A bedroom redo!

I love my bedroom, I really do!  But, it's been the same for quite awhile.  When we moved into our house 10 years ago the walls were in bad shape.  My husband was in Afghanistan so my sister and I decided to do a quick fix.  We striped the many layers of wallpaper and then created a textured wall with joint compound.  We scooped the joint compound on, then with our hand outstretched, pressed the joint compound and raised out hand off it creating a raised or stippled look.  We then took a trowel and patted it down slightly so there were no awkward raised edges.  Then I painted it this dark soothing blue.  It is a lovely color, especially for a bedroom. I fell in love with my quick fix and so here I am 10 years later.
So, I've been toying with the idea of a serious bedroom redo, but, then I go back to loving that color blue.  So I decided not to repaint.  A couple of years ago my Mother bought me a beautiful woven homespun bedspread from a local primitives shop.  I have loved that bedspread but it just didn't look right on my bed.  I bought our bed 20 years ago from Spiegel....remember them?  Are they even still in business?  We were stationed at West Point and I remember the day it was delivered....I was so happy.  But, the bed, though it is lovely, has a shiny gloss stain on it and just didn't look right with the new bedspread, so the brilliant idea came to me to paint the bed.

I knew I wanted it to have a softer look, but primitive and "distressed" like this lampshade I have in my bedroom.....

....and heres the bottom of the lamp.....

....and here is a distressed antique piece I painted a couple of years ago.  I usually have a wreath or stitched piece on it....it hangs over our bed...

Oh, did I mention to you that I had a helper....

So, I went to that same primitives shop, "Gunn's Corners" and got some of this wonderful paint.

All you have to do it slop it on, and I do mean slop it, the thicker the better if you want a nice raised surface.  This is the base coat....

Another shot of the base coat....

Then I slopped on some chipping cream after the base coat was dry.  Chipping cream prevents the paint from completely disappearing when you sand/distress.  After the chipping cream was dry I slopped on quite thickly, my top coat of a tan....

So, as you can see, when you sand/distress the paint, the nice bottom coat shows through and because of the texture of the paint it looks like it's been there for years, many layers of paint, just like an old piece of furniture.  I then brushed on a layer of a toner and then wiped it off which gave it a nice antiqued look.  The final step is a satin coat which I did not do as I did not want a finished look, but rather more primitive.

So, that's it for now.  I will show you pictures of the finished bedroom when it is all gussied up for the open house.  I did make a burlap bedskirt for the bed which goes with the primitive coverlet beautifully and some new curtains were needed too.  It is coming together.....come back December 4th after the open house to see the finished pictures......

Until next time......