DIY Painted Headboard Tutorial

What's happening?! I'll tell you. I am going to show you how to get your very own, SUPER cheap DIY Painted Headboard!! I LOVE it!! I've seen a lot of versions on pinterest, but not one quite like mine (that doesn't mean someone smarter than me already did it exactly the same way)... It was SUPER easy to do and only cost me a couple bucks as opposed to a couple hundred or thousand an actual headboard would cost.. and remember people, I'm all about decorating with a budget, or more accurately, NO money.

Check out these lovely painted headboards - there are SO many creative people out there!!

 polka dots - source

mountain - source

turquoise monogrammed - source

white oultine on gray - source

The last one is the most similar to mine, and I loved the idea of leaving my whole headboard dark..but that's a lot of dark in one room... In the above pictures, they have white walls as well so it's a little easier for their room to not look like a cave... like mine would...

To begin, you need tape - GOOD tape, not crappy tape, we don't want paint bleeding here people!! The less touch-ups you have to do, the better..you can spend all that extra time playing cars with your son!

So.. measure where you want your headboard to go on your wall - make SURE you are TOTALLY HAPPY with the placement as you are stuck with it once it's painted!! No rearranging allowed!!

 I have a king sized bed and I wanted this headboard to be wider than my bed... so mine measured 80 in wide... and about 6 1/2 feet tall. I wanted it to make a statement!

Now paint all around your tape with your background wall color...

Now, my headboard has two colors to it. The main color is white... and the border around my headboard is a light gray. If you want a border, tape that off.. I just added another tape row to my outline.. does that make sense??

Paint your main color, and then when that is dry peel the tape off, and re-tape around your border.. I should have taken a picture of that step, but you get it right??

Here it is totally painted.... Like I said, the main part is white, and the outline is a light gray. It makes for a smoother transition than just dark gray to white I think..

I don't know why these are uploading blurry... I lose. But you get the idea, just ignore my gross nightstands and mismatched lamps... It'll look much better once I get to tackle those... but for now... Here's what my room looks like!! I LOVE it!! Such an improvement!! Do you remember what is was before??

Ugly. That's what it was. And while some parts might still be ugly here, it's still an improvement.


Total Cost for my Painted Headboard:
White Paint = Free (got it from my apartment complex)
Light Gray Paint = $2.50 (used a sample paint jar from Home Depot, just had them make it in the color I wanted)
Painters Tape = Free (I already had a lot)
Paint Brushes = Free (already had those too)


Can't beat $2.50 for a headboard, I win!!!!

Master Bedroom Stage 2 - Painting

Holy cow. I never fully appreciated how large my room was until I went to tape it off and paint it. I mean, seriously people!! My arms feels like they're going to fall off!!

The master bedroom is the top right room on this layout ... it's pretty huge. Which is AWESOME! We have SO much space to work with, but at the same time, painting is a beast!!! I did *almost* all of it by myself (the hubs helped me at the end) and it took ALL day. Literally ALL day. From 9 am Saturday until about 8pm. I took my time because I wanted to make sure it looked good!! that doesn't even include the 3 hours I spent taping it on Friday night or the 3 hours I spent doing touch ups on Monday morning. But after all is said and done, I LOVE the paint! Seriously love. The color is SO cozy and I just want to spend all day in there...

As you can see from the picture right above me on the right - the paint underneath the tan color is NEON PINK!! Wha??! I love my bright colors and all, but that's a little much. It was all over the room too! That's a lot of pink for a huge room!!

To get my perfect paint lines with no bleeding - I ran a barely wet paintbrush over the tape that had the original color on it. That way - if any paint bled, it'd be the white of the trim and ceiling as opposed to the dark gray I was putting on the walls. It worked really well actually! I had NO bleeding on my ceiling and just a little on my trim - BUT this is an old apartment and the trim is not smooth, so I'm sure had it been a smooth surface, it would have been perfect.

Then you paint! Check out how dark it is! *swoon* I'm in love.

I'm taping off a secret project on the left - I'll show you that one later! (but keep in tune because it's delicious!!)

Make sure while painting you take a break to read a book with your babe.

 

Especially after he has a melt down about not being able to paint. And no, we're not mean parents who don't let him help. We did let him hold the roller and he got gray paint where it was not supposed to go...

It was a LONG, TEDIOUS process but it was well worth it and we both love the color!!!

Afterwards, enjoy a bath... you've earned it.
But if your house is anything like ours, your kids will be the ones with the nice relaxing bath and you'll be the ones covered in your clothes and water... but oh well... at least Max had fun!

P.S. I know it's kind of a bummer I don't have a picture on here with the finished product... but You have to wait until my secret painting project to see the finished reveal - but it will be worth it! Promise!

Oh yeah...

It's happening.

I'm so ready for this.

My Chicago Home - Master Bedroom - Before

Things have been crazy in my life lately (see here) - so I haven't had a lot of time to decorate. But I've found as I've slowly been finishing my kitchen, that when my house is decorated and organized and CLEAN, the hubs and I, and especially our kiddos feel so much better. So, I'm making decorating and organizing my house a priority!! (plus... it's fun!)

A happy house is a house where everything has a place...

Unfortunately, our master bedroom is not the retreat that my hubs and I need it to be after a LONG year in 2012, and after long days at home and at dental school. We need our master bedroom to be a place where we can escape and reconnect - away from diapers, and baby toys and clutter. The hubs especially hates clutter!!

So, here is our master bedroom now ... I have LOTS of ideas and already pretty much know exactly how it's changing... it might just take me a while to get it the way I want it. But for now - here's what we're living in...

Bleh. It already looks like a NOT relaxing room.

There's nothing inviting about the entrance to our room!!

Yellow dresser complete with bulky TV and Disney movies

My lamp that was re done sits in the corner

Ikea floating shelf - TOO messy - TOO unorganized

My too big - ugly desk with all the exposed cords!

 Check out that "awesome" painting above my bed! $30.00 thrift store find but I've got a BIG makeover planned for it!

The ottoman at the foot of my bed - also needs a makeover

 

Sheer drapery panels make this room feel SO much lighter!! I love them!

a close up of the painting above my bed - like I said - BIG plans for it!

Sheer panels - and the bathroom door from my room

Sign on the wall at the foot of my bed

Printable that I created

back of bedroom door - I need to find another way to store these

cluttered, over sized, dirty, ugly, desk

cluttered, disorganized shelf

wall opposite my bed - 4 sliding closet doors and the en suite bathroom door

That's it for now, but big changes are coming!! Part of decorating is decision making, which can take a long time. I want to be absolutely sure, that whatever I do in here, helps the hubs and I unwind after a long day, and reconnect with each other... in the most ways possible :)

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Want my "Life Story" Printable?? You can get it here --- Just right click on the picture and save the file - It's a high resolution JPEG image - sized for an 8x10... Enjoy!

Master Bedroom Stage 1 - Paint

White? Tan? Lime Green? Blue? Gray? What to do??? It's taken me a couple months to finally narrow down what I want in my master bedroom... Gray. More specifically, DARK Gray. My room right now is a light tan color - at least it's not white! But I'm not in love with it.. It's a little bland and boring for me! I mean, it's not terrible, but it's not me. It's not us. Something's got to change.

                     

Tan works for some people - and it may work for me in the future, but right now .. I'm digging the dark look - check out how cozy these dark rooms are... so romantic!

Don't get me wrong... I love bright and beautiful colors, but I want my master bedroom to be a retreat. To be a little more grown up. Which is why, this time, I'm shying away from my usual obsession with lime green and going for a darker statement wall. And when I say dark, I mean dark.

I've narrowed down my choices to two colors:

Martha Stewart - Zinc

Behr - Trail Print

I headed off to my trusty home depot - and picked up my paint samples!! So excited to put them on the wall I could hardly wait until my room was clean to do it, but the hubs said my room had to be clean before I even think about painting...

 

 They don't look that different when right next to eachother .. but I think there's a significant difference. Expecially after I put up the colors on my wall -

The left is Behr - Trail Print ... and the right is Martha Stewart - Zinc.

They're both dark, but I just can't decide on HOW dark I really want... Ooo... decisions, decisions...

At least I know one thing, once it's done and painted, it's going to be SO cozy and romantic in my room!! So much more so than the mish-mosh that it is now!

Can't wait!!