So You Think You Can Decorate: Week 3 Challenge

Welcome to Week 3 of So You Think You Can Decorate! This week's challenge was to use something old. Not a problem around these parts. But as soon as I heard what the challenge was I knew exactly what I wanted to share...

I just love breathing new life into something old and lovely that has been neglected. Case in point, this beautiful, antique, wrought iron bed. It has amazing details and a fabulous curved foot board that just makes me drool. It sat in my sister-in-law's barn for years because it didn't have any side rails. I asked her if I could have it, and try to bring it back to life, and she agreed, although she may have been a little skeptical that I would be able to do it.

Finding the exact rails that would work with this bed would have been very time consuming, and probably very expensive. Luckily, I had a plan that involved my metal-working father. Between the two of us, we formulated a workable solution that involved a king-size metal bed frame, bolts, welding, and lot of muscle from my Pop. Thanks, Pop!!

This is what the Princess' bedroom looked like after I had finished her smocked curtains, but before the bedframe was rehabbed. Pretty, but lacking a certain something.

After my father finished rigging the frame, I gave the head and foot board a fresh coat of paint. Now this beautiful bed stands proud as a testament to what a little love and a lot of ingenuity can do. It is the crown jewel of my daughter's bedroom.




I dressed the bed in a vintage-inspired matelasse coverlet, the palest pink bed skirt, and a pile of scrumptious pillows. And because my daughter is a 7-year-old with modern sensibilities, I decided to add some funky new fabrics in addition to the soft, vintage-look floral, and the chubby chenille. A damask-inspired print in a lime green and the same pattern in a hot pink colorway really add punch and playfulness to the pretty old bed.

I also added the wonderful fabric decal Spring Dress Up Doll from Love Mae. I have recommended these beautiful decals to some of my Design Consultation clients because obviously they are darling, but they really are reusable! The princess constantly changes her doll's outfit and the decals look as great as the day we got them. They also add a touch of "mod" to this vintage-y room.

A closeup of the pillows, so you can see the fabulous fabrics!!

Here is a before of the nightstand I used in the room. You can read about how I got the idea to use ribbons for a drawer pull here.

I rehabbed it with a fresh coat of white paint and switched the brown and white striped ribbon for one in hot pink polka dot. Coupled with the bed, it makes a pretty vignette and is a nice place to put the pretty little vintage lamp that I also rehabbed with a few coats of spraypaint. You can read about that redo here.

Finally, to bring a little color to the foot of the bed, I secured a green and pink berry wreath to the center post with another bit of polka dot ribbon.

And everything old is new again!

Head on over to So You Think You Can Decorate and check out all the great projects. Make sure and vote for your two favorite projects... and if mine happens to be one of them, I won't argue. ;-)

xoxo
Wendy