Headboard Headache

When you’re buying a new bedroom suit, you consider style, color, size, and a whole lot of variables. But something we never thought about was how comfortable the headboard of the bed would be. The headboard. We bought our current bed three years ago when we moved into this new house, and we’ve slept in it just fine all this time. But there’s an aspect of this bed that’s uncomfortable — when sitting up, to read a book or watch TV, the headboard is aggravating.

Here’s our headboard:

Pretty and decorative, right? Wifegrit picked it out, and I approved of it. (Read: I didn’t care one way or another, so long as she was happy with it.) But notice the cross . . . things? What is that design called? I have no idea. Anyway, whatever that is, it’s aggravating.

When sitting up in bed, to read or watch TV, those cross things hurt the back of our heads. You might think, “Well, just place your head in the center of one of the diamonds.” That’s easier said that done. No two people are the same height, so you have to position pillows and back and shoulders perfectly to fit your head in the exact spot on the headboard. Then you can’t move or shift at all. (Forget turning your head to talk to the other person.) And that’s assuming the perfect position for your head between the cross things is even comfortable to the rest of you, like your back.

Sometimes I’ve found the sweet spot for my head while reading, and then after a while, I’ll slide down a bit to get more horizontal or to get more under the covers, and ow! Dammit, those cross things ruin the comfort.

So now we’re trying to think of a way to fix this problem. Can we cover the headboard with some kind of upholstery, can we replace just the headboard, or do we have to buy a whole new bed? We’ve lived with the aggravation/discomfort for a few years now, and it’s reached a point that we just can’t put up with it anymore.

As I was writing this post, I just started searching the web for a solution. Interestingly, either Bing has already read this text, and therefore knows what I’m thinking about, or we’re not the only ones with this issue.

Bullgrit