Antique Waterfall Bed

I had been looking for about 4 months on Craigslist, at Goodwill and a few other thrift stores for a twin bed for my daughter. She will be three in January and it is high time she get her own real bed. I knew I wanted something feminine and curvy. Everything I saw just wasn’t doing it for me. Then I went into Salvage Sisters, a local antique shop, and found this gorgeous antique waterfall twin bed for $100. As soon as I saw it I knew it was the one. I thought it was going to say something crazy like $395 so when I saw the price tag of $100 I was stoked. So I have been teasing you on Facebook all week about this piece…so without further ado…Kayla’s big girl bed!

This is what the bed original started out looking like…

In my mind, I immediately saw it painted white with a little distressing to bring out the details.

There was definitely a few scratches, nicks and some pieces missing. But I loved it and knew I could make do with the imperfections.

My first step was stripping the oval frame. It had some peeling top coat and it needed to be stripped in order to even out the finish. I used some chemical stripper and removed the gunk.

After gluing some of the pieces back on and sanding the entire piece down I spray primered it followed by a coat of Rustoleum’s Satin Blossom White spray paint.

The next step was to distress it. This just makes the piece come alive if you ask me. I took 80 grit sandpaper and lightly went over the edges and the wood appliques taking off some of the paint to reveal the wood.

The oval frame was the perfect spot for something fun. I could have done fabric, a monogram, chalkboard, mirror, etc…but what I decided to do was add a cute little silhouette of my beautiful baby girl.

My cousin Julie helped me by taking a picture of Kayla and using her Photoshop skills to make the silhouette for me. Then I imported the Jpeg file into my Silhouette Cameo program to cut the vinyl out.

I could not have cut a piece of vinyl this big with the SD so I was so excited when the Cameo arrived and I was able to make the bigger cut.

I was so excited to upgrade her room to a toddler room. Because I was strategic about her baby girl room going with a classic, feminine look the only thing I needed to do was add a bed, rearrange some furniture and grab the quilt that was hanging on her wall and add it to the bed. The quilt is special to our family because her Great Grandma (who she is named after – Kayla Elizabeth) made the quilt for her before she was born.