DIY Headboard and Bed Frame by Amy

My baby is getting so big and will be outgrowing her toddler bed soon.   We have three girls and only two “big girl” beds.  We had shopped around and hadn’t found any that we loved that had a price tag to match.  When I received my DIY Dare Club sponsor supplies for the month of February…I knew exactly what I would use them to make…a new bed for my oldest daughter!

We primarily used Ana White’s Farmhouse Bed Tutorial, but added our own little twist to go with my daughter’s room decor.  Since Ana White obviously writes amazing tutorials, I am not going to rewrite it but will share with you how we used the different Sponsor products I received as part of being a DIY Dare Blogger.

Since the original tutorial was for a queen bed and we wanted to make a twin bed, we adjusted our measurements accordingly.  We took a piece of wood and then painted it white and let it dry.

After it was completely dry I used this Casablanca Cutting Edge Stencil to make the pattern that is in the center of the headboard.  The stencil is nice and large and is made up of a nice thick plastic.  It is really sturdy and I found it very easy to work with.

Then I used some Mythic Paint, color Smooth Waves in high gloss and painted over the stencil onto the previously painted white board.

The paint color really seemed to be true to what I saw on the Mythic website and I was really happy with the color.  I was a a bit nervous though because I just picked the color off of their website.  Normally, I spend a lot of time comparing tons of paint chips before I can finally choose a paint color.

There was also a little mix up in the original order.   I was accidentally sent high gloss paint instead of the eggshell.  Mythic was really great and quickly sent me out another gallon of the same paint in the correct sheen.  It actually worked out perfectly and I was able to use the high gloss paint on the bed and then I painted her bedroom walls with the other gallon of eggshell.

There were a few spots that needed a little bit of touch up where the blue paint got underneath the stencil onto the white paint.  So I simply took a small paint brush and touched up the few spots with this DecoArt Stencil paint.  It worked like a charm.

Then I cut the board down so that it fit into the outer boards of the headboard frame.  Then we added the other molding on top of the painted board.  We had a little help from Rapunzel {from Tangled}  who kept trying to sneak in some modeling work in front of the camera.

I was also given some Gorilla Glue for this project.  I have actually never used gorilla wood glue before this.  I have always used another brand.  But I honestly have to say that I really liked this.  It really seemed to dry a LOT faster and did not leave yellow marks after it had dried.  I think I found my new wood glue.

I ended up using over half the bottle on this entire project but almost every piece of molding was glued on.

After the glue had dried I primed the headboard.  I had pre-painted the trim that sits right next to the stenciled decorative center of the headboard.  That way I only had to make a few little touch-ups and did not have to paint anywhere near the center area.  SO MUCH EASIER!!

I used this beauty to paint my headboard with along with a small foam roller.  Have you ever used a Purdy paint brush?  LOVE!!  They are so smooth and make painting and cutting so much easier.

I especially love that it has an angled edge.  It was perfect for getting into the cracks between the different pieces of molding.

In the meantime, we built the bed frame and attached the nice boards to the outside and painted it as well.

Then we sprayed the entire bed with the left over Deft Clear Wood Finishing Spray from Rockler to give it a nice protective coating of varnish.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!

And you want to hear something amazing?  We were in TJ Maxx just browsing around one night after the hubs and I had gone out to dinner and I saw these two pillows {the blue one and the white one with the blue ruffle}.  I thought they looked very similar to the paint color.  And sure enough they were a perfect match!  Wahoo!  And the price at $12 and $10 was hard to beat!

What do you think?

Rayan from the Design Confidential (and another DIY gal) also has some bed tutorials-check her tutorials out as well.