Here’s a scenario that comes up in our customer messages at least once a week: someone buys a nice new bed frame, gets it all set up, sits back to admire it—and something feels off. The bed looks like it’s missing a front tooth. That’s almost always the headboard problem. A bed without one just reads as unfinished, no matter how good the sheets are.
Other times the issue is more practical. Maybe the plaster wall behind the bed is getting scuffed from pillows sliding up against it every night. Maybe you’re renting and can’t drill holes for a big built-in bedhead. Or maybe you measured wrong last time and ended up with a headboard that overhangs the mattress by 15cm on each side, looking lopsided against your 137cm double bed frame.
The most common double bed headboard mistakes
Before we get to fixes, it helps to know what actually goes wrong. We see the same handful of issues over and over:
- Wrong width. A standard Australian double mattress is 137cm wide. Buying a headboard sized for queen (153cm) or single leaves gaps or overhang that look wrong and can wobble.
- No wall support. Cheap headboards that just lean against the frame slide down over time, especially with kids jumping on the bed or pillows being thrown around.
- Wrong material for the room. A hard timber headboard in a room that’s already full of hard surfaces (floorboards, wooden bedside tables) can feel cold. A fully upholstered one in a small, humid room can hold moisture and smell musty if it’s cheaply made.
- No storage thinking. Smaller bedrooms need every centimetre working for them, and a plain headboard wastes vertical space that could hold books, a lamp or glasses.
Fix 1: match the headboard width to your mattress, not the other way round
This sounds obvious, but it’s the number one mistake we see. A double bed headboard should measure close to 137cm across, give or take a few centimetres for the frame edge. Anything wider or narrower throws off the whole look of the room, and can also mean the headboard doesn’t line up with your bed frame’s mounting points.
The 137cm linen upholstered headboard is built specifically to that double bed width. It wall-mounts, so there’s no sliding or shifting once it’s up, and the striped linen upholstery gives you texture without shouting for attention. It suits a room where you want the bed to feel soft and lived-in rather than showroom-stiff.
Fix 2: if your walls are rented territory, go freestanding
Not everyone can drill into a wall, and that’s fair enough. If you’re in a rental or just don’t want to commit to fixed brackets, a freestanding headboard solves the problem without any wall damage. It sits behind the bed frame under its own weight and can move with you when you move house.
The 160cm freestanding pine headboard with storage shelves is worth a look here. It’s a bit wider than a standard double mattress, which actually works in its favour—it gives you those extra centimetres either side for shelf space, so you can drop your phone charger, a water glass or a stack of paperbacks right at bed height instead of reaching over to a bedside table.
A quick note on assembly and care for pine headboards
Pine is a softer timber than oak or maple, so it’s lighter to carry and easier to assemble solo, but it will dent if you’re rough with it. Wipe with a dry or barely damp cloth, keep it out of direct sun if you can (pine yellows a touch over years in strong light), and tighten the connecting bolts again after the first month once the wood has settled.
Fix 3: small bedroom, want it to disappear a bit? Go minimalist and low-profile
If your room is on the smaller side, a bulky upholstered headboard with deep padding can eat visual space you don’t have. Sometimes the better fix isn’t more headboard, it’s less. A slim, flat-profile design reads as tidy rather than empty, and works well in bedrooms that already have a busy dresser or a gallery wall going on.
The brown engineered wood headboard does this well. Clean lines, a warm brown tone that sits comfortably with most Australian timber flooring, and none of the extra bulk. It’s a good match for a room that’s already doing a lot with colour or pattern elsewhere and doesn’t need the bed to compete for attention.
Which fix suits your actual bedroom?
Rather than picking on looks alone, it helps to run through your room’s real constraints:
- Renting, or just don’t want to drill? Freestanding pine with storage covers you.
- Want the classic soft, hotel-style look and don’t mind mounting to the wall? The 137cm linen upholstered headboard is sized exactly for a standard double and gives that warmer, textured finish.
- Working with a small or already-busy room? The engineered wood minimalist option keeps the sightline low and calm.
One last practical tip: measure your mattress before you measure the wall. It’s the mattress width that decides whether a headboard will sit flush or look slightly off, and getting that 137cm figure right the first time saves a return trip and a re-hang. Once it’s up, your bed frame stops looking like a job half-finished and starts looking like the actual centre of the room, which is honestly what it should have been the whole time.