Hand-painted headboard & footboard

I’ve said it before and I’m sure I’ll say it again.

I am somewhat of a “picker”.

“Picker”, as in I enjoy finding discarded, unwanted items for the purpose of re-purposing.

It’s fun and exciting and it’s free most of the time, so what’s better than that?

Guess I take a bit after my Dad, he’s always been a bit of a Picker himself.  My dad also LOVES to go yard saling and has a big collection of stuff stored away that he has found over the years, mostly antiques.

I’m definitely okay with taking after my Dad, he’s a wonderful, fun-loving guy! ❤.

I love yard sales too, but  haven’t been to many lately due to weekend activities.  However, I do find myself scoping out curbs as I am driving around to see if anyone has discarded any items they’ve decided they don’t need.

Ya know, items that I may just squeal at the sight of!

I’ve scored big picking in the past, I have also passed on items that I wish I hadn’t passed on, but you can’t live in the past now can ya?

{I’m still annoyed though about three free dressers I passed on a few months back. When I decided to go back just a few minutes later, some big dude was loading all three of them into his pick-up.  Didn’t anyone teach that dude to share?}

{sheesh!}

Anyway, just the other day while driving home from somewhere???, I spotted a wooden headboard and footboard set up along side the road with a “FREE” sign attached.

The set was definitely pretty AND had lots of potential!

If I wasn’t in a rush to get home for something???,  I would have screeched the brakes, pulled on over to checked out the goods.

Since I was rushed, I decided to hold off.

Until the next morning that is.

When I went back to check out the sitch, the pieces had fallen and at first sight I thought they were already gone.  I was like “oh well, wasn’t meant to be”, but then I saw them lying there in the grass!

I hopped on out wearing my hat and big ole’ sun glasses ~ gotta keep it on the D.L. right?!? (LOL).  I stuffed ‘em QUICKLY into my SUV before anyone I knew drove past and hopped back into the get-away-car.

SCORE!

I was super excited because the pieces were structurally strong and had such pretty details like the pineapple shaped finials.

I knew exactly what I wanted to do with this pretty bed and I was anxious to get started.

Here is what they looked like when I brought em’ home….

So, for the makeover…

I started by painting each piece with Benjamin Moore White Swan.  It’s in antique white that I just adore.

I did enough coats so that the wood didn’t show through anymore ~ about 2-ish..

Spray painting would have been quicker, but it’s gotta be a non-windy day and lately that is hard to come by around here. Plus I already had the BM paint so I could keep this project low cost.

After I finished painting the pieces, I typed “Sweet Dreams” in a pretty curvy font called Edwardian Script using Photoshop Elements.

I saved it as a .jpg and emailed it to my husband.

Using Michael’s laptop, I hooked up his new Samsung LCD projector (I have been DYING to try this!).

I opened up the email that I sent him, shined the projector onto the headboard and aligned “Sweet Dreams” in the center.

I decided to skip the pencil and go right to the teeny paint brush and black paint.

Then I just started painting over the letters.

I don’t have a super steady hand, but I knew that wouldn’t matter too much in the end.

At first I had a little “do-dad” under “Sweet Dreams”, but I decided it didn’t look right so I nixed it in the end.

Once the paint was dry, I lightly sanded over the words to make them look a bit worn and antique.  It was imperfect, perfectly imperfect that is!

I glazed both pieces with Ralph Lauren glaze in Smoke and then wiped on the Poly.

Here are my after shots.

Again….

I really love this full-sized bed and even thought about keeping it for my girls.

Instead, I’ve decided to donate it to a fundraiser we are going to on Friday evening.  For more information on this fundraiser, you can find it here.

**Funny how things work.  A friend of mine from the gym told me she had recently picked up a bed from a neighbor who was moving and thought I would love to refinish it for my girls.

I picked it up from her yesterday.  It is basically a replica of this bed.

I will refinish this one as well, not sure how just yet.

Thank you Patricia!

Karma baby.

~~~~~~~~~

Next up…

French inspired drop cloth pillows ~ DIY!

Thanks for stopping by!

I’m linking up to Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Friday here.