Go ahead and file this project under “the urge to take on projects by yourself while you’re nine months pregnant and your husband is out of town”. Also, maybe under “not my brightest idea, but turned out great”.

As you know, our house is a builder-grade box. We upgraded from the dingy, grey paint color last year and painted the entire space Alabaster by Sherwin-Williams, but the space still lacked character.

When we first moved in, we had a Queen bed from IKEA that I LOVED. When we upgraded to a King size bed after our first few months of marriage (after being smacked in my sleep on accident by my loving husband), I bought the cheapest bed frame I could live with, which came without a headboard.

Turns out, the frame is gorgeous and incredibly easy to put together. But the bed definitely needed something to “ground” it on such a big, blank wall. And the art desperately needed to be adjusted from our original bed frame.

After MANY hiccups in the process, my mom came over and helped me install the board and batten accents and the shelf. Guys- we are by no means professionals & this took us at LEAST double the time it should have. We used no power tools (because we don’t own any) and nailed each board up with a hammer + nails, as well as liquid nails for added strength. Trust me, you don’t want to know how we made holes for the outlets without a jig saw…. you know that scene in Frozen when they’re breaking off chunks of ice with pick axes?? I’ll just leave you with that imagery & your imagination…

We ended up getting it all attached to the wall, but not painted, before my husband got home that weekend! But just LOOK at the difference even the unfinished wall made. He & I spent the following weekend painting it with Sherwin Williams Sackcloth we had left over from our kitchen updates, and I love love love the way it turned out!