Make it work. Upholstered bed.

The last time I checked in I was blowing off some steam about some roman shades I was making. When I started the project they were going to be plain roman shades.   I ended up with juuuuuust enough fabric.  Sewing a pocket for a wooden dowel was not something I wanted to deal with.  As a result, I decided mid project to make them relaxed roman shades.

I should have taken a minute and re-evaluated the situation.  I had put off starting these for a long time because making roman shades is...a bunch of straight lines and ironing.  Add pinning to that list if you include a blackout shade.   So...so...so boring. When I finally got the urge to start I didn't want to stop.  I wanted to get it over with.  As a result, I ended up with a variation of balloon roman shades.  When they are done right they are awesome.  Unfortunately, mine were obviously would-be-plain-roman-shades-trying-to-become-relaxed-roman-shades-but-ended-up-mostly-balloon-roman-shades....mostly.  I thought I could live with it because....they weren't terrible.  But something wasn't right.

Two of the three shades.

The third and largest shade.

Mom And Me Brainstorming Session Commence.
We both agreed they were fine.  There were some missed opportunities in finishing them to look...right.  I am really trying to graduate from crafty/amatuer hour to polished in the things I create.  All that work I put into them and.....and they looked DIY.  Kind of cool but kind of...unpolished.

Mom and I spent some time brainstorming some ways to fix the issues we found with them.  If we had found a brilliant fix I would have been all for it. Unfortunately, nothing felt right or excited me.

THEN........

I swear we both had the same idea at the same moment.  "Upholster the bed in that fabric."  (You were thinking that too, weren't you??)  I had planned to upholster the bed from the get go.  I was going to do it white with black trim which I knew was a terrible idea with a two year old sleeping in it but I had convinced myself that mine would magically remain white.

This is the bed I have in Whit's room:

It screams, "Make me pretty!", right?

After my mom confirmed we had enough fabric I tore those shades down and started ripping the seams.  I had them taken apart in no time flat.  Then Sean and I worked together to cut the headboard shape out of Luan.  He screwed the Luan to the bedframe. He included support pieces along the curve and along the bottom.  Being only 1/4" thick, Luan is flimsy!

Headboard

Support Pieces

After we had that done my mom came over with her arms full of upholstery tools and materials.  Check out the size of this spool of welt!


Sean took the kids to school and we got started around 8 am.  We took a short lunch and were back to work.  When our planned delayed naptime came around we were on a roll so I let Whit skip her nap. We got that thing DONE at 5!

Whitney checking out our progress.

I love it.  It uses the floral pattern in a great way.  I learned some upholstery tips today and actually contributed instead of just learning. Best of all....it looks polished!  My mom is a pro so it has nothing to do with me but still...it's polished!

Whit got to watch us put it together and so she feels like it is extra special.  She loves it which makes me love it more.  B is already planning how we can make his "bed more handsome".