I was actually surprised on how much feedback I received... including from people who don't even follow me. However, the feedback was great and definitely confirmed that it was an excellent find. So we were in touch with the owner and eventually we drove out to see it, and ultimately make it our own. I just loved all of the detail in it.
A lot of the feedback I received was to leave it as is, or to strip and restain it. Well, I'll start but saying I hate stripping anything... let alone a detailed piece like this - so that was immediately out of the question, and B agreed. Second, as heavy and solid as this piece may look, it's actually made out of soft pine, nothing that we would feel really bad about painting. Finally, we tried it out, as is, in our bedroom and it's definitely way too dark. So, out to my "workshop" (aka the empty sunroom) it went for some paint.
I picked "Distant Grey", which is a Brian Glukstein colour, and had it colour matched at Home Depot to Behr's Premium, paint and primer in one interior gloss. It was the perfect white for our room on the paint chip, and just and perfect in person.
I was incredibly impressed with how well the first coat covered the headboard, especially with how dark it was originally. You can also probably tell from the above photo that I skipped a major step and did not sand down the piece... but really - can you blame me? I would've been there for months sanding that thing down if I wanted to do the whole thing. Despite skipping this big step, the paint covered beautifully and had stayed really nicely.
In the end, I settled on two coats of paint on the piece. There are some spots where the wood shows through a tiny bit, giving the piece a little bit of a worn look and we both love it. I didn't really want it to be pure white, so I'd say I got exactly what I wanted. Here she is all lightened up and living in our much more masterful, master bedroom.
Oh yes, and my frame's and ampersand - I hung those before we even had the headboard in the house. Let me tell you how happy I am that I hung them so high! I'm still waiting to receive the files from Halle's one year photo shoot before I print the photos for those frames, so for now, they stay empty.
As white as it looks from a distance, when you get up close you get a better look at the worn quality of it...
Having a big statement headboard really makes a huge difference in the space, and much like our painted chairs, it's a way to add some character to our rental without putting any money into the actual house. I really do love it. We've come a long way from sleeping on the guest bedroom mattress on the floor in here...
For now I'm using our console table, that actually belongs in the front all, as a night stand. It's working well, but I'd really like to find a better piece, preferably one that has a mate so that B can have one on his side as well. At the moment he has an old painted dresser that we picked up on craigslist. It's a little too high to be a night table and the drawers stick a little. I think it would work better in the guest room, so my search for the right bedside tables continues. It's just hard to find two pieces that are the right size, provide us with good storage and at a price point that we like - but we'll just have to keep looking.
These are only the first of many updates to this room. I'd love some pretty toss pillows in here, and some roman shades for the windows on either side of our bed. They look out into the sunroom, and since we hope to make that a nice place to hang out, I'd like the option to close them when we have company over. Like any space, it will all take some time and patience to find the right pieces to give us that perfect layered look, and I know in the end it will be worth it.
