How to Choose a Bed Headboard: Fabric or Wood?

Short answer: when choosing a headboard, look first at the covering material — padded fabric or hard wood — then at how it matches the bed width, and finally at how its colour and style fit the room. A headboard is not just a decorative panel; it is what your back rests against when you want to sit up in bed to read or work on a laptop, so its shape has a direct effect on comfort.

Why does the headboard matter — is it only decoration?

The headboard is the part of the bed your eye meets most: it is the first surface you notice when you walk through the bedroom door. But its role is not limited to looks. A padded headboard gives your back support when you sit upright in bed to watch television or drink your morning coffee. Leaning against a hard wooden headboard does not offer the same comfort. So for households that often use the bedroom as a place to sit, a padded headboard makes sense, while a plain wooden or flat panel headboard may be enough for those who only use the room for sleeping.

Covering material: padded fabric, wood or button-tufted?

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On padded and stitched headboards the surface is usually covered in a looped, textured fabric such as bouclé; even in a single colour, fabrics like this add shadow and depth to the surface, so they never look flat even in a one-colour room. We explained the durability differences between fabric types in our what the Martindale rating means article, and the same logic applies to headboard fabric.

What determines headboard width and height?

Headboard width comes with the width of the bed frame itself; unless you are buying a separately sold headboard, you have no choice here — the headboard is as wide as the frame model. On the height side, pay attention to the ceiling and to the general proportions of the bedroom furniture: in a room with a low ceiling, an unusually tall headboard can make the space look smaller, while in a room with a high ceiling a low headboard can look out of proportion. When judging whether a bed frame will fit the room, you also need to take mattress sizes into account; for that, see our bed sizes: single and double article.

Does the headboard come with the base?

No — the headboard belongs to the body of the bed frame, while the base is a separate system that goes under the mattress. Whether you choose a bed with or without a storage base does not change the type of headboard; the same headboard design can be offered in both versions. We compared the difference a base makes in terms of storage and height in our storage base or standard bed frame article.

How do you get the colour and style to work together?

Because the headboard is one of the largest single surfaces in the room, its colour should be considered together with the wardrobe and the bedside tables. A light headboard (cream, beige) sits alongside wardrobes and bedside tables in different wood tones without clashing; a dark headboard gives the room a bolder focal point but has to be matched more carefully to the tone of the other furniture. We gathered the points to watch when choosing a bedroom set as a whole in our how to choose a bedroom set article.

How do you care for a headboard?

On padded fabric headboards, dry dusting once a week is enough to stop dust building up; if a stain appears, going over it with a damp cloth before it dries prevents a permanent mark. On wooden or panel headboards, always follow the damp cloth with a dry one — leaving the surface wet makes it go dull. You will find the general care rules by material in our how to care for furniture article.

For an example of a padded headboard with diagonal stitching, see the Rams Bed Frame without Base page, and to compare different headboard types have a look at the bedroom bed frame category.