Getting A-head(board)

Projects!!!

That's what we did a lot of this winter...

how about you?

We wanted to show off one of our favorite projects...

Karrie's Headboard!

How many of you have headboards?  

That is one of the last things both Karrie and I did before finishing our rooms...

searching for the right headboard...not coming up with anything...

and then it hits us...

"let's just make our own!"

after all...many of the headboards Karrie was looking at 

looked kinda like a

  five-paneled door....

and it just so happened that we had

 an extra one lying around at the family farm!!!

 

So off we went to pick out some

  trim and molding

    Drug the Dad and Hubby 
into the project... 

and their tools;)

We had in our head pretty much how we wanted to do it, 

but we also did some research on Pinterest 
and we discovered lots of other people had the same idea...Duh!

We did discover from that, though,
what we did and did not want.  

We knew that we wanted those panels centered,
so we trimmed the bottom off of the door....

We also wanted posts on either side... 
we didn't want the "floating headboard" look

 

We sanded it down, 

primed it and painted it black...

Then sanded some more to distress it a bit.

We love how it turned out
and just how perfect it is for this room!


Stop in and join us for DIY by Design 
for some awesome inspiration today!

Enjoy your week!!

Karla & Karrie
The Summer Kitchen Girls

Flower Power!!!

We thought we'd take you for a tour of the sweetest

bedroom today.....it is one of our favorite

FULL

of beautiful flowers....

on the wall....

in the arrangements....

and even in the old pitcher...

Give me odorous at sunrise a garden of beautiful flowers 

where I can walk undisturbed. 

~Walt Whitman

Sweet Dreams!

Joining up with Ivy & Elephants today for What's it Wednesday... 
as well as Katherine's Corner for Thursday Favorite Things!

"521"

So....what do you do 

to the outside of a 

bedroom door

 that is in a brick hallway??

Why not number it?

YES!

Wait...

with a special number??

LIKE...

your wedding anniversary?

Oh yes you could.....

don't you just

LOVE

this idea?

Home Sweet Home....

What do you do to make your home

Welcoming 

whether it is for your family or friends?

Sweet sentiments 

are a good start....

Pictures of Family 

who have come before....

Lots of comfortable pillows on the bed

that say 

"rest here!"

A spot 

to put their things....

A room 

they can call 

all their own....

"If Home is where the heart is 

then may your Home be blessed . . . " 

~John McLeod 

Taking it to the Top

Some walls are BIG

then there are those

TALL

Walls....

Just take it to the top!

Small piece of furniture?

No Worries....

Just add

a little here

a little there!

The black toile plates compliment the picture that was the

"inspiration piece"

that started the collection around it

(or should we say above and below!)

A little mood lighting....

and of course a touch of vintage purple toile goodness

well...

you might say that, together, it all takes it

OVER the Top!!

What will you take

Over the Top today?!!

Tools of the Trade

We've been busy!

The past two days we have been working on wallpapering Karla's bedroom.

(Now...we just want to clarify...we are NOT professional wallpaper gals...

but we do get the job done!)
We do, however, use the "tools of the trade" and the most important ones are:

The Level - this is a MUST - especially in an old house!

The straight edge and knife - to cut the top & bottom off straight

Then, the scissors, the wallpaper brush...to get out all of those bubbles and...of course, the paper!

You may remember that Karla is having a king headboard made out of a full headboard that was in her attic. It was from the original owners in 1905. (See the post here) Well, the headboard has been assembled, now it is ready for our favorite faux finisher, Jill, to distress it next week....so that means....

priming the walls, painting the ceiling, trimming around the woodwork, baseboards & ceiling with a base color from the wallpaper (that way if we mess up around this woodwork - it might not be noticeable!!)

Many people have a fear of wallpaper - but with patience around corners like this

and light sockets like this

(by the way - that tan color was what it was painted before....forgot to take the "before" picture!)

But in the end, it really is worth it. We love adding pattern in certain rooms - and we are so in love with this paper right now! It flows into the hallway so nice...and even brings out the color of the bathroom. Geese, it even goes with the old bedding, curtains & sheets right now - we couldn't go wrong bringing this pattern in!

Stay tuned for the finished pictures...complete with the "new-old" headboard!!

Sweet Dreaming

It was 1904 and Mr. Halter was building his home. He furnished it and brought his new bride home and she loved it. Upstairs in the bedroom was a grand and beautiful bed. fit for a queen, and Mrs. Halter thought she was the luckiest lady around!

The bed lived in the house until Mr. Halter died. Several years later, Mrs. Halter rented the house out and put the bed into storage in the great attic upstairs. There the bed stayed until.....the attic needed to be cleaned out because the newest owners decided to create a room up in that big, old attic. Now....what to do with that headboard that had been in the house for 105 years?

Well....the bed is Karla's, and it has been moved several times from one side of a room, to another to endure work in the attic, and now we are happy to say, that there may be a happy ending to our story! We have thought that this headboard would make a great headboard for a king sized bed...how do we utilize the foot board?

Well, Monday we're taking it over to the wood repair shop and are going to finally see if the dreams we have for this headboard will really be able to happen! We need to make it bigger, paint it...and maybe we can add fabric...we've scoured the Internet on information about making a full headboard a king sized, but haven't found much....but we did dream quite a bit with some fun ideas for headboards - so come along and do some dreaming with us......



We just love, love, loved this idea {of course we tend to collect old doors here at The Summer Kitchen!}
How cute would this be - an old door, on it side with trim work above, painted and distressed - perfect and easy to do...not adding those little lamp holder on the side - quite creative, don't you think?

photo courtesy of Better Homes & Gardens

Goodness....we've died and gone to heaven - isn't this mirror gorgeous? What a great headboard this makes....we can't imagine what it would cost us...but it is sweet to dream girls, isn't it?

photo courtesy of Country Living





When we saw this picture in Better Homes & Gardens we squealed with delight! We love old hankies - and just how darling is it to frame them and put them above your bed...or anywhere for that matter!

Also love those snare drums - what a fun end table for a room {and be sure to take notice at all of the fun vintage things at the end of the beds in all of the pictures posted.....great uses for fun pieces!!}





We love old shutters - and think this idea is a fabulous one - that doesn't need anything but a good wash down and some nails to secure above the bed! What a fun idea to bring the outdoors in!

photo courtesy of Curbly.com





How about windows? You can find plenty of them laying around the neighborhood. See anyone replacing their windows? Ask if you can take some of their old windows and create a unique headboard. Here they took out the panes of glass and inserted boards covered in fabric that compliments your room.

{wouldn't this make a great screen for your living room too???}

photo courtesy of Better Homes & Gardens




Now...hanging art above your bed is great - but hanging ART above your bed...large art with a light above it....how great is this?

{Not to mention the great mirrors on either side of the bed...and the lamps....!}

photo courtesy of HGTV




We love how they took an old headboard and insert fabric into it. If this could somehow work on the headboard after it is done - it would be fun....but we will just have to wait and see how it comes together first!

photo courtesy of Country Living

Isn't it exciting to figure out something fresh & fun - while utilizing something that you have at the same time?!

Look for the final results of Karla's headboard....sometime down the road {we're not fast workers when it comes to our own homes ya know!!}

Sweet Dreams!