HomeMade: Trash to Treasure

See the pictures of my show and tell, the project has spectacular history! You will see a photo of the church where the project originated, as well as a few of the to-do steps, up to completion. Here is the story:

When the old LDS church in Arbon, ID, was being torn down, my father-in-law, Steve, salvaged the front French doors and transom, knowing that they would be of some use in the future. The church was built in 1928 and torn down sometime in the 2000's. My father-in-law knows my thrifty junk addiction and offered the potential project to me. My vision was to create a head board out of the doors (my husband and I have never had a real bed in the five years we have been married!). Pottery Barn, thank you for the inspiration, but I cannot afford you.

I started by scrubbing off years of dust and spider webs, then connected the doors with a 1x6 on the back to make it sturdy, and had some help framing the doors with rough cut 4x4's. I was glad to have Steve's structure-oriented mind because my thoughts are aimed more toward aesthetics. I found an old waterbed frame on Craigslist for $100 and snagged it for the side drawer storage, it was solidly built and a great price. After new drawer runners, and a little elbow grease, the frame was like new and a perfect addition to my project. I have to thank my handy husband, Seth, for the fab foot board. He built it to match the framed door head board.

After all the pieces were filled, sanded, and ready to rock, they were painted with at least three coats of semi-gloss white paint (I love mis-tint finds, especially when working on a budget). Then came my favorite part- distressing! I took a hammer, screwdriver, and my sander to the neatly coated surfaces and gave the bed some additional character. Then indulged in some glazing (thank you Ralph Lauren), and the finishing coat of semi-gloss clear spray paint.

My final result, in my opinion, was worth every ounce of effort and time, and I'm pretty sure I'll never move on from this piece- it's my favorite re-make yet!


Enjoy!