How to Build and Install a Baseball Bat Headboard

By Matt Fox
Home & Garden Television

Whenever I hear the words "play ball," I get goosebumps. Not only does it remind me of baseball season, but it brings back memories of my brothers and me playing home-run derby in our backyard.

If you or your kids love baseball as much as I do, you'll love stepping up to the batter's box and taking a whack at this project.

Materials and Tools:

drill and drill bits
four 2-1/2-inch wood screws
four 4-inch lag screws
circular saw
carpenter's square
two newell posts
two stair railings
baseball bats, same size
stain
polyurethane

Steps:

1. Selecting good lumber. To save a lot of construction time, I purchased the headboard post and center rails at a home center store. Purchase two newell posts (stair rail post) and one stair railing.

Purchase seven wooden baseball bats of the same size, but the more variety of colors and label marking makes a more interesting bed.

2. Making the team. A full-size bed is 54 inches wide, and the railing I purchased measured 96 inches, and the post 4 inches. So I was lucky: I cut the railing in half (48 inches) and with the width of the post, I came up with the perfect width for my headboard, 56 inches — home run!

To attach the post to the railing, I first drilled pilot holes through the post. In order to use the 2-1/2 inch wood screws, you need two types of pilot holes. For the first one, I used a smaller twist bit (the same size shank as the screw), and then I drilled a larger one that would allow the head of the screw to be driven through the post into the railing, allowing the head of the screw to be counter sunk and out of view.

Make your pilot holes 2-1/2 inches from the top of the post (the top starting below the decorative topper), then lay the rail at the mark and make an outline of the rail. Next, measure a bat and from the bottom of your top rail mark, this is where the second set of pilot holes will be drilled.

To attach the bats to the rail, measure in from the end of the top rail 3 inches and make a mark. Make another mark every 7 inches until you reach the end, which should be 3 inches (assuming your rail is 48 inches long). Drill pilot holes at those marks and repeat on the bottom rail.

Drill pilot holes into the top and the handle of the bats.

Lay the rails on the floor and screw from the top rail into all the bats (the wide part of the bat will be the top). Use 2-1/2 inch wood screws (if you don't drill pilot holes into the bat, your screws will likely break). Now attach the bottom rail to the handle of the bats.

3. Roundin' third and headin' home. With the bat assembly still lying on the floor, attach the post to the railing (with the railing marks still on the post, you should be able to line it up nicely). Again using 2-1/2-inch wood screws, make sure the screw bites into the large pilot holes and is not loose.

4. Now for the final out. Stain the post and the rails with a stain color of your choice (the bats can be and should be left natural — I'm a purest). Follow up with a couple coats of water-based polyurethane.

Once the polyurethane has dried, attach the headboard to the frame of the bed using lag screws and washers.

For our headboard, I kept the trademark of the bats towards the back, but you can place them trademarks first, especially if you have some cool autographed bats. Play ball and have fun.

(Matt Fox writes this column with Shari Hiller. They also co-host the HGTV show Room by Room.)