Saturday Project: The Headboard from Hell

*Sorry this post is late, what with my birthday and all.....

Ugh.  The headboard.  Just talking about it sends my heart into some wicked palpitations.  I can feel my anxiety level rise and beads of sweat begin to form across my forehead.  What I thought would be a quick and easy project, 1-2 hours tops has turned into a week long battle.  Me vs. the Headboard.  It has tested and tried my patience (of which I have none, we've already established that here) more so than my children ever could.  It has been a project of trial and error and at this point I'm ready to go down to Home Depot and curse them and their crooked wood.  D*^$ them, D*^$ them to Hell!

FYI:  When using the word hell in the context of a place it is not considered a swear word, or so I've been told, so it's okay if I use it here.  Really, it is!

So, over a week ago I got all the materials that I needed to make my headboard.  I was soooo excited and ready to get started, but Dave pointed out that the wood was slightly bent and that it needed to be straight.  So I weighed it down with some weights thinking that it would be all ready to go!  I was SO wrong.  Here's a play by play of my adventure with the headboard (I'll explain each picture, looking at them left to right):

1. Trying to straighten the plywood, using weights.
2. Moved the plywood to the tile, so I could use spray adhesive and put on the foam.
3. Putting the foam on the board to see if I needed to trim it up.
4. Oops, the people at JoAnn's measured it a little long.
5. Trimming the foam.
6. Trimming the foam some more.  So much easier to do with an electric knife!  Alas, I didn't have one so I used my big serrated one instead.
7. Ahh, it fits!
8. The spray adhesive I used.
9. Attaching the foam to the board, using spray adhesive.
10. Laying out the fabric.
11. Now the batting.
12. Putting the foam and board on top.
13. Playtime for the Beast.  Up....
14. Down.
15. Cutting the excess batting and material.
16. Do you notice the slight bend in the wood?
17. Uh-oh, it isn't flush with the wood.  Ah well, let's keep going.  I have no patience, and I'm sure it will be alright!
18. Staple gun time!  Make sure you know what kind of staples fit your staple gun before you buy them.  The staples pictured here with my staple gun......totally the wrong size!
19. Good thing I had some extra staples on hand!  Let's get stapling!
20. Batting first.
21. Use a hammer to pound in any staples that don't go all the way in.  Need some help?  Don't worry the Beast is more than willing.
22. Now the fabric.
23. More fabric.....
24. and more.

Now lift up the headboard and see if everything is tight enough.  When I did this, I noticed that the fabric was really loose.  Dave said it was most likely because of the bend in the board and that no matter how tight I pulled the fabric, it wouldn't help.  GREAT!  You couldn't have told me the bend in the board might be a problem sooner?!?  Oh wait, you did.  My bad.  So, my next step was to pull out all the staples, and undo all of my hard work.  Good times.  So I did some research online, and I read that you should spray bent wood with water then weigh it down.  So that's what I did.  Exhibit A:

My solution to the problem.

I left the board like this for 3 days.  3 DAYS people!  Do you think it helped?  Well, a little, but the bend was still too noticeable.  So Dave took my idea of water and weights and came up with his own solution.  Exhibit B:

First he set it up on chairs.  Then he sprayed it with water.  No scratch that, he drenched it with water.  He even got down on the floor and did underneath the board as well.

Then he added weights.

Brilliant!  We left it like this overnight and though it wasn't a complete cure, the wood still had a little bend, it helped SO MUCH!  Hallelujah!  Dave suggested that we flip the wood so that what little bend was left was up against the foam.  At this point, I was meekly taking whatever advice Dave had to offer because lets face it, me and this Headboard, we ain't seeing eye to eye.  So, here goes attempt number 2 for making the headboard (once again I will explain the pictures going left to right):

1. Laying down the fabric.
2. Putting down the new batting. (I went cheap on the previous batting.  I admit it.  The fabric was so expensive, even with a coupon, and so was the foam.  I thought I could save a little money with the batting.  Bad idea!  I bought 4 oz batting the first time.  For the second time I bought 8 oz batting.  What a difference!  Seriously, don't skimp.  Trust me.)
3. Laying down the foam.  Since I got the better batting, I didn't need to use the spray adhesive to attach the foam to the board.  I was so glad because that adhesive is smelly and sticky!
4. Putting the board on top of the foam.
5. Staple time!
6. Batting first.
7. Batting all done.
8. Fabric time!
9. More fabric.  It is important that you pull the fabric as tight as you can.  You don't want the fabric to give once your headboard is complete.  I actually had Dave put down the camera and he pulled the fabric, while I stapled.
10. Fabric done!
11. The headboard with the fabric and batting stapled on.  The corners aren't done yet.  After we checked it to make sure the fabric was tight enough, I went around and stapled the batting and fabric about every inch or so to make sure it was secure.  

   12-25. These are all pictures of the corners.  I will do my best to give you a play by play, but I am no professional at this.  Now if my mom were here, she's the one who helped me do my last headboard, the corners would look like I paid someone hundreds of dollars to do them for me, but she's not, so I had to soldier on alone.  (hello, run-on sentence.  my English teachers would be horrified.)  Okay, so here's what I did.  First I trimmed the batting so I could see what I was doing.  Then I made little folds and just started stapling away.  I kind of accordion folded it (if that makes any sense) as best I could then I went crazy with the staple gun!  I did the same technique with the fabric.  The only thing I did different with the fabric is that I trimmed it AFTER I did the folding and the stapling.  I wanted to make sure I had plenty to play with.
    26.  The final step in the headboard making process, trimming.
    27.  I cut off all the excess fabric and batting so it would be easier to hang against the wall
    28.  IT'S DONE!  Now all that's left is to hang it.  Good thing that's Dave's job because I was tired!

We used french cleats (not where I bought them.  the website just gives a good description of what they are) to hang the headboard on the wall.  These allowed us to get a flush mount against the wall so the headboard wouldn't move at all.  I bought 4 of the smaller cleats that could hold up to 60 pounds each.  Then Dave did his fancy measuring and leveling.  He wrote everything out on a paper and drew a diagram, because he's good like that.  Me, I probably would've have tried to eyeball everything and hoped that it worked.  Thank goodness for Dave, that's all I have to say!  So, going left to right again and circling around the picture in the middle, which is the finished product, here is a run down of hanging the headboard.

1. We bought the french cleats at Home Depot.
2. The spot all ready for the headboard.
3. Dave doing his measuring.
4. First cleat on.
5. Drilling another one.
6. Headboard done.
7. Dave making sure everything was level.
8. All the cleats attached to the wall.
9. A close up of the cleats on the wall.
10. In the middle, the finished and hung headboard!

Oh glorious day!  Words cannot express how happy I am that it is up and completed.  It's a little higher than planned because of a miscommunication between Dave and I, but that's okay.  I can work with it.  I sure as heck am NOT going to move it now.  LOL!  Please excuse the bedding.  I wish I had pretty pillows and bedspread to decorate the bed and take a really pretty picture but alas, I do not.  Bedding is on the to do list for the Master Bedroom makeover.  Maybe I'll make it my project for the week.  We'll see how things go.  Anyhow, here is the rundown of supplies that I needed and used for this project:

1.  One 1/4 in. thick piece of plywood.  Cut to size.  My bed is a King and I knew that I wanted the headboard to be little taller than most, so I had my wood cut to 76x40.  Remember, you want about an inch extra on both sides.  You don't want your headboard width and bed width to match exactly.

2.  Foam.  2 inches thick.  I had to buy about 2 1/2 yards.  I did have a little left over.  I bought it by the yard, but I had coupons so that helped a lot.  Foam is PRICEY!  It was by far the most expensive thing that I had to buy for this project.

3.  Batting.  Like I said, don't go cheap.  Obviously, buy what works for you, but I was so much happier with the 8oz batting vs. the 4oz.  I bought 3 yards of batting.

4.  Fabric.  I bought 3 yards of the upholstery fabric of my choice.  I strongly recommend getting upholstery fabric, instead of just regular fabric.  Upholstery fabric is sturdier and is meant for projects like these.  The other headboard I made 4 1/2 years ago is still holding up beautifully thanks to the fabric I used.

5.  Staples and a staple gun.  Nuff said.

6.  A good pair of scissors.

7.  French Cleat Picture Hangers.  Found these at Home Depot in the picture hanging section.

Tools:
Phillips Screwdriver
power drill
measuring tape
level
one strong handsome manly man
studfinder (not counting you)

I think that's it.  It's a pretty easy project as long as your wood isn't bent.  If you're planning on making one, just make sure your wood IS NOT BENT.  That is my absolute best advice for you!  Alrighty, if you have any questions leave a comment, or email me at becausemysistertoldmetoo@gmail.com.  I'm no professional,  all you have to do is take one look at my corners to know that but I will be more than willing to help you out anyway that I can!  Remember if you like what you're seeing and reading please become a follower and like me on facebook!  It's always nice to know you're out there!

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Saturday Project: Shelves Recycled

When I was growing up, my mom had a sewing room.  It had fake wood paneling on the walls and cheap linoleum on the floor.  It was filled with fabric and sewing machines.  The drawers were full of thread and scissors and piled high on the shelves were patterns for every shape and size.  The linoleum was always covered with bits of material and thread.  Everything from the desk, to the shelves was that awful brown that was so popular back in the 70's.  A few years back my parents decided to remodel the sewing room.  They ripped out the old desk and shelves and replaced everything with gleaming white cupboards and tables from Home Depot.

When I heard they were getting rid of the shelves, I asked them to bring them to me.  I knew they would come in handy someday.  These shelves have sat in my garage for the past 3 years.  It has taken me that long to decide exactly what I wanted to do with them.  Here's what they looked like when they used to hang in the sewing room.

I looked through literally  100's of photos and this is the only one I could find that showed the shelves.  Theresa may not appreciate me putting yet another picture of her up on my blog, but hey my niece Riley sure was a cute baby!

I had the husband take 2 shelves down to Home Depot to get them cut.  I originally thought that I could get three 27 in. shelves out of them.  We didn't measure the shelves before we had them cut and as it turned out, we were only able to get two 27 in. shelves.  I figured I could get started on what I had and that I would get another one cut later.  Then, as I was looking at the smaller pieces I realized that there was a wall in my bedroom, where those shelves might just fit perfectly and....I was right!  So, now I got 4 shelves out of 2.

First, I sanded them down.  The shelves are MDF, so when I sanded them all I got was that chalky look.  Sorry, no pictures.  Then I primed them with some Rust-oleum white primer, and then some gray primer.

Then I gave them a couple coats of Rust-oleum's Dark Walnut in a Satin finish.

I found the brackets for the shelves at Home Depot for like 7 bucks a package.

I gave these a quick coating of Rust-oleum's Dark Walnut to match the shelves and here is the finished product.

These are the smaller shelves.  The ones that just happened to fit perfectly without me even measuring them.
Not the best pictures, since I took them at night with the flash, but I couldn't wait!  I am so excited!  I think they look great and they fill that little niche by the closet perfectly.  I'm not exactly loving the stuff I have on the top shelf, but it will do for now.  I'm not sure if the longer shelves are going to work for what I had originally planned so I'll have to get back to you on those. 

So, what do you all think?  Not bad for some recycled shelves, huh?  I think this project cost me about 25 dollars total.  The hardware for the shelves was 14 dollars for two.  I bought one can of spray paint, and I already had the primer.  The only other thing I had to buy was drywall anchors and they were about 2 dollars a package.  I love the end result!  Leave a comment, and let me know what you think!  I love hearing from you.  If aren't following my blog yet, you should!  I've got some great projects coming up.


*Next on Saturday Project:  Upholstered King Size Headboard

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Hope My Ganglion Cyst Doesn't Come Back....Oh And A Dresser Re-Do!

Yesterday, I refinished a dresser.  Last time I refinished a dresser (2 in one week) I got one of these.  Gross, right?!?  I know!  And, it hurt, like really bad.  I couldn't use my wrist for almost a week and they put me on a steroid treatment to help it go away.  So, needless to say, I was a little nervous about picking up the spray paint again but I really want to finish my master bedroom so I soldiered on!  Like I said, I've already refinished two dressers for my bedroom (I'll post pictures of those later).  This was the third and final piece of big furniture that I needed to redo for the room.  The dresser is going to be used as Dave's nightstand.  Before I go into detail on what I did, let me give you a little background about the room.

Our room is relatively small for a master bedroom, (who am I kidding, our whole house is small!) and there isn't a lot of storage.  So, we need everything to serve more then one purpose.  You following me?  So instead of having cute little nightstands that just have a couple books on them and some accessories, I needed some serious storage as well.  So I decided to use smaller dresser's as nightstands.  This post is about Dave's nightstand, but I'll have to put some pictures on of mine as well (it was a steal!  and it looks soooo pretty).  The other furniture in the room is painted Rust-oleum's Heirloom White, but for Dave's I wanted something masculine, something more just for him, because let's face it, the rest of the room is all about me!

Here's the dresser, I forgot to get a good before shot so I quickly took some while I was sanding:

You get the basic idea, right?  It was just your standard brown dresser with straight lines.  I LOVE straight lines.  I'm not really a curvy kind of girl.  The dresser is solid wood with a wood veneer over it.  Not a huge fan of the wood veneer, but the drawers were dovetailed and for 30 bucks (craigslist find.  gotta love craigslist!), I figured I could work with it.

When you're working with veneer, you're not going to get down to bare wood.  I did in some parts probably because the veneer was old and wearing thin.  There was also some water damage on the top.  I researched ways to fix that and replace the veneer, etc, but with three little kids and a limited budget I decided just to embrace the dresser's imperfections.  I am trying to adhere to the Nester's motto, "It doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful!"  It's not easy for me to do that because I'm a perfectionist at heart, but after some time in therapy and some very helpful blue pills, I'm getting there.  Okay, sorry, I digress.  My perfectionist tendencies is a whole other post so back to the dresser!  Next up:

When you're sanding veneer, all you'll get is that chalky look.  You can see on the edges how it did actually get down to the bare wood.  See that stuff on the side of the dresser?  At some point, this dresser had tape all over it.  Why?  Don't know, don't care.  I pulled out some Krud Kutter and got to work getting all that sticky stuff off.

Krud Kutter + paper towels + old fashioned elbow grease = MAGIC!  Wa la!  Gunk be gone.  After removing the gunk I had to sand again because the areas that were sticky didn't get sanded.

After I finished sanding, I cleaned up the dresser and then we moved it into the garage so I could start painting.  Now let me tell you, I love spray paint.  Like, seriously LOVE. IT.  About 2 years ago, I attempted to redo our old nightstands.  I painted them with a foam brush.  It was time consuming and frustrating because I could see the brush strokes.  I made a lot of mistakes when I was doing those nightstands.  I didn't sand it at all very well, I didn't use any primer, and I didn't wait for the paint to really dry.  Those nightstands got ruined the first time we used them, things stuck to the paint and when removed they took the paint with them.  I was very upset, however, I am very grateful for that experience because I learned a lot.  So, with this dresser, after sanding thoroughly, I started to prime.

For the first layer of primer I used Kilz primer.  This stuff is awesome.  It covers everything and helps mask any smells that your furniture may have absorbed from it's previous owner.  Priming is so important if you want your furniture to last.  I wouldn't recommend skipping this step.  Another step I wouldn't recommend that you skip is sanding after you've primed.  Seriously.  I was worried about spray painting furniture because it can leave a bumpy finish, however if you sand using a fine grit sandpaper after priming your finish will be as smooth as butter!

After using the Kilz primer I did do one coat of Rust-oleum Gray primer.  I used a darker color on this dresser and I didn't want to have to do a lot of coats to cover the white primer.  I didn't even need to sand after the second layer of primer.  The finish was still perfectly smooth from the previous sanding.

Rust-oleum Painter's Touch Ultra Cover 2X in Dark Walnut with a Satin finish.  I love this stuff and would highly recommend this brand.

The final step is to seal your paint job with a protective finish.  I like to use Minwax's Polycrylic Protective Finish.  This stuff is great because it comes in a spray, is water based, and can be safely used over paint.  It does cost about 10 bucks a can, but oh so worth it!  I do 2 coats of this on my furniture. A word of caution, be careful when you use it because it will spit on your furniture.  I don't know any other way to describe it, but when it spits it will leave drops on your paint job that will dry and will be noticeable in certain light.  I have yet to find a way to stop the spitting but I did find a way to minimize it.  Be very, very slow and if it starts to spit, stop spraying and wipe your finger off.

Another word of caution, don't ask your husband (who really just wants to be playing his video game, but is trying to be tolerant supportive of your many projects) to help.  Chances are in his impatient efficient way of thinking, fast and thick are better than slow and steady.  After his help, your drawers and all your hard work will have been spit on multiple times and will be swimming in protective finish.  When corrected, he will get frustrated, and you will vow to never ask him to help you spray paint again, which may have been his whole goal from the beginning.  So, listen to me and save yourself the aggravation joy of having your husband help you.

Instead of replacing the pulls with new ones, I decided to spray paint the original pulls with Rust-oleum Hammered in Brown.  At first I wanted to replace the pulls, but the only pulls I found, that would work were about 7 bucks a pull.  I didn't have another 28 dollars in the budget to replace the hardware, so I turned to a 5 dollar can of spray paint.  I wasn't sure if I would like the outcome, but I did!  I LOVE IT!  I don't know if I will ever replace these.  The pulls used to have a dirty gold color, which I wasn't really digging so this is much better.  And as you will see below, the finished project looks fantastic!  At least I think so, and that's really all that matters right, since I'm the one who has to live with it.

Here is the finished product!  I really love it and I am so happy about the extra storage it is going to provide!  I lined all the drawers with contact paper.  It just makes it feel cleaner to me.  Dave has already filled the drawers with his stuff and our room is getting less cluttered and more organized!  I have so many more projects to do for our master bedroom makeover, so look forward to future posts and I can't wait till it's all done and I can do the Big Reveal!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments and I will get back to you as soon as I can.  Also, if you like what you're reading please become a follower and like me on facebook, so I know you're out there!  Thanks!


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