I Painted My Antique Bed-Oh My

Lets back up a bit, if you remember I blogged about this bed last year, if not here goes. I wanted a new bed, and had my eye on one, at one of my favorite stores, Anthropologie, but you know, I was in no big hurry to spend the cha-ching, so I would simple stop by and look at it, from time to time. Then one month we were walking through a favorite Vintage Store, and there was an Antique Bed, with a huge, and I do mean huge headboard, it is just over 7 feet tall, and it kind of made my heart sing. However, I walked away, because I didn’t want to settle, I loved the bed at Anthropologie, after all. So I went home and that evening I popped online to look at it again, and to my astonishment it was now on SALE. You might think I added it to my cart and checked out likity split, right? NO!!!! I instantly became so overwhelmed, with the urgency to figure out, what did I really want, me, what did I truly love, want to spend money on, and live with, and love. The truth is I already knew, but I was pressed to re-evaluate and re-evaluate, quickly since the Anthro Bed was on major Clearance. Was I really sure, yes! I knew the Antique bed would give me the most joy, so we did it. Now I needed to figure out if I would paint it or leave it original. I know some of you out there, are screaming noooooo, don’t paint that bed, at this point, and I was leaning toward leaving it.

I took it home, ordered a converter kit, because Antique Beds don’t come in a Queen size, set it up, and I lived with it, as it was for 9 full months. you can see here, just how dark the wood is, what you can’t see is the foot board, since it is covered with the bedding in this picture. This is an early evening shot, so it is a little darker.

but…………..

Then one evening as I crawled into bed I decided and proclaimed out loud, to no one, I want to paint the bed white. Oh My! I went back and forth between the pros and cons of Milk Paint verses Chalk Paint, and finally decided Milk Paint, was it. I ordered Silo, from Old Barn Milk Paint, who I collaborated with on this project, it is a light gray color, meant to be my base, I was planning to use it to block the dark wood out, so I wouldn’t need 247,000 coats of White paint. But something happened, I fell in love with the gray. It was, just so pretty, so French, so Vintage, it gave me all the feels, I was finally fully in love with this bed. I did do some light sanding, and I did add the Bonding Agent. The paint mixed so beautifully, and practically covered in one coat. However this is two coats. I had just a bit of chipping in areas that I didn’t sand well, and I love it. Additionally I sanded back the edges here and there, to show some wear, I love how it turned out. I used the Wax & Oil topcoat, and it has a dreamy finish, and does not change the color of the paint, at all. Tell me if you think I made the right decision.