Itsy Bitsy Lakeside Cottage Master Bedroom DIY Headboard

Ohio To Honeoye

Who would think that this pile would become an awesome DIY headboard? As some of you may know last spring I worked on a new restaurant in downtown Rochester that was built from scratch in a warehouse factory. The owners had purchased reclaimed wood floors to be put into the restaurant that came from an old Ohio mitten factory. After all the reclaimed wood floors were installed, there was a pile leftover that was going to the trash.

I’ll Take It!

I just couldn’t see all that 1 1/4 inch hard maplewood go to the dumpster so I called up my husband and father and we hauled it all home. I knew that I could find numerous purposes for this reclaimed wood. Some of the pieces had yellow paint stripes that were directional markings for where the forklifts would drive and park. I used some of the wood to create a mantle in the living room that I will touch on in a later post. Today, I’m sharing my DIY headboard that I made with my father.  It virtually cost us nothing with the exception of a $20 piece of plywood from Home Depot.  Here’s how it went:

Making The Headboard

I had a standard metal bed frame purchased from a garage sale. We assembled it for queen size. I measured the width of the frame and added a few inches beyond for the width of the DIY headboard. There were no plans for hanging art above the bed so I decided on making the headboard on the taller side (over 6 feet tall). I had the piece of plywood cut at Home Depot, laid it down and cut the two support legs frame and the first horizontal piece on the bottom. I began screwing them into the plywood backing.

Pieces of The Puzzle

From there it was like building blocks. We assembled the boards so that the yellow stripes were random around the bed. We stacked each tongue and groove plank and every third piece put a screw in the back to keep it tight. Later on we would turn it over and screw every single piece from the black of the plywood into the floorboards.  In addition to screwing them in to the plywood frame we also used wood glue. We cut the remaining floor board pieces and place them in between the two ends of the church pew and then finished off the top with a scrap piece from a antique Victorian mirror frame.

Changes Along The Way

Initially, it was not my intention to paint the headboard but the pieces were so different texturally and colorwise that I felt that I need to unify the entire headboard someway.  

I used a turquoise one step paint color Boheme from Velvet Finishes by Kellie Smith. You can view her entire line of gorgeous paint colors by clicking on the highlighted link. Her paints go on so smooth and a little paint goes far! Using one part water to two parts paint ensured that I would not completely cover up all the great original yellow paint lines. I gave it a quick brush over it making sure that my paint did not get in the scratches and the grooves. I LOVED the rustic and worn out shabby look.

The Finishing Touches

We screwed the headboard into the wall and dressed up the room by adding a macramé vintage looking rope pendant chandelier that I purchased from HomeGoods.  

 Expanding the master bedroom

During our renovation a once 9 x 9 room had a large 3 foot walk-in closet. Who hangs up clothes when you’re at the lake? We remove the closet giving our so-called master bedroom and extra 3 feet. This allowed us to position our headboard so that when we wake up in the morning we get to see and hear the lake! Again trying to use what we had, we painted the remaining pieces of furniture white. A bright green 1920’s flour tin purchased in Cape Cod serves as Ross’ night stand. The same navy and white striped curtains dress all the windows in the cottage for continuity.  A graphic diamond carpet on the floor catches all the sand. A vintage fan, seaside artwork, a garage sale turquoise chair, bedding and accent pillows from HomeGoods finish out our master bedroom.

Before