Approximately 12 months ago, I began my quest to replace our headboard (the one that I had had from middle through high school) with something more grown-up and, for my husband’s sake, less feminine. I had started a list of fun headboard ideas in my mind and started at the top. First up was a fireplace mantle (I wanted an older one big enough to serve as a queen headboard). I learned over time that finding one that was both big enough and the style I wanted would be too expensive for our budget (which, on a scale of 0-100, was on this side of zero). Next up was creating a fabric-upholstered headboard. As I thought about what I wanted our bedroom to look like down the road, I realized this wasn’t exactly the look I wanted. Third on my list was finding an antique or vintage door that could serve as a headboard. Given that this search started a year ago and that we actually implemented our plan months ago (ahem, beginning of September), it is a bit embarrassing to just now be getting around to writing this post. It appears I am not so good at remember to upload pictures, hence the wait…but better late than never! And I had promised many of my friends that I would do a post on it when it was done. Or close to done, in our case.
This is the before (please ignore my little boy fast asleep and his little belly)…
I’m sorry I couldn’t find a better before picture of the headboard, but this gives you the idea! I loved it in middle and high school, because it was unique and pretty. Will, however, was ready to move on. And having had it for so long, I was as well.
And here is the after…
I looked at a couple of flea markets and couldn’t find the door I envisioned for the right price. I ended up checking out our local Habitat for Humanity and found it. It was simple with clean lines, and while it wasn’t as old as I had hoped for, I figured with some distressing it would be perfect. After my husband sawed it down a bit to just the right size, I cleaned it up and decided to go ahead and put it on the wall. I’m very visual when it comes to DIY projects and wanted to really picture it before we did any more to it.
As I looked at it up there on the wall, I discovered that I didn’t want to distress it any more after all. A few coats of on of my favorite paint colors (Laura Ashley’s Ivory Glow) and it would be perfect. Well, that and I’m still looking for the vintage doorknob I have in my mind.
Since getting the headboard up, we’ve gotten some other projects checked off the list as well. My definite favorite is the project above the headboard. Will and I debated over what we should put in the empty spot above our bed, discussing framed pictures of landscapes from trips we’ve taken to one big piece of artwork, but we couldn’t quite decide on something. I’ve been a sucker for vintage windows for awhile now, and had already worked on one that is in our living room. When a good friend called me and said she had gotten some extra windows and would I like some, I jumped on the offer (thanks again Margaret!). I had various ideas bouncing around in my mind, but what I wanted to do most was convert it into a mirror. I wasn’t sure of the best way to go about it and explored how to get glass fitted to the individual panes. It was then that I discovered this…
Krylon Looking Glass spray paint. This stuff is great. If you are looking for a perfectly clear, looks-just-like-a mirror surface, then you may not want to go with this. But the slightly hazy appearance it gives was perfect for our vintage window. I love the way it turned out, and as a bonus, the mirror really adds a lot of reflected light and makes our small bedroom look bigger.
Our most recent project then became our curtains. Oh, sometime I need to blog on our curtain story- craziness (and thanks again Kristy!). When we first bought this house, I purchased many of our curtains at World Market during a great sale they were having on window coverings. For our bedroom, we went with some ivory burnout drapes in a jacquard pattern, which were light and pretty and would go with a variety of colors.
This is what they look like:
As time went on, we discovered two minor issues: 1) they let in a LOT of light and 2) we need more color in our bedroom as we also had ivory colored bedding. We decided to move those over to our office/extra room and after looking for quite a while for some that were both affordable and fit with the warm spice color of our bedroom walls, we ended up getting some gorgeous floral/tree of life patterned ones that add some wonderful color to our room.
So here is our room currently:
I still have some other projects I want to tackle- the doorknob for the headboard, painting our nightstands a matching color (I found our current ones at a consignment shop and liked the fact that they were similar but weren’t identical) and putting a long shelf up between the headboard and our window mirror. I’m thinking of some whitewashed reclaimed wood on wrought iron brackets. Something like this
but a bit more simple and spray-painted white. A shelf would allow me space for books, pictures, or other fun things.
Anyway, there it is. I enjoy changing things a little at a time and have come to really love filling our home with things that we love and doing so on a budget. It is stretching my creativity and allows me to dream a bit more than I may otherwise!
Dancing in the Mundane 