I’d also lined up a few free tree stumps for future projects, so we spent the rest of the afternoon loading tree stumps into the car in sketchy alleys. Fun times!
Brian also brought home some pallets from work, and those made up the front of this headboard.
It’s hard to believe it’s now been one year this weekend since we made this, and I’m just now sharing it. Edison wasn’t even crawling yet, and now he’s running around! In the last year, we, and our guests, have enjoyed the headboard and all it adds to the room.
Step 4: Since sanding could take a while, get your homemade stain underway. We were all about cheap or free, so I found a recipe for homemade wood stain on Pinterest. All you need is a jar with a lid, very fine steel wool, and vinegar. Tear up the steel wool and put it in the jar, then cover it with vinegar and fasten the lid. Let it sit for 24 hours before using.
I took it one step further, and added a tea stain, following this tutorial. So I painted the wood with the black tea first, and followed up with the vinegar stain.
Step 5: Apply your stain with a paintbrush.
In the photo below, you can see the difference between just tea, and tea and vinegar. It’s much darker.
I like lighter wood usually, but since this pallet wood had some dark stains, darker worked better in this case.
Step 6: Sand the headboard again, if you’re going for a weathered look.
Step 7: Attach boards behind the headboard for legs, and position behind your bed. We were able to bold our headboard to the bed frame itself, so it’s not going anywhere.
Edison approved! And look how tiny he is!
We still have a lot of styling work to do in the guest room (see mismatched lamps, empty photo frames) but it feels so much more grown up and put together with a headboard! And the dark wood happened to match our thrifted side tables perfectly.
Looks pretty cozy!
