Look what I found...

headboard and footboard

(pay no attention to my quilt frame rails underneath)

A friend asked me to go to an auction with her yesterday. I didn't really feel like it. Definitely didn't need to bring home one more thing. But I hadn't spent any time with my friend for such a long time, and a whole day together is a rare thing indeed. So I said yes.

We got there early and walked the room, scoping out things we might want to bid on. I didn't see anything I couldn't live without. Then towards the end of the day they brought this beauty out of nowhere, and it was love at first sight. My resolve flew out the window, and my hand with its bidder number kept popping up with absolutely no resistance from my sensible side.

All my life my mother talked about her grandparents' beautiful tall bed, and how it had to be cut down to fit smaller rooms when they moved off the farm and into town. Apparently that happened a lot, as I have seen lots of the cut-down versions over the years. But I don't ever remember seeing an unaltered version before...at least not one that spoke to me like this one does.

You may remember seeing our current bed in a previous post. When we moved into this house five years ago, we finally had room for a king-sized bed, so we invested in a Select Comfort (LOOOOOOOVE IT!), but we had no headboard. We were hosting a big family party (Carey's side) with everybody coming from out of town, and I couldn't stand the idea of a naked bed. I bought the black metal frame from a friend's mother for $50. I like it and was glad to have it, but it's never been one I wanted to keep forever.

So all this time I've been trying to decide what style I would really like to have. I keep finding myself attracted to really tall headboards, and have been considering doing a DYI project of some kind. Actually, since antique beds don't come in king size, this one will require some DIY. I'm going to have to find a way to visually extend the sides without causing any damage to the head/footboard. Any ideas? I've been thinking maybe mounting the headboard directly to the wall and putting up narrow upholstered panels on each side. Or maybe painting a section of the wall (a mattress-wide section) an accent color, with the headboard centered on it. I'm afraid I can't think of any way to use the footboard at all.

I'll have to give this some thought. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. And I'll post the final results when there are some.