I bought a mattress and boxspring for the guest room during the winter, which has since only been used by my Dad, master-in-command of house-and-dog when me and Pete are out of town. He tells me it’s comfortable.
And comfy is good and everything, but I’m glad he hasn’t been putting up much of a fuss about the state of the room overall; for example, since this new mattress is a queen, I bought one single set of queen sheets but don’t have a quilt yet. And while I moved in a nice trunk to act as a bedside table, the guest room also serves as storage space for winter jackets, toilet paper, random dressers that don’t fit anywhere else, and the dog (who uses the floor as his bedroom at night and when I’m not home, no lie). Nice assortment. Not nice looking.
But I’m still hoping to fix it up, and that is what this post is about.
When Pete + I replaced an old window in his parents house back during the late winter, I kept it. Instead of trashing the very old panes, I saved them, cleaned them up, and brought them home. I considered many different uses for them, and I had a new idea every other week, which is maybe why it’s taken me almost 4 months to do anything with the salvaged glass. Should it be a basic picture frame? Or maybe make some painted glass if I was feeling artsy? Make side tables with glass tops? Paint them a fun color and hang them emptily?
Finally, I decided that maybe it would make for a nice headboard treatment in the barren guest room. The room really needs all the attention it can get, and this seems to be a good starting point.
I’ve also been seeing lots of radical projects (on pinterest) that use paint swatch samples (read: free!) from the home improvement stores. Some people have made amazing wall murals, others have made crafty garland, and I’ve even seen some cool framable art that make for intriguing home decor pieces. OK, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t include this rainbow bike wheel hack that kicks butt. My latest paint chip scavenge occurred around the middle of last month when I got my hands on a facebook coupon offered by Benjamin Moore (free pint color sample valued at $6.49 according to my local Ace Hardware). So, when I was at the store picking up my freebie color sample, I did find myself leaving with a handful of swatches that I wanted to compare against my own color palette, and voila, this project was essentially born right there on the spot.
Sidenote: I don’t know the general policy about taking these swatches at no cost, all I know is I’ve been hoarding them ever since I became tall enough to reach the display when home-improvement-shopping with mom. Creativity blooms at a young age. OK, glad that’s off my chest, onward with my totally freebie-licious project.
You may or may not know that I’m also a big ol’ fan of herringbone patterns. Let’s be honest – who wouldn’t be. This photo that I took in central park last summer was an inspiration to what you’re about to see unfold.
And don’t get all excited; this isn’t rocket-science or for-The-Louvre-type art in any way, just a snip and a chop and a tape into a fun pattern.
Before I got going on my project, I did take some time to refinish the original wooden window frame itself; a little clean up, sanding, spray primed and hand-applied a coat of white paint really helped the overall appearance of the window.
The original plan was to use both panes above the bed, positioned vertically, side-by-side; they’re exactly the same size. When I got to this next part of the headboard process though, I changed my mind a little bit.
I had bought a floating picture frame from IKEA months and months and months ago, but never installed it. Another one of those “waiting for the right spot” excuses… well I finally had one; it was not only an adequate length, but also a nice chunky width and I decided it would be perfect to install right above the pillows on the bed as something the panes could sit on.
As usual, I employed the trusty 1/8″ anchor bolts. (I bought a nice bulk pack of these and am relieved to have them on hand so I can hang heavy things into drywall in 3-minutes flat.)
I’m serious when I say 3-minutes flat. This shelf went up lickity split, and sure, maybe it was because I had just hung the brackets in the dining room, but I had the drill bit and level handy and ready for action.
The height was decided on based on by the typical height of the pillows and the likely tendency to cram said pillows against the wall; and if there was any chance of Dad whacking his head on it in the middle of the night, I knew I would be hearing about it so I aired on the side of precaution. You’re welcome, Dad. With pillows in place, as you’ll see, it looks perfectly positioned.
But one other thing happened when I decided on this height…
I realized that hanging the two panes vertically side by side would make the whole artsy headboard seem really… tall. Tall, as in, out of proportion with the rest of the room, the windows, the fan, the bed, everything. So instead of proceeding with developing herringbone for two panes, I just stuck with one, and decided to lay it horizontally. The other painted pane will come in handy in another way, I’m sure.
Deciding that even I could make the paint chips form a herringbone pattern framed as a headboard, I proceeded with the samples that I had on hand. Like I already mentioned, I had chosen colors that were similar to my own palette and/or were complementary tones (and I’ll note, this design came easily because the strips were large solid swatches, not consisting of multi-color palettes).
I started by cutting them in half lengthwise before sorting them onto one of the glass panes.
The herringbone arrangement in the next photo seemed to work well. The original idea was to leave some transparency between each color but I quickly aborted that plan when I realized I didn’t have a good way of locking them in place (and I didn’t want to clutter the whole project with lots of scotch tape).
Truth be told, I did this next step blindly to make things interesting. I left all of the color swatches upside down, shuffled them like I used to shuffle the cards when playing Go Fish as a kid, and then started picking and taping them to one another. I didn’t peek until I had the whole thing taped down, but trusted that I’d get an assortment of colors and tried not to be too concerned as to whether or not the pinks were being clustered in a particular corner. Organized chaos. I was also doing this part of the project at night, hence the sad white balance effort.
To make sure the whole display stayed right in place, I cut and popped a piece of plexiglass in on the backside to keep the paint swatches to keep it flush with the glass pane. (I happened to have the plexi on hand from an old, no-longer-used poster frame that even had some scratches and nicks in it, fortunately you can’t see those since they’re hidden behind the swatches.)
Once it was secured in place, up it went!
Those purple pillows aren’t doing anything for the picture, but you can see how how my Dad isn’t going to accidentally shove the pillow or the back of his head into the shelf, right? Truthfully, I wasn’t happy with the white either. You can’t tell in the photo so much, but the Sherwin-Williams white I was using is clearly not the same as the IKEA white on the floating shelf.
I took the pane down and whipped out one of my Benjamin Moore Color Samples (the $6.49 reduced to total-freebie that I mentioned earlier). One thing I will say: Benjamin Moore claims to use premium paint in their sample, unlike the Sherwin-Williams Color-To-Go products that I had been testing out earlier in the spring. For not much more money, you’ll get a better product with BM… just my observation. I applied some Fresh Olive green (also one of the swatches in the herringbone) to the front edge of the frame to break up the whites a little bit. I think it worked.
Alright, well he’d probably manage to knock the fresh-cut azaleas off the shelf with his head, but they look pretty anyways. The glass pane itself has been carefully attached to the wall with heavy duty mounting squares (sticky on both sides) so there isn’t any fear of it toppling down and smashing (on Dad’s face, oi vey).
I had some of this IKEA canvas laying around and wonder if it’s worth trying to incorporate it into the future room design at all:
The next steps for the guest room will involve incorporating more of this bright vibe into the space in accessories and linens. It’ll all come together. Not this week, but eventually.
P.S. You might wonder why I have the bigger more lux bed in the guest room instead of mine? The guest room is slightly bigger and the window placement allow a queen-size to fit in easily. I tried it for an hour in my room, which I like because even though it’s smaller, it has a nice view of the beach. Full-size bed it will remain unless I get wild and start tearing down walls and reshaping my bedroom. Wink. NO, I have no plans of that.
25 Comments
First of all… I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!! Secondly… any potential issues with knocking your head in the morning? If so be careful!
Regardless of any head-knocking issues, that is definitely one of my favorite EVER DIY art projects!!! It’s gorgeous, simple, and elegant. Thanks for sharing the details Emily!
on second thought… this could REALLY help in some home-color-pallette unification that I’m working on… I might have to mock something up and see, but I don’t know that I could make it this gorgeous!!!
Thanks Ashley! I definitely made the shelf high enough where it would be hard to hit your head. Anything’s possible; I don’t know how you sleep, but it doesn’t seem especially easy. My biggest concern would be flailing my arms during the night and shattering it from above, but I don’t know the likeliness of that happening either. In regards to palette unification, that’s been one of the things I’m most happy about with my house overall; I chose the palette and stick to it pretty closely and integrate between rooms; wait till you see a post planned for tomorrow for more detail on that!
Just read today’s post and came back here for comment. Color unification is soooo important. I totally had an overall paint scheme when we bought the house and we’ve pretty much stuck with it, but the color House Crashers used for the accent wall in our dining room and for our fireplace completely conflicts with the rest of the house, so I’ve been working on ideas to rectify that. Cait’s actually given me some wonderful ideas! BUT, I think an art piece like this might help too! :)
Thanks Ashley! The commitment to the palette was the hardest part of the whole process; I love all colors, and would make anything work, but I knew I had to narrow it down and stick with it if I wanted a cohesive house. The art and decor pieces that are complementary colors from the palette really help.
LOVE! This is my favorite project of yours yet – it looks awesome! I may have to ask for some of our old windows back from a neighbor who plans to use them for his greenhouse. The green paint on the front was definitely an upgrade, though it looked great before too.
I always wonder about using paint chips in art projects too (I haven’t used any yet), but I do have a nice stash from various projects. I might ask at the paint counter next time just out of curiosity :)
Your favorite project! COOL. Once upon a time I had some great multi-paned windows that would have made for a great headboard as well (4 squares by 3 squares). I should never have given that away – what was I thinking!
I love how you went random with the color placement! It turned out very well!! Awesome idea!
Thanks Rach-dawgg! Interesting how there’s one whole zig zag of brown, right? Unplanned. I like it too.
I love that! I need one!
PS- You have a view of the beach from your room?! Please don’t tell me there is an equally amazing view from the guest room or I might just take you up on that offer you made a few days ago…
Oh, there was supposed to be a ;) after that, so wink.
If the view from the guest room was comparable, I’d have my own bed in it since it’s a little bit bigger. It’s not a bad view or anything, I just can’t see the waves as easily. And I should note the trees are officially getting leafy and my view is slowly getting blocked. All winter it’s wonderful, it’s just a little less special during the summer :( Boo.
Oh that’s true, I should have figured that if the view was comparable that would be your room! And I understand what you mean about it being a little less special during the summer because of the leaves.
WOW WOW WOW!!! That is GORGEOUS!! How creative are you!!!! Would have never in a million years thought of that! And possibilities are endless with colors! Great job!
Thank you Erin! I’m so pleasantly surprised by the response to this project – I’m glad everyone likes it!
I swear over the weekend I had a thought about needing a headboard above my new bed in my new apartment. Although the only “quick fix” i came up with was taking 4 childhood paintings of mine, framing them, and lining them up in a row, this post inspired me to consider otherwise. It came out brilliantly, Em! I heart your attention to detail :)
Thanks Sharon! I had considered hanging up some framed art above this too (I was going to make a slew of them to hang up but I hafta start selling some first :) ). Let’s see a picture of those childhood paintings! I love that YOU kept them (I have no idea where mine would be these days!)
I like this a lot!
Thanks Erin! Nice new Yeti’s on your etsy :)
What a creative idea to do as a headboard. I love it! The colors you chose are lovely.
Thanks Yanet! (And I’m excited to go check out your site. I like what I see so far.)
Ready for today’s “smallest world ever” note? I skate in SF with the woman in your link “amazing wall murals” on Pinterest. Sally is a blogger too: http://sallytv.blogspot.com/2010/09/dining-room-is-finished.html
Amazingly small world! Tell her that I’ve admired that for a long time and love how she made it work. I’ve seen many people try and imitate it. No par.
Fabulous! I love, love how this turned out.
Thanks Tanya!