives people to skip the headboard.
“Regardless of the aesthetic, I think you still have to marry the function,” Oswald says. “I think a way to get around having a true, attached headboard, what I would do is just go pretty big with the layering of pillows.”
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