Special Twin Headboards

 Our first child was born in 1984. When we bought her crib back then, we picked a style and color that we thought we could use for all our future babies. A gender neutral crib that worked for all, and it did. This crib is now about 37 years old and I have kept it all these years. Now, my intent at the beginning was to keep it for my grandkids, but safety standards as they are, this crib was way too old and just not safe anymore.  

We built a new home last year and the crib moved with us. The crib would now be re-purposed in our new home as headboards for our guestroom. Instead of the old Queen bed from past homes, I decided to put two twin beds in the guestroom since our grandkids would be using them the most.

The end of our old crib.

I bought a can of Chateau Grey (a sage color) of Annie Sloan chalk paint at a local antique store. This paint is so easy to use, covers without primer and it does not peel. I used the end pieces, head and foot panels of the baby bed, and took all the hardware off before painting. I purchased a large round chalk paint brush from Amazon and it was absolutely the best brush for the job. I painted two coats, and when it was dry the next day, I put Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Wax on the painted headboards. This wax really smells awful and I suggest you do it outside if possible.  When it drys, it protects and leaves the paint with a satin finish.

The crib end painted.

The next step was trying to find the best way to mount the headboards to the wall. We bought some heavy duty metal hangers and put them on the top of both sides of the headboards. We put some heavy anchors and  screws in the wall and hung the headboards onto the screws. 

The heavy hanger I used.

To decorate the headboards I used the pillow shams that came with the quilts I purchased for the beds. I put a pillow in the sham and using sage ribbon that was leftover from my daughters wedding 9 years ago, I attached the ribbon to the shams top corners and tied them to the headboard.

Pillow hung with wedding ribbon.

Now we have two beautiful headboards that are a reminder of our kids as babies, our Daughter's wedding and they can be passed down as a family heirloom.

The finished product