things we build

I've been married to Ben for 5 years. In 5 years of marriage we have never had a headboard for our bed- until just a few months ago when I decided to go to Lowes and buy lumber to build one myself. It worked out perfectly because as I walked through our door my non-carpenter husband said, "you're not building it, I am." {Of course I'm much more of a non-carpenter than he is}.

We've only ever helped our parents build things for us {like our downstairs bathroom and back deck, but never furniture, and never by ourselves}.

So this was an adventure. Let me start out by saying I've never known someone to be more of a perfectionist than Ben. Which is why the headboard is perfect, but I'm fully confident you can do this project, it took him {remember a non-carpenter- who as a perfectionist works slower than most} about an hour to build!

I got this plan off Ana-White.com {one of my favorite blogs}. It's the same as this $800 Pottery Barn headboard. We modified the plans a little bit {instead of adding in 1x6 boards we stuck with the 1x4's the whole way for price sake- adding them in would have been about an extra $20}

This cost us around $70 to build.

At first I wanted to just paint it, but Ben liked the grain of the wood too much, and I had to agree with him. So for the finish I liked the idea of a weathered look, so I first stained it white {I believe the guy at Lowes called it "pickling"}

Next I painted a dark gray paint over it {only a little at a time} then wiped it off with a rag. {If you're going to do this technique remember to stay with the grain}.

It only took me about an hour to stain and do the weathered finish.

We waited a night to bring it upstairs so it would have ample time to dry.

And there you go- for $70 and two hours, a handmade solid {$800 look} headboard!