DIY Herringbone Headboard

aka How NOT to Herringbone your Headboard (you'll see)

You guys (almost) unanimously voted for me to make a herringbone headboard this past weekend.  It was kinda fun relinquishing the choice- should I make this a regular?

Anyway.... on to the headboard!!

Once upon a time, in 2008 when Hubby and I moved in together, we decided it would be delightfully adult of us to buy a matching bedroom set.  A very large black set.  I'd like to hop in a time machine and tell 2008/2009 Karen that matching sets are kind of a no no for an interesting space.  You can still see the basic black set in my (apparently outdated) home tour.  A year ago, I replaced the black box of a dresser with a sweet mid mod vintage wood one that I've shown you glimpses of:

And I've been neglecting showing you the rest- I mean nothing's really changed in here just about 3 years.  So when we dismantled our bedroom to refinish the floors a couple months ago, I devised a plan for the bed.  We like the bed in general- it's a nice scale, has a nice solid frame, and a black leather upholstered panel in the headboard.  Well... had an upholstered panel...

When it came apart for the floor refinishing, I found out that the upholstered panel was simply screwed in and easily popped out.

This opened up a world of possibilities and suddenly, I knew my plan:  a wood herringbone pattern to break  up all the black.

First step was to create a bunch of wood 'tiles.'  I used 2 1/2" pine lattice moulding cut to 12" pieces with my chop saw.  In what turned into a happy accident, I ended up with 2 different thicknesses by going to 2 different Home Depots.

After sanding any rough edges, I used a wood conditioner, then stained all the pieces with American Walnut.

Next came the fun part- making the puzzle.  For the backer, I used an 1/8" composite panel and got it cut to size at the Depot.  Once I had the tiles all cut and stained, I market the center of the panel and got to work laying the pattern out.

I ended up alternating rows between the thinner tiles and thick and it added a wonderful dimension to the pattern.  Happy accident.  Once all laid out, I trimmed the edge pieces, eventually ending up with something that looked almost finished.  Too bad every piece was still loose.

Instead of adhering it out in the driveway and flat, I knew that the headboard had a slight bow to it, so I wanted to screw the backer piece on, and then adhere the tiles.  I numbered each tile by row so I could easily put the pattern back together and moved the operation into the bedroom.

Since the furry ones greatly enjoy a made bed, they opted to be my silent partners on this project and only gave me the evil eye when I moved the bed.

Lazy bums.

Here's where the problems began.  I opted to install in place vertically since I was being lazy didn't feel like taking the bed apart and really have no floor space to lay the headboard.  It all started well and good: follow my numbering and use liquid nails to adhere the tiles...

I got all the tiles on and it was looking pretty darn good if you ask me.

So I decided to try gluing the trim pieces on...... and the headboard started spitting pieces at me.

My assistants were seriously NOT helpful.  Every time I tried to glue a piece back, 2 more fell down.

Here were my fatal flaws:

• the flimsy paneling/backer just absorbed the adhesive
• I may not have made the right choice in adhesive
• in trying to save energy by taking the bed apart, I was trying to work against gravity.

Gravity+slow drying glue trying to stick to an absorbtive slightly curved panel= huge headache.

Luckily for me, I had picked up some small screws, so after a few curse words and a brainstorming call to my dad, I started by screwing pieces from behind to anchor them.  A few pieces anchored didn't help too much, but I could see that I was headed in the right direction.  I thanked my lucky stars for the 'accidental' thicker pieces and ended up screwing into the back of each and every one, effectively anchoring every other row.

The back isn't pretty, but if the tiles stay in place, I'll take it.  Yeah.... not the ideal way to herringbone your headboard.  Once everything was stable, I glued and clamped on the trim pieces and crossed my fingers.

I'm pleased to say, with a combination of screws and glue, the tiles seem to be stable and the headboard made it through the night.

I actually really love the dimension created with the different thicknesses.  Let's pretend that was intentional.  Not seeing a generic upholstered headboard anymore is a big win.  The beauty is, however, if I ever changed my mind and wanted to switch this panel out again, I can remove a few screws and put the upholstered piece back or make a new insert.

Still to go with this bedroom mini-redesign is:

• new or painted nightstands (out with the black!)
• an area rug
• new bedside lamps
• reupholstering the bench at the foot of the bed
• styling & accessories

Bear is excited, can't you tell?

My Office Updates (progress)

I was trying to hunt through my photo archives for some good "before" pics of my office, but for some strange reason they're all small vignette images.  Ok, not so strange- my office has never been fully photo-worthy so I just tried to show you pretty little snippets and hide the rest.

This one below from when I first switched out the light fixture is definitely the most true:  yellow walls from the last owner, cheap roman shade from our last apartment, a delightfully photogenic elliptical in front of a store bought, dirty brown cat perch, in a window with decorative trim that doesn't match any of the other trim in the house, and an awkward outlet on the wall with several power strips plugged into it for the computer and TV on the wall on the right.

It's other charming features included coax cable running along the baseboard on 3 walls, baseboard which also did not match any other trim in the house, the hideous old carpet, no real desk space, just a cubby I used to sit in front of,

oh, and a yellow maple closet door that Bear is modeling here: (also note the baseboard and coax cable- sexy)

I am beyond pleased to say that most of the offenses have been remedied and the office is on it's way to being a gorgeous, functional office/den/work out room.  There's still a ton to go decoration-wise, but the shell is set.

Daisy wanted to be a part of the progress shoot since Charlie (Bear) was in the befores...

No more orange wood closet door and trim and walls both got Ben Moore's Dune White (Satin on trim and matte on walls).

Once I get the decoration on the office/TV wall set, I'll put some simple artwork above settee.  For the settee itself, I'll be making several new pillows with pops of color.

My $25 Brimfield chair will get reupholstered and get casters for usability and the TV is going to be getting a fancy shelf unit around it with sliding art to hide the big black box when not in use.  I'm still working out those logistics.  The window now has appropriate square trim that matches the rest of the house and will (at some point in the nearish future) don a new DIY roman shade.

The new desk was a craigslist find and needs a little love eventually, but there are other more pressing design matters in here.  The new IKEA cubby doors will be getting painted gray and get matching handles to their drawer counterparts.  As you can see, however, I already remedied the ugly brown cat perch with a custom built one (tutorial coming soon!) which the cats only chose to use a fraction of the time.

The overhead light needs to be replaced again too.

While I still like the IKEA light, the shade shines a yellowish glow on the new white walls.

As you can see my office has come a long way, but still has a way to go and several fun projects ahead!  Now if only I could stop working and focus on finishing my office, I'd have a beautiful space to work!  That might be a little counter-productive though.....

Antique Newel In Progress

I feel like I'm juggling 2 jobs right now- the flip and our own house reno which is seemingly never ending (aren't they always?).  Luckily we are able to function in our house now, but shockingly (or not) my 'little' floor refinish project has snowballed.  Aside from needing new baseboards with the new floors and replacing the railing on the newly finished stairs, I'm using the floors as an excuse to fix a lot of my annoyances with the house- one BIG project instead of ten thousand little ones- makes sense, right?  RIGHT?? The next big step in the project is the stair railing.  This needs to happen asap so Hubby and I don't take a header down the steep steps.  Before that can happen, however, these antique newel posts that I picked up need to be rejuvenated.

Aside from the degraded finish, I needed to patch several holes from old hand rails and these suckers needed to be about a foot taller.  People were apparently shorter 100 years ago... or didn't mind having low handrails.

Handy Dad helped me to tackle the height issue and we devised a plan to marry the existing post with a mahogany 4x4.

First we cut down the bottom of the newel posts so we had a flat surface to attach the 4x4 to.

Then, Handy Dad took over and doweled the newel post and the 4x4 together.  Essentially he drilled holes on one piece, then used transfer points to mark the other piece.

Insert wooden dowels, wood glue, and clamp.

Once the glue was dry, it was time for me to patch and sand my butt off.  I cut filler pieces out of the scrap we had from trimming the bases and glued them into the old slots- one on one railing and two on the other.

And then sand for what seems like forever.  I started with a low grit and worked my way up to 220.

I would LOVE to be able to stain these newel posts and the railing to match, but sadly with all this patching regular stain is not an option.  Never fear, I have a plan!

While a solid stain alone would look flat and like I just painted the posts, a solid stain with a slightly darker stain/poly mix over it just might add the dimension that I'm hoping for.  Please disregard the ribs in the wood itself below- I was using the back of a floor board from my scrap wood pile.

And since this is where I currently stand, this is where I leave you for today.

Will I be able to make these old newel posts look good?  Will my experimental finish work?  Stay tuned next week for the thrilling newel post conclusion!