Painted Weathered Wood Bed Makeover
A thrifted bed gets a painted weathered wood Restoration Hardware look with no messy furniture stripping and in 3 quick steps.
A couple of weeks ago, I promised more details about the painted “weathered wood” bed that so many of you asked about in our last guest bedroom makeover update at my parents’ house.
I’ve done the math now (I know, former English teacher doing math… be afraid), and at this point, we’ve spent a grand total of $290 to fully furnish this bedroom with a dresser, armoire, pair of nightstands, and a queen-sized bed. Wowza!
This sleigh bed my parents found on Craigslist for $110 was already in good condition. But it had a lot of dings and scratches that needed a facelift.
I wanted to tone down the cherry red stain, but sanding it down completely to refinish wasn’t an option since it was partially veneer. So I busted out my tried and true “weathered wood” paint method again.
Hey, if it ain’t broke… you know the rest.
Supplies Used: (Affiliate links are provided below for convenience.)
- Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in French Linen
- Fusion Mineral Paint in Raw Silk
- Homestead House Wax in Espresso
- 1.5″ angled paint brush
- Chip brush
- Wax brush
- Clean, dry lint-free rag
- Paper towels
I pretty much was able to use paint supplies I already had lying around from previous projects (don’t you love it when that happens?).
Sometimes you guys ask if I prep my furniture, but it usually depends on the piece. If I’m working with a piece that has noticeable wood oil or a residue on it, I wipe it down with Krud Kutter or liquid deglosser (way faster and just as effective as sanding, in my experience).
This bed seemed to have a great surface to work with from the very beginning, so it did just fine without any prep work.
I gave the entire bed two coats of the ASCP French Linen first, letting dry between each coat. (Pardon my icky cell phone shots. I was painting in my parents’ garage without my camera on this day.)
To add some depth, I gave everything a quick dry-brushing with the Fusion Raw Silk.
If you’ve never dry-brushed before, you just dip the tip of your paint brush into the paint, wipe it on a cloth or paper towel until it feels dry and start brushing onto your piece. I like using a chip brush because the bristles give it a natural weathered look and the strokes aren’t as rigid as a high quality brush.
It’s very subtle, but it’s a great technique for layering.
After dry-brushing, you can jump right into waxing with the Espresso wax. I like working my wax brush into the grooves and brushing in the direction that the “grain” of the wood would normally go. After about 5 minutes, I buff with a clean cloth.
I shot this before buffing, so the wax isn’t really perfect yet.
I let the wax cure for 24 hours, and then my dad and brother hauled it up to the guest room so we could all stare at it in wonder for a few hours. Okay, not really.
But it did give me some major heart-eyes.
The bed isn’t “perfect” but that’s part of the charm, I think. After I photographed this, I noticed some waxing strokes that needed fixing, so I’ll be going back and touching that up.
The bed coordinates so well with the two-tone nightstands I painted the other week without being too matchy-matchy. (Does matching furniture drive you bonkers? It does me.)
I discovered this sign perfect for a guest bedroom on an Etsy shop called Salted Words the other week too. It couldn’t be any more fitting than this.
And this ceiling fan from Hunter Fan Co. works so well in here. When I ordered it, I had no idea what color of wood the blades were going to be since it’s usually so hard to tell online, but it has the perfect vintage look to it.
This guest bedroom has already come such a long way! I keep debating on whether or not to hang curtains in here since the window already has plantation shutters. I think I’m liking the clean and simple look though. What do you think?
If you want to know about any of the other sources I’ve used in here so far, you can find them all here:
- Rug
- Euro pillows
- Blue stripe pillow
- Hospitality scripture sign
- Nightstands
- Armoire
- Lamps
- Ceiling fan
We still have this other side of the room to tackle, but it’ll be coming along soon. A little art, some pillows on the window seat, and we’ll be lookin’ good.
 I had no idea when I first started giving this space a makeover that it would end up being my and Robert’s bedroom while we crash at my parents’ house before closing on the new place. Funny how things work out like that.
If you want to save this post for later, you can pin it here:
What are your thoughts on the quality of this rug? Would you use it for a living room?
I LOVE this rug. It’d be gorgeous in a living room.
Absolutely stunning! I’ve been looking for a tutorial to get this exact finish on a bookcase (ladder shelf). I was wondering if I could use ASCP Pure White instead of the fusion mineral paint for the dry-brushing step and still get the same results? Please let me know what you think 🙂
Absolutely! You could use any white paint, really. I generally use whatever I already have in my stash.
Amazing! I love it turned out. This room is beautiful!
Thank you, Chelsea!
Beautiful transformation!
It’s beautiful, Lauren and so is the entire guest room. Lucky the guest who has such a lovely room to stay in while visiting. Pinning.
Thank you, Marie!
Love the bed and plan on steeling your idea in my master!!! I do believe some light burlap look curtains would be awesome!!! I saw some on clearance at Target!!!!
Glad it helped, Lisa! Thanks for the tip about the curtains. 🙂
It’s beautiful Lauren! Just wondering what paint color you used on the wall. It’s so soft, and blends beautifully with the rest of your décor.
Thanks, Donna! The wall color is Behr Seagull Gray.
This is inspiring Lauren, I’ve been meaning to do something similar to our sleigh bed frame for a while now, so this gives me all the thrills and motivation to get it done! Looks great!
Yay! So glad it helped give you some motivation, Sandra!
Hello! A few months ago you painted a wooden bench with Fusion cranberry paint. Did you use 1 container or 2 to paint two coats on the bench?
Hi, Eva! I used just one. And actually, I still had half of the container leftover when I was finished. 🙂
Thanks! I’m going to try this with a bench I have at home!
I love it all! In fact, I’m thinking of purchasing the sign for our guest room and wondered what size you bought—just so I can get an idea of scale.
I have that same rug in our master bedroom and the same sleigh bed. We purchased the entire bedroom set with matching nightstands, dresser and chest of drawers (I know—it was 12 years ago–don’t judge 🙂 ) and I love how you painted the night stand. Now I’m thinking I’ll take a look at what you did to the other pieces in the room to get some inspiration so the furniture isn’t so match-y.
Good luck on all things new house and thank you for the inspiration!
I love how the painted bed looks, the room is beautiful already and with or without curtains, I would love it either way.
Thanks, Terry!
Looks amazing! And, once again, you are the source of inspiration I needed. Nearly a year ago I painted my dining room chairs and thought my husband would have time to build a farmhouse table. Well, I’ve kept him quite busy on other projects and his list doesn’t seem to be getting any shorter. Yikes! I know. So today I’m going to paint the top of my dining room table this way. It’ll turn out perfectly as every project I’ve done of yours has. Thank you! And praying for you as you adjust to being between houses. We once moved into my parents’ home when we were between houses. It’s do-able, just different 😉
Thank you, Moriah! I truly appreciate the prayers. Hope your table turns out well too! One word of caution, I’m leery of using wax on dining tables because it can still get scuffed up pretty badly from scraping dishes and drinking glass condensation. For surfaces that get a lot of wear like that, I tend to use ASCP Coco or French Linen as my base followed by a couple of coats of walnut stain and sealed with a matte polycrylic.
Hi Lauren! When you use French Linen as your base followed by walnut stain do you still get the white washed look?
I’m wanting to use this technique on my table top as well. Would love to see how yours turned out. Nonni73@yahoo.com
Love how this room is turning out!! I will definitely be getting that sign for my guest bedroom, it’s perfect! Is the rug in your room 8×10?
Thanks, Tiffany! It really is so fitting. Yes, the rug is 8×10. 🙂
Lauren,
I am always amaze with your talent! The room looks fabulous with your special style and touch!
Thank you, Lilian!
Hi Lauren,
Hey I noticed the last few blog posts I have not received an email. Is there something I need to do to get back on the email list?
Thanks!
Hi Deanna! I scaled back my email newsletter to just 1-2 per week instead of every time a post is published so I don’t bombard people with emails. And with our move this weekend, I’ve been a bit all-over-the-place lately and wasn’t able to send one for this post yet. 🙂 Thanks for checking!
The room is coming together and it looks great!! I think curtains would add interest, brighten up the stark white around the windows and plantation shutters. And you always pick out the perfect complement…..
Thanks, Lanita! I’m thinking I might play around with the windows a little bit in Photoshop just to see how it would look before I commit. Thanks for the feedback. 🙂
Looks great, or should I say you really “sleighed” it, lol. I’m in the middle of doing this technique on a side table I scored yesterday at Gordon’s for $12! I’ve never painted a new piece before, but for 12 bucks, I have zero heartburn over it! I’m using Waverly brand chalk paint and wax I found at Walmart. I’ve used it on a few items now and it does a pretty good job and is very economical.
Haha! Best pun award, right here. 😉 Good luck with the table, Colleen! I’ve used the Waverly brand before too. It definitely does the job in a pinch.
It looks beautiful Lauren. The whole room is so calm and relaxing. Just what a bedroom should be!
Thanks, Mary!
Your timing for this post is perfect for me to try this on some furniture we’re moving into our new home. Thanks!
Yay! Glad it could help, Denise!
Love how the bed turned out. Your guest room is looking so cozy and welcoming.
Thanks, Dianne!
I am wanting to do this to our current bedroom furniture. I am having trouble finding the Homestead House Wax in Espresso. It is sold out on the link attached to this post. Would the Fusion Furniture Wax in the color Espresso work ok?
Yes! Annie Sloan Dark Wax would work too. 🙂
Would this work with a honey colored wood as well?
Absolutely! It can work on so many things since it’s really paint and wax that only looks like stain.
Beautiful job! Your creativity is amazing! I can’t wait to see what you do with the new place. I love old brick. Please don’t power wash it. The charm will go down the drain! You are an inspiration.