Eastlake Bed, Before and After

Today I decided to clean my house.  I plan to decorate for the holidays this week and woke up in the mood to clean the place up. I must take advantage of those days cause they do not happen often.  To finish the day, I thought I'd blog about a project I finished a few weeks ago.   

I picked up this full size Eastlake Bed and immediately thought it would be the perfect bed for a little princess.  It's such a great bed but somebody in the seventies must have decided to freshen it up with a little Amber Shellac.  It was a tad bit orange.  It's hard to tell in the above photo but the top panel of the headboard was a little bowed.  I decided that upholstering it would be the perfect solution.  To fill in the paneled areas so there wouldn't be a lump from the middle board I cut 1/4" plywood to fit inside.  Then added 2" foam and batting.

Even though in my mind this bed was destined for a little girl I chose a fabric that she could grow with.  I love this sweet bird & branch pattern in soft gray.  You can see in the photo I didn't match the paint colors perfectly to the fabric.  I wanted them to be a darker shade to give it more depth. 

The top panel just begged for something special.  I thought about what to put there for quite awhile but just kept coming back to sweet dreams.   I used my vinyl cutter to make a stencil.  For the letters I chose a white paint that matched the fabric not the painted frame to pull the whole thing together.     

I recieved a nice message on facebook from the gal who bought it, and I am so happy it is going to be for her a little princess. So perfect!