We’ve been collecting examples of shelf head-board that double as picture/object displays to inspire the one we are designing in our head.

…We are struck by how they can unify a room. AND they have the advantage of NOT feeling like a shelf hanging over the bed.

Looking closely we realize they are really only a narrow plywood or sheetrock box pressed against or built onto the wall…then painted. It would seem fairly simple thing to make.

You could hinge the top shelf so it opens into a narrow storage space to hide art or little used frames, board etc (We’re ALWAYS thinking of ways to pack in storage). We stumbled on this one at Heath Ashli’s Flickr, which has some good closeups of how a plywood headboard might be made (along with lots of good home ideas).

We’ve seem some free-standing ones that act as room divider and storage, like this one from the beautiful Casa Tabarelli, architect Carlo Scarpa’s masterpiece.