if at first you don’t succeed.

Published on by Quandie

Sometimes you just have to try again.

I painted this twin bed back in January …

I have to admit, I didn’t absolutely love it when it was finished.  But that’s not totally unusual, there are plenty of pieces I’ve painted that didn’t exactly tug at my heart strings but they still found a home with someone who did love them.

But that wasn’t the case with this bed.  It didn’t get even a spark of interest from a potential buyer in the last six months.  And quite honestly, I probably didn’t promote it as much as usual because I didn’t really love it myself.

So, I decided to re-purpose it entirely by turning each piece into a sign, starting with the headboard.

To begin with I gave it a coat of Sweet Pickins milk paint in a color called Window Pane which is a white with a grey undertone.  I was trying to go for a chippy look.  But once it was painted I really didn’t love the color.  I’ve found this particular shade of white kind of finicky.  It either really works on something, or it really just doesn’t.  I’ve painted over it as many times as I’ve kept it.

So I went back to the drawing board again.  I mixed up some of Dixie Belle’s Mint Julep with their Sea Spray additive to add texture.  I stippled that onto the headboard in random spots, mostly around the frame.  I’m learning as I go with this product, I’ve found that I don’t really like lots of texture, I want my results to be a little more subtle.  So once the textured Mint Julep was fully dry, I sanded it down a bit to knock off the peaks.  Then I painted over the entire thing in my final color, DB’s Midnight Sky.

Next up I pulled out the Farmers Market stencil that I purchased from Wallcutz.

My favorite thing about Wallcutz is that you can order their stencils in different sizes.  This one is available anywhere from 10″ x 17″ up to a whopping 22″ x 38″.  Mine is the 16″ x 28″ version, which currently is priced at $21.95.  I think you get a lot of bang for your buck with these larger sized stencils.

I used my shadowing method to create a shadow behind just the word “Farmers”, and behind the little do-dads on either side of the word “Market”, and although it looks OK in person, it’s a bit too subtle to show up well in photos.

In hindsight, I wish I’d gone a bit darker with the shadow color.  The full stencil was painted using Dixie Belle’s Putty, and the shadow was Putty mixed with some Gravel Road to darken it up.

The first time around with the stencil, I kept the full design intact.  But then I realized that it looked off balance to have nothing at the bottom of my “sign”, so I sanded off the “DAIRY PRODUCE DRY GOODS” section from just beneath “MARKET”, painted back over that area with Midnight Sky, and then moved the stencil down to the bottom section of the headboard and added those words there.

Once everything was dry, I sanded with 120 grit paper to distress.  That revealed some of that Mint Julep texture that was under the Midnight Sky.  You can also see a bit of that Window Pane in some spots, as well as the original DB Gravel Road that was on the bed in the first place.

Really, nothing adds age as well as several layers of different paint colors.  I added clear wax as a final top coat.

But wait, we’re still not done.  My ‘sign’ still needed a little something more.  So I went through my stash of old hooks and found a set of three that just happened to have some old chippy paint on them that was very similar in color to the Mint Julep.

So I added those between the two sections of stenciling.

They are perfect for hanging some ironstone pitchers.

Oh, and I almost forgot one more step.  I asked my neighbor nnK to bring over her circular saw and cut down the legs for me.  They were a bit too long hanging off the bottom.

So, what once was a bed frame now is a Farmers Market sign.

I’ll be doing something similar with the foot board, although I think I’m going to make it into a Christmas themed sign.  I may end up turning the side rails into signs as well.  I’ve done that before, and in fact even have a ‘side rail sign’ hanging in my own living room …

So, what do you think?  Do you suppose I’ll have better luck selling a Farmers Market sign rather than a twin bed?  If any of you locals are interested in it, be sure to visit my ‘available for local sale‘ page for more details.

Before I let you go today, I thought that since I’m having so much fun playing around with the Dixie Belle Sea Spray maybe I should share the wealth.  So I’m going to give give away two bags of Sea Spray.

The rules:  Simply leave a comment on this blog post to be eligible to win.

Your comment must be left on this blog post, not on Facebook or Instagram.  You are not required to follow my blog, although it would be awesome if you did!

I will randomly draw the names of two winners for today’s prizes from all of the comments left on this post by Friday, August 27, 2021 at the stroke of midnight (U.S. Central time).

The fine print: no purchase necessary, you must be 18 years of age or older to win, void where prohibited by law, the number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning, approximate retail value of prize is $25, if the prize is not claimed by Friday, September 3, 2021 another name will be drawn at random to win, blah, blah, blah.

As always, thanks to Dixie Belle for providing the paint and Sea Spray I used on this project as well as the Sea Spray for my giveaway.

42 thoughts on “if at first you don’t succeed.”

  4. The sign is great. Your shadow technique adds so much to the signs you paint. I do believe the sign will be more popular than the bed, although I liked the subtle stenciling on the bed too.

    Liked by 1 person

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  7. Love the new look Linda! Ps they should pay you comission for referring customers- I ordered a few stencils from Wallcutz after your last year xmas posts! 🙂
    Pps. The hooks!!!

    Liked by 1 person

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  10. Love love everything you do. I feel your pain when having to do a “redo” but this one was thinking outside of the box. I have a desk that is on it’s 3rd redo-maybe it just likes the attention.

    Liked by 1 person

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  12. I’m a follower and really enjoy all your projects. Glad I’m not the only one who has had to re-do things that didn’t sell! I like the sign much better, but I love signs in general – old or new! Definitely have to check out the Sea Spray as well!

    Liked by 1 person

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  17. I absolutely loved the twin bed, but the sign is a fantastic repurpose and you can’t just keep things on hand that don’t sell. I think the sign will sell quickly. The hooks were the perfect finishing touch.

    Liked by 1 person

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  20. I love this sign. Layers of color and texture peeking through always make my heart go pitter/patter – especially when blues and greens are involved.
    I’ve never used sea spray, but am sure a project will come along that is perfect for it. Thanks for a chance to win.

    Liked by 1 person

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  27. I admire you for calling it quits and redoing. I have a coffee table I painted and I really love it but it just hasn’t sold. Ironically I thought I almost sold it last night…too big?
    Oh well, you need thick skin in the furniture flipping biz

    Liked by 1 person

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  28. I love all the things you make with headboards. Benches, signs! Twin beds seem like a hard sell except for children’s room or guest rooms in second homes as your guests may not be couples!

    Liked by 1 person

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  29. Love your layered look Linda. As always, you’ve inspired me for a bed bench I’ve just purchased. The texture additive would be perfect. Love your post!
    ~Wendy

    Liked by 1 person

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  35. Your redesign inspires me to go find a headboard to redo. I like that it’s both pretty and practical. It would look great in a foyer with scarves, hats and bags hanging from the hooks.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Top secret tip: You can always keep an eye on my ‘available for local sale’ page. I usually update that the evening before I publish the blog post about the item.

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