New Bed with a Natural Finish

At New Year’s, our bedroom felt like that of a poor college student. Our mattress was sitting on the floor. I’ve had a frustration with bedframes, and ill-fitting comforters, and footboards, and headboards that worked loose. I’ve tried a few things, including a new very minimalist bedframe in place of our boxspring (which I threw away). That bedframe totally collapsed on us last year. Our daughters were laying in bed with us watching TV, my son was next to us on the floor, and it just collapsed. So thankful our kitties weren’t underneath.

So there it sat as we pondered what to do next. As New Year’s came, I knew we needed to make a decision because I was tired of sleeping on the floor. I wanted a grown-up bed for once! Part of our delay was deciding if we needed a new frame or an entirely new mattress. We decided to test mattresses at a Sleep Number store and at that point there was no going back!

I was then on the clock to finish the beams in our bedroom. I had started them on a total whim in the fall. I just started sanding to see how I liked the feel of the natural wood. But there they sat, with a few of the boards half sanded, through Christmas. With a new bed in the works though, I knew I needed to get that job finished before it arrived, so my husband and I spent a week on an old mattress in the bonus room while I tackled the sanding and cleaning up in the bedroom.

The Sleep Number bed attaches to its own base which will fit inside a regular bed frame. So I knew we just needed something pretty, not necessarily functional. I found this picture on Pinterest from Serena and Lily and really liked the feel of this bedroom, especially the light wood with the white nightstands. I also really liked the curve of the headboard.

I began looking for something similar, though I knew something with that amount of curve wouldn’t work well under the window above our bed. I found this bed at Wayfair and strongly considered it, but I wasn’t sure about the color of the finish.

Then, I thought maybe I could make one. But did I have time? And would it look like I wanted? I should just buy one. But could I find what I was looking for without a crazy price tag? Maybe I could refinish one. But I wasn’t having much luck with finding something used with the right dimensions and feel. I was going back and forth and finally settled on a design to make one. That very night, I saw this bed on Facebook Marketplace and quickly bought it. This would be a relief… I could “just” refinish instead of making a new one (famous last words!)

It took an hour and 20 each way to pick it up. And from the dimensions I knew it wouldn’t fit in the back of the van. But, that little issue gave me some wonderful quality time in the truck with my dad, along with dinner. I had google maps going so I could let the seller know when we would be there. But my dad doesn’t need google maps. In fact, we once laughed (back in the day of Mapquest!) that he could run his own BobbyQuest site. This trip proved my point as he drove the back roads of the Eastern shore of Maryland, pointing out one place where they had purchased a new spreader, another where a hairdresser used her sign by the road to post uplifting messages, another where their “radiator guy” lived, and another where they had purchased a combine. As we drove through the adorable town of St. Michael’s, he regaled me with the tale of that combine that took up both sides of that little street, and how it then proceeded to break down not far beyond that. Thankfully it wasn’t in the middle of town, which would have backed up traffic for miles! As we drive through more countryside, he admires well-kept farms and places where life has been awakened in old houses that had once fallen in disrepair. My dad is the kind of guy who not only appreciates those aforesaid positive sign messages but also makes a point to stop in to that hairdresser’s shop to thank her. We hadn’t had time alone like that in forever, so it was a special trip.

Footboard to Boot

Now although we didn’t want a footboard, when we set it up in our bedroom, we really liked the complete feel it gave. Without realizing I had just tripled my work (actually more than that), I happily agreed to give it a shot! I’m thankful I did as those posts and turned feet are probably my favorite part of the bed.

Once we got it home, I was able to figure out it was this bed from Broyhill’s Attic Heirlooms line (pic below). The one thing I didn’t see in the pictures was the fake distressing on the piece like gashes and worm holes. These things blended in just fine with the dark stain, but would present some problems for me as I stripped to the lighter color.

Let’s Get Started

I had plenty of hurdles with this piece, which I’ll be sharing with you. There is a LOT of information, so I’ve tried to break it down as well as I can. AND, this is the first major project I’m featuring on my new YouTube Channel. Please check it out for more information on this piece, and be sure to subscribe to catch my new projects coming down the pike.

Part 1 – Getting Started

Part 2 – Stripping Furniture In-Depth

Part 3 – My Perfected Stripping Process

Part 4 – Bleaching Wood 3 Ways | Tackling Color

Part 5 – Achieving a Natural, Raw Wood Finish

After all of that, I really love the end result! I finally have a grown-up bed!

Shop The Look

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