Painting Leah’s headboard, Part 2

To recap from yesterday’s post, I’m painting Leah’s headboard, that I picked up used off of Kijiji for $15.  I’m painting it white to match the IKEA Hemnes white dresser that is also in her bedroom.  I’ve never painted a piece of furniture before, so this is completely new for me!  Here is what the headboard looked like before I started:

And here is what the headboard looked like after I posted last night after three coats of paint: (Coat #2 was kind of just a light brushing of the curves, so I’m not sure it counts as a full coat):

I managed to do one more coat of paint last night for a total of 4 coats (really 3 full coats).  I wasn’t all that happy with the finish of it.  You can see that it’s anything but smooth, which isn’t exactly what I’m going for:

So I laid it flat on the floor to prevent gravity from working against me, and did a coat only using a paint brush.  (Jason helped with half again so that’s his arm… he really seems to like the paint brushing parts!)

It was starting to look a lot better after the 5th coat (as it should, because that’s a lot of paint!).  I’m not sure if it’s normal to have to do so many coats, but that’s how many it has taken me.  I could probably keep painting to even out the finish, but I think I’m going to leave it at this for now:

So, that was five coats of paint!  And now, what I have been waiting for since I bought this $15 headboard back in December!  Here’s a quick reminder of what it looked like before I started:

And now that we’ve fixed it all up and made it look new again, here is what it looks like now:

I love it!  I think it goes with Leah’s room perfectly!  I still have to make some pillows for Leah’s bed.  It’s looking pretty bare, but at least this is a big step forward!  I didn’t have a chance to take a picture of it next to the IKEA dresser that I was trying match the paint to, but from across the room, it seems to match perfectly!  And something about the white, makes the tutu bedskirt I made pop too!

It wasn’t the most perfect painting job, but I don’t think anyone will inspect it closely enough to notice.  I think I have to practice painting a few more things to get it to look exactly how I want it.

It’s a slow process, but I’m getting Leah’s bedroom put together one little project at a time.  So this is another project to check off my list!  Phew!

Source : onelittleproject.com
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