Much Nicer Bed For My Front Spare Room

My word- has it been 7 months since I've posted?  Wow.  I've done quite a bit in the house over the last 7 months and July/August will be a huge push for more stuff- VERY EXCITING STUFF happening.  So lookout for many many more posts coming soon.  

I realized yesterday as I was admiring the new bed in the front spare room, that I hadn't posted about it yet.  Going back to my photos- I did this in March.  Not sure why I never got around to posting about it.  Probably just being lazy.  Maybe it's because I'm enjoying the outside with Janie?  But let's be honest, it's probably because I'm being lazy.  

So this front bedroom bed has been quite the story.  It originated when I purchased the king mattress for my main bedroom and it "came with a free queen sized bed."  Of course I questioned the sales person all those years ago something like this- "So WHY would I need a queen sized bed if I'm buying a king sized mattress?"  More than likely with a lot more sarcasm.  The response I got was basically- "This is the promotion we are running, lady.  Take the free bed, or don't.  I'm still making commission off of you."  So I took the bed.  

The thing about this bed- although made very nicely- was that the headboard was super short.  Like- lean your bed pillows up against it and it disappeared (you'll see in a photo farther down).  It was not very comfortable sitting up in the bed reading or watching TV because the headboard hit you smack in the middle of your back.  I mean, I didn't really care because it wasn't the bed I was using.  But it made it very uncomfortable for guests.  So I decided to build a headboard to cover it.  

Because the headboard was so short, I think I overcompensated and built a ridiculously high headboard.  I mean, for real, it was obnoxious.  And then threw a patterned fabric on it along with the side and foot rails.  It was one of those "in your face, can't miss it" moments when you walked into the room.  

For reference, those gray pillows in the back are Euro sized (square, a bit taller than your standard sleeping pillows) so that gives you an idea of how tall the bed is.  But I'm going to keep it totally real here.  I didn't build a "bed", I built a "headboard".  This headboard basically leaned against the stupidly short headboard and up against the wall.  Super sturdy.  HAH.  When you got into the bed, the headboard basically bounced against the wall.  And not in a good way, if you know what I'm sayin.  Brown chicken, brown cow.  

Anyway, many years and duvet covers later, this is what the bed looked like until this past March.  

I knew I wanted to get rid of the headboard, build something much more secure, and change out the duvet.  As much as I love this duvet- and I have no idea why I love it so much because... well.... there's color on it... and my favorite color is black... Miss Janie ripped it jumping up or down in one of her many "losing my shit at the dogs/people/cars/trucks going by" fits she was having.  I tried sewing it  along the tear and it looked terrible.  Whomp whomp.  

I searched for what felt like months for a new duvet, wanting to go more neutral with the new one and then finally coming to the realization that this is basically Janie's hangout spot for 8+ hours a day and I'd be an idiot for going with a light, neutral duvet.  Between the dirty paws and dog hair- it definitely needs to be a colorful print to hide all of her mess she leaves behind.  And yes, I clean my duvets quite often (even for rooms that aren't used by humans most of the time), but when Pretty Girl lays on this bed more than she lays in her own, it gets filthy pretty quickly and I don't want to wash a king sized duvet cover every day.  That's just ridiculous.  

First things first though- you know I had to use my favorite fabric on this bed as well.  Although this time, they aren't Ikea curtains like I normally use.  I bought basically identical curtains off of Amazon, same color, same size as the Ikea ones, for like $30 less.  Score.  I took the bed apart, removed the old fabric from the side/foot rails and removed the headboard.  See in the phot below that the original beds headboard is still there?  

You can see in the above photo how short this headboard really is.  Then compare it to the mark along the wall that was left from the tall headboard.  There's like a 4' difference between the two.  Next I started covering the side rails with the gray velvet fabric.  Cut the fabric to size and used an electronic stapler.  best.  invention. ever.  I have no idea why the manual stapler is in the photos- I definitely used the electronic one.  My hands would still be hurting today if I'd have used the manual one.  

I didn't want to just add a fabric covered headboard to this because this bed would basically then be identical to the back spare room's bed.  I needed to make this one different so I decided to do a wingback bed for this room.  So with very little words and a lot of photos- here's how I made it.  

{wingbacks made of wood}

{covered wingbacks in batting for a little cushion}

{covered wingbacks in velvety goodness}

{headboard- been there done that. Google it if you need to learn how to make one}

Once I had the "wingbacks" covered with batting and material and then did the headboard, it was time to connect the wingbacks to the headboard.  By myself.  Hmmmmmm time to get creative.  

Out to the loft for assistance.  

Also, I didn't notice that weird lump in the top left of the headboard while I was making it.  It's been fixed.  

Time to put the bed together- without the old, short headboard this time.  It was going to be a real bed!  I connected the side rails to the back of the wingbacks.  

I didn't take a photo of this.  But once I had the side rails attached to the bottom backside of the wingbacks, I added more support to the legs with two more pieces of wood on each side, used carriage bolts to attach them, and then wrapped the inside of the wingbacks with more fabric so you can't see the wood while standing at the side of the beds.  

Then came time to change out the duvet.  I was limited in colors because it needed to match the gray/navy furniture color as well as the gray walls and bed.  I was definitely NOT repainting the furniture.  I kept leaning towards a cream color with a pattern stitched into it and just couldn't find one that worked.  I tried a caramel/burnt orange color, I tried a olive/sage greenish color.  Nothing looked good.  I mean, the cream color did, but within 2 minutes Janie had it covered in dirt and hair.  It was definitely not going to work.  I went to Ikea with Beth about a month or so ago and found this.  It's has the navy in it as well as spots of gray throughout.  Score.  

I'm not like super in love with it but it works.  It also has pinks/purples in it which without my realizing at the time, I have a bit of decor in those colors since that's what the color scheme in the sunroom was before I turned it into a home gym.  I brought in the two velvet lavender/lilac pillows for the bed, then grabbed these two round wall wood cutout pieces and hung them on the side wall as you walk in.  Then put a few vases on the dresser for more pops of pink/purple.  It actually goes really well together.  

Also Janie's fur blanket in her bed is a deep plum color and matches perfectly as well.  That photo with her bed on the human bed is what this room looks like 99.99% of the time.  Keeping it real.  She sits on this bed all day long while I'm upstairs working at my desk and can see me out the door of the bedroom.  Stalker always has to have an eye on me.  

Anyway- the room isn't completely finished yet.  I need to find/make some artwork for over the headboard now that there is plenty of room.  Maybe some more decor.  But at least I got the bed checked off of the project list!