How to Use Art as a Headboard [Spare Bedroom Update]

Who’s ready for a  Spare Bedroom update?[FINALLY, right?]

Last time I shared this room, I had installed the moulding and it had been painted. I’m still deciding on the upper wall color so in the meantime I turned my focus to the headboard and bedding.

To save money on the redesign, I decided to use a piece of art as the headboard. I bought this geometric panel years ago at Pier One for about $70. Since moving into the house, it hasn’t had a home and has been sitting behind a chair on the first floor.

My apologies in advance for some of the color differences in the pictures. Some were taken with daylight, and the others were taken at night during installation.

The panel is beautiful so I wanted to use it in a fun way somewhere in the house; as a headboard seemed like the perfect choice. In my last place, it was hanging on the wall so hanging wire had already been installed. However, in time, the wire had loosened and I ended up with a little problem after setting up the hardware.

Hmmm…this was not going to work.

So I ran past the store and picked up some D rings instead. For something this heavy, D-rings are recommended anyway so this solved a few problems and ensures that the headboard is completely stable.

Problem #2 – How do you remove these blasted hooks without damaging the wall? If there installed correctly, you shouldn’t be able to just pull them from the wall. There also isn’t an easy way to get the claw end of a hammer under the hook without damaging the wall or moulding. The bargain hunter in me also wanted to save the hook for future use.

Enter my trusty little screwdriver. Slide the screwdriver into the space near the nail.

Now you have a spot to sue the claw of the hammer to gently loosen the nail from the wall.

Now that the nail is lifted up by the screwdriver/hammer method, you should be able to gently pull it from the wall with minimal damage to the both the wall and hanging hardware.

Then hang it using the new D-Ring hardware.

Whew! That’s better.

I’ll share more about ht bedding later as the colors are still being finalized. Right now it’s white & grey with a softly patterned sheet. The orange and green pillows will likely move to another room, but I LOVE the headboard. I hadn’t originally planned on a black headboard, but for now, it’s perfect and looks great with the white walls and new moulding.

 

It’s just another reason to think outside the box…errr…headboard. Any type of art has the potential of creating an amazing ambiance. Just a few tips when using art has a headboard:

• Raise the art slightly higher than a traditional headboard would hang, for several reasons.
  • Oil from the hair and or skin has a tendency to discolor fabric headboards which could also happen if you use a fabric or canvas based art.
  • If using framed art with glass, make sure it’s high enough that you won’t be leaning against it while reading in bed, or in a  spot that could be easily hit.
• And in ALL cases, be sure it’s secured safely and strongly to the wall. The last thing you want is to be woken up by a falling headboard. Ouch!

 

Some inspiration:

 

 

 

Via, Via, Via, Via, Via, Via, Via

2 Year Home Anniversary – A Look Back

Alright, first things first. Who’s making a Golf Cake for Father’s Day?

It’s been the most popular post on the blog lately, so I suspect there are quite a few golf enthusiasts out there that will be eating cake this weekend. Great additions would be a sand pit (made with brown sugar), or a flag (using a skewer, cut in half). I’d love to see those cakes if anyone does it! I may just do a special post to share your golf cake pictures so feel free to leave links in the comments or email me pictures.

 

Okay, now back to the point of today’s post. The 5th of this month was the 2 year anniversary of when I purchased my first home. I didn’t start the blog until a year later so there are a bunch of projects that I never originally blogged about; although, I have been trying to share finished projects in order to catch up. I thought it would be fun to look back at some of the before and after pictures from the past two years.

 

Front Door Entry

There haven’t been any major changes to the front door with the exception of decorating and I changed out the handle/deadbolt when I moved in. This is my favorite picture from the Autumn setup. The star was found at HomeGoods and I built the Front Door Post myself. In the past year I’ve also created the Halloween Sign, Yarn Wrapped Fall Sign, Valentine Cork Heart, and most recently the Hand painted Welcome Sign.

 

Backyard

The backyard has been a bit of a challenge since it is completely paved. I have a dog and I desperately needed some grass so the main goal was to find a way to grow grass on concrete.

BAM…Yes. I. Did.

The grass planters work very well and would continually grow grass year round if my dog didn’t enjoy killing it so much. I’m tempted to swap out the real grass for a synthetic grass this summer.

Vertical planters went up along one wall to add some height and extra gardening space.

…and I built a potting bench for the wall.

Oh, and I can’t forget the BBQ…still love that green!

 

First Floor Bathroom

This is one of the rooms that I did before starting the blog. I had all the accessories with me from my previous apartment so I knew that I wanted a Hawaiian themed room somewhere in the house.

I ended up using a refreshing Bamboo color on walls which really brightens up such a small room.

French Doors

Oh, those doors! I though I was stuck with broken blinds until I found inspiration online to paint them!

This project made a huge impact and I’ve since covered several other windows in my house with the privacy film.

Dining Room

This room is still in progress since I’m currently using a small card table as my dining table.

For under $100 I added moulding and I LOVE it.

I get quite a few questions about that bar. It is a knock off of the Pottery Barn Bar and my dad built it for me. You can see more about the bar, here.

 

Garage

I’ve shared all my Garage woes on the blog so this is probably not new to you. Over the past few months I’ve made a ton of progress. Remember when…

…and now with all the shelving, it’s actually functional. I’ve since added a temporary workbench in the open area that I’ve been using for painting projects.

 

Fireplace

Another project that was well documented on the blog, and probably my favorite project to date. I was SO intimidated by this project that I kept pushing it down the list. I didn’t think I could really do it on my own.

I started off by painting the fireplace screen, and that gave me some motivation to keep going.

Little by little, I started chipping aware at the tile.

Before I knew it, the finishing touches were in place.

 

Powder Room

This is a small powder room near the living room and kitchen. The room has no natural light which made it difficult to get the wall color right.

I ended up a peachy beige and decorated with that lovely orchid and rustic boxes. The garden lantern on the floor holds extra toilet paper rolls.

I replaced the standard oval mirror with a larger version that I scored at HomeGoods for $49 and the Moroccan urn works as a trash can.

 

Kitchen/Ledge

I don’t think I’ve actually share the Kitchen as a whole on the blog before. I’ll show a little more in another post, but we did make one change to that half wall shortly after moving in.

An added ledge. Such a simple addition and it made a huge functional difference to the kitchen.

 

Office

This one shouldn’t be new to you since I just shared it the other day, but here’s a quick before…

…and in progress (right now)…it will all be changing soon.

Spare Bedroom

Another room that’s current in progress (and actually making substantial progress lately!). Before…

…and in progress…

 

Third Floor Spare Bathroom

Another all white bathroom. A blessing since I wanted to decorate each room myself, but it was so bland when I moved in.

Yes another room that I think I painted 3 times before settling on the green. First it was pink, then it was blue, then I scored with the ‘army’-ish green.

(yes, those curtains need to be hemmed)

 

Laundry Room

The laundry room is the room that you look into when you come up to the third floor, so I wanted it to look good. Who wants to stare at an ugly room every time you come upstairs?

A grey blue on the walls and sea grass baskets gave it the perfect style. Oh, and clearance art…can’t hate that!

On the wall leading in to the laundry room I have the DIY Chalkboard Thermostat Frame.

“Laundry Today or Naked Tomorrow”

So True!

 

There are a few other rooms that I haven’t shown you, like the Kitchen, Living Room, and the Master Bed/Bath. I’ll make sure to share those in the future. I’m also going to be updating the Home Tour page soon which will add some, much needed, organization to the site.

 

Have a GREAT Weekend!

Design Challenge: Spare Bedroom

Earlier this month I shared my Garage before pictures. What I haven’t mentioned is that I’ve also started redoing the Spare Bedroom this month. The spare bedroom has been a challenge in every way.

When I purchased the home it was all green. The walls were sage green, the carpet was (and still is) sage green. Every room in the house looked the same way, lots of green. The wall color is actually quite nice, but there is just so much of it that it was overwhelming.

At first this room was supposed to be an art/writing studio, not a spare bedroom. I planned on outfitting it with a large drafting desk and a comfortable chair. It was supposed to be a place where I could go and feel artistic. However, a few months after I moved in my brother decided to move across country and offered me a queen mattress/bed frame. My logic brain kicked in and decided that a Spare Bedroom would be smarter than a second office/studio.

In the meantime I had painted the room a mix of lime green and dark DARK grey. It was a great theory, but it looked awful. So if you’re counting, that’s two changes for this room already. In the matter of a few months I had changed the plan from art studio to spare bedroom, and had changed the color from sage green to a green/grey mix.

Once the Spare Bedroom decision was made I thought a neutral color was the way to go, so off to Lowes I went AGAIN.

This time around I picked a light brown. The color really isn’t bad, but I just don’t love it. The bummer is that I had started buying accessories for a brown room.

At some point I realized I had no idea what I was doing so it became a storage room. Most of the time I leave the door closed and try to forget the room is even there.

Even though the brown theme isn’t bad, it’s just not working. Once again I’m left with what felt like a failed design.

I’m not just giving up on this room, so I have a new plan. I realize there is not a a lot of direct light into this room, even with the blinds open. The colors need to be light and I’m going to stick with a neutral theme. I plan on going with white wainscoting/bead board and grey walls. This will keep the room light and allow me to bring in a few fun accent colors.

I’ve already started purging the room and organizing all the random stuff in the pictures above. I also tried my hand at refinishing a standing mirror. This mirror was also given to me by my brother, but the wood color was just a little too light for me. I wanted this piece to be a darker finish to pop against the white moulding.

Unfortunately in true form to this room, my original plan didn’t work. Like everything else with this room, it’s not bad, but I just don’t like it. The wood grain is too dark and the rest of the wood is too light.

Don’t mind the uneven sanding which didn’t help the issue.

So the mirror is on hold for now. My first reaction was to paint it dark brown or break out the ORB, but I don’t know if that’s the right move. I think I might want to bring in the ‘pops’ of color in the mirror so it might end up an aqua color.

I’ve never had a room give me this much trouble before, but I suppose each miss just puts me one step closer to a hit, right? RIGHT? :::sigh:::

In the meantime I’m pulling inspiration from everywhere. This is a little bit of what I’ve found as inspiration for the finished room…here’s hoping things start going right in this room from here on out.

Via

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