Almost 2 years ago, my sister gave us this "beautiful" full-sized bed.  I believe Mya had just transitioned from her crib to her toddler bed.  We weren't quite ready to put her in a regular bed.  Not to mention, when she gave us the bed, she had almost completed stripping the headboard but the sideboards and footboards remained untouched (stained).  That meant, something HAD to be done to the bed in order for it to be usable. It just wasn't in my cards. I soon became pregnant and stripping/painting a bed was out of the question.  When Mya was ready for a "big girl" bed, we set up a nice old brass bed we had stored in the basement.  I always knew, that SOMEDAY Mya would get a beautiful, finished full-sized bed!

My neighbor approached me about being a participant in her attempt at a neighborhood garage sale. I thought it was a great idea. I had been wanting to do a garage sale, but really just needed someone to give me a little nudge.  Before I knew it, I had committed and begun ransacking my ENTIRE house! I became obsessed.  My husband actually said to me, "You know, I would've taken you for more of a hoarder type...but not so much!" The idea of making money on my junk was awesome.  Without going into the gory details.... the garage sale was a total bust! We had very few customers. I ended up making about $120. Whatever... I digress.....

The point of my garage sale story is that I panicked and realized I needed to get this bed out of my garage before I held a garage sale.  So, I dove right in..... 4 days before the sale.  STUPID.  I had to sand, wash, shop supplies, prime, wait for drying, paint, paint, paint again, paint for the 4th time!!! Not to mention it was super hot outside AND I had to work around naptimes.  I found myself painting at 9:30 at night, 7:00 in the morning, and during naptime. UGH... did I mention I hate painting???

Anyways, THE BED IS DONE!!!!! We had a slight problem in that the new mattress was too big for the bed! Do these hiccups only happen to me? I mean really, can't things be easy?  We decided, for now, to leave the footboard off the bed.  My mom said you can buy brackets to expand the bed.  Anyone know where to buy those???

I got some help from Mya! Here she is washing the bed.

the sanding process

Picking a white- You can't tell here, but these are ALL WHITES! The flash brings out their tones more.  I had to google which white to use. Seriously, can't they just have WHITE! I chose "decorators white." Yup, it was white!

Once the painting process began, Mya couldn't contain herself.  She literally asked me if she could help paint the bed 50 times. I let her do a little, but let's be honest, I didn't have time for that!!!! So, I finally wised up on day 2. I set up her OWN painting station. She felt SO cool!!!

OMG.... filling the garage for the sale. Did I mention I DID NOT finish the bed in time. After all of that hustling, I decided I better slow down and take my time. The traffic was so slow during the sale, I was actually able to paint while I worked.

Forgot to add that I bought this UGLY bench at a cute little store called Junk Warehouse. It's going out of business and was having a 40% sale. I got it for $30. I almost passed it up but the owner talked me into it. I am SO glad she did.
You'll see why!

Ta Da! I am so glad I bought it! I painted it and recovered the cushion!

The new bed and bench!
ps. I know the lamp is ugly. That's my "next" project. ;-)

Close-up of head board. It's so sweet.