Pleated Linen Headboard

Here's something I whipped up yesterday and wanted to share with you how easy it is to reinvent a piece that you may think has no life left in it!!! This is an old bed frame - head and foot board - probably from the 40's i'm guessing....it was given to me by a client who was moving to a smaller home. (Thanks, Jennifer!)

 It has been living in my garage for a year.  As you can see it has some serious veneer issues.

 But recently my niece was saying how her existing headboard, which is not attached, was driving her nuts and she just wanted a bed where she could lean back without the bed scooting away from the wall.

So...I thought about this old thing....the hardest part was getting it out of the very BACK of my garage....where I have been piling things in front of it for a year.  So here it is again.

Last week, I scored this awesome bolt of pleated linen fabric from a great place that's going out of business here in Richmond, Liquidated Warehouse.  You should check it out - they are closing end of June, and I'll miss finding treasures there!!!

I decided it would be the perfect thing to reupholster the head and footboards.  I cut the fabric with enough allowance to fold over the edges.

On the footboard, I got out my old glue gun...

 But after almost losing a thumb, i realized, duh....Staple gun...so much easier...So I stapled all the edges down.
Then I used one of my favorite tricks:  Nailhead trim!!!! I purchased mine online at Fabric Farms. I ran the strip all along the edges - up the side over the top and down the other side.  It's very easy to use, but you can easily slice a  finger, so I would recommend gloves....as you can see, I didn't use them, which is why I now have not only a burnt thumb, but a sliced one....;)

 You just nail in a tack on every one that has a pre-existing hole...........

 And here is the footboard finished....Pretty swank!! I'm telling you, YOU can do this!!!

 I did the very same thing to the headboard.

Here's a view of the top edge.

And I couldn't stand it, so after I painted a kitchen cabinet job all day, I ran over to her house and put it up..........It looks great.........

 Headboard........

 Footboard.

  I will mention one thing....when you upholster these vintage beds, you should be aware that they were not built with today's thick mattresses in mind, so alot of the headboard will be hidden by the mattress and boxsprings.  In this case, function was more important.  But I'm thinking about hanging a piece of covered plywood above the headboard, in the same pleated fabric and nailhead trim, to visually extend the look.  That will have to wait for another day!  Okay, off to paint...again....

The Dungeon Bathroom

Yesterday I featured a recent makeover in a basement bedroom, and, as promised, tonight I want to continue and show you what I did with the attached bathroom.  To refresh, the existing bedroom and bathroom had brown panelling from the 60's.

BEFORE:  Here's the bathroom and the metal shower stall.

 The side of the shower stall still had the "flower power" decals left over from the client's daughter who used this as her bedroom during the 70's.

 The bottom  of the shower stall had serious rust - inside and out.  You could stick your finger through it.

Over here, more panelling and the original medicine cabinet.  A tiny wall sink had been removed and replaced with this vanity I found on craigslist.

Okay, not the most attractive piece, but much more functional.  For $20 -which included the faucet -  it was a deal.

 
All the hardware in the bathroom was original to the 60's.............

 AFTER:  So let's take a look at what I came up with.  These were all inexpensive cosmetic improvements that really freshened up this bathroom.
I put in a yard sale shower curtain and new towels and washcloths I purchased at HomeGoods.


I added a pvc/vinyl chairrail around the room, under which I installed vinyl beadboard right over the existing panelling.
 
I also ran the vinyl beadboard along the side of the showerstall, AND on the inside bottom walls. It made the shower watertight and took care of the rust issue.

I left the panelling above the chairrail but primed it and then painted it in Benjamin Moore Opal Essence, a very pale aqua.  It's one of my favorite colors.....The chairrail itself i painted a wheat color.  This was an oops paint, but for something similar, try Benjamin Moore Desert Tan.

 
Normally I would have gone with a white chair rail but I did this to try to integrate the color of the faux cultured marble top of the vanity.

Then i painted the base of the vanity in white, but used the same Opal Essence and Desert Tan on the face, to make the top feel less "dirty."  Again, not the most attractive surface, but you gotta work within limitations.

I replaced all the towel accessories, rings, bars, toilet paper holder, with chrome ones from a salvage store. I also replaced the showerhead with a handheld chrome one.

 The medicine cabinet I found on craigslist for $20.  On the top ledge, I added some old mason jars and an antique glass insulator for a little pop of color.

 And finally, above the toilet, i hung a little wall storage piece I bought at a yard sale.  I decoupaged the front with an old map, and accessorized the top.

Revamping a basement bedroom

Okay, this makeover is a perfect example of SheShe at her best!  

A client had a niece coming to stay for the summer, and she needed help with fixing up a room in the basement.  

Recipe:  One dark and dank basement bedroom...

 Add: Cheap panelling from the 60's....squat little windows....(This door leads to the attached bathroom....I'll show you that makeover tomorrow!!)

 A bunch of mismatched furniture..

 And a LOT of brown...

 AND did i say some big bulky furniture??? Like this old wardrobe that takes up half the room!

 Are you ready for the transformation?  I literally spent about $10 on oops paint, and picked up a couple of things from a thrift store.  Everything else was repurposed stuff.  So let's take a look:

AFTER:  Here you go!!!!!! I primed and painted all that disgusting, ugly paneling in a light spring green, and painted all the trim white.  This alone made the world of difference. I repositioned the bed, painted a little mirror to hang above it and a little table that i placed to the side for a lamp.



Isn't this sweet?  I wanted to minimize all the dark wood in the room, so i used some shabby chic valances and made headboard/footboard slipcovers.


The edges are ruffled....so sweet.



I layered a shabby chic duvet comforter with some white blankets.


Moving right along....

I brought in a cedar chest from another room and took out the huge wardrobe to open up the space.

Then i simply propped the top of the cedar chest to make it look like a window seat.

 
Above it, I hung little white panels with pompoms to elongate the windows. Red pull down shades were donated by a neighbor.


I catty-cornered the dresser, and painted an old rocking chair in a distressed blue and white paint treatment and placed over here by a floor lamp.

Every bedroom needs a place to throw clothes, I mean sit and read a good book!

And finally, a vintage rug with cabbage roses hides the concrete floor.

The downside of all of this?  The summer guest may never leave!!!!!!!!!! Tomorrow, I'll show you the before and afters of the adjoining bathroom.  Thanks for taking the tour with me!

Rooster Salvage and Such...and MY VERY FIRST POST!!!!!!!

Any of you who know me know how much I LOVE saving something bound for the old trash can. ( As my friend, Pam, would say, "That's what Sheila does, she makes something out of nothing."  And hey, I'm okay with that!!!!!!!) 

So my very first blog features this here thingy I rescued from my friend Kim's garage....

Looks like it belongs on some Incan priest's head as he's preparing the next sacrificial victim....but... I digress.........

Is it a bird???

Is it a pineapple??

It's just dang ugly!

But nothing a little SheShe magic can't fix....

So I got out my magic wand and my paintbrushes;)  I painted the body and base in Annie Sloan chalk paints, and then used some acrylic decorative paints for the details.

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I also stamped a few designs on the base and used a cork as a stamp for some detail on the body.  Then I added a satin sealer to weather the elements.....

 And look........Isn't he one fine specimen of a bird?  And a lovely piece of folk art to boot!

I stuck a wire topiary on top and painted it as well. Now he's lawn art!!!!!! A little ivy growing up through there would be just the finishing touch!  Here he is outside my house...


And here he is at his new home:  My client, Barb, now has a spiffy red patio set that I just painted up for her, and one fine looking bird.......Cockadoodledoo and goodnight!