I’m here! I really am! We slowed down a bit on the house projects, took a few small trips early this year and did some yard work. Daniel has been working SO hard on a hydroponic garden system in the backyard (check out thesmartgardenproject.com if you wanna learn more) and we are crossing our fingers for fresh veggies in the next month or so.

Our weekend plans fell through this week, so we had a free day to work on some projects, one of those being a lovely little refresh to the Master Bedroom. I haven’t posted much about this room as we have done very little to it in the past 2 years. We painted and added the board and batten before we even moved in, and it has remained nearly identical since.

I saw an idea on pinterest for a cedar shake headboard. It looked easy enough, so I ran out and bought a pack of shingles from Lowes (but ended up needing 2). This was MONTHS ago. I finally buckled down last week and decided it was time to just do it, but I wasn’t loving the red cedar color of the shakes competing with the dark browns that were already in the room. I found an easy solution! Stain. Not even stain though… I used watered down Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint (in the color Trophy). I used about a 1:3 ratio of paint to water compared to the suggested 1:1 for normal painting purposes.

I wasn’t sure the paint would give enough color though, so I did a color sample on one of the shakes before I started. The top color is a gray stain we already had on hand and the bottom is the watered down paint. I liked that the paint was a little more of a true gray, with less of a brown undertone. I also loved that the paint was washable and didn’t smell so it was MUCH easier to use. To complete this project, we tinted the shakes, attached them to a piece of plywood in rows and built legs for the headboard to stand on behind the bed. Keep reading to see the finished product!

 

Our next Master Bedroom project was this pair of end tables I found for FREE. Just hanging out on the side of the road. I have been seriously lucky with side-of-the-road finds in the last few weeks. Here is the headboard (still need to paint the 2 shakes on the top right side) and our previous side table situation:

 

We purchased these side tables when we were newly married (from Target) and we have certainly gotten our money’s worth from them. I have, however, always hated that they sit so low. Our bed isn’t especially high off the ground, but just enough so that it was awkward to reach over and turn off the lamp while in bed. The tables were just kind of lost in the room.

 

I did as much repair work as I could to the free tables, using wood glue to tighten up the leg joints and re-attach a few loose pieces of veneer. I primed them with Kilz and then painted them in Peppercorn (from the new Sherwin Williams Paint line at Lowes). They are just perfect. I finished them off with a light sanding and a coat of Annie Sloan clear wax to give them a soft, matte, waterproof finish. I love how they stand taller than the bed and offer that little shelf underneath for storing books.

Thanks so much for reading along! We also tackled a kitchen project this weekend, with more on the horizon, so I will be posting about those plans in the near future.