AmateurHour made a reclaimed headboard from pallet wood and posted it on Instructables. Not too shabby for a first timer!
After disassembling the pallets (by hand at first until I bought a reciprocating saw which made it much easier) I laid the wood out to get a general idea of how much space I could cover. For my bed it had to start two feet off the ground and be about 4′ by 3′.