French Country Upholstered Headboard using Annie Sloan Chalk paints and Waverley Fabric

On Monday I decided I would finally paint and re-cover my king size 60's French Provincial headboard. I used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, waxes and gold wax for the headboard to give it a distressed French finish. And I used Waverley Fabric - yellow and blue toile - for the padded portions of the headboard. I found a fabulous deal on more than 15 yards of Waverley La Petite Ferme toile fabric for $55 at a consignment shop.

When I first saw the headboard it had tufted white brocade inserts which I hated because it gave it a sort of Hollywood-glam look, but I saw that the headboard had potential and I kind of had an idea as to how I wanted it to look.

Enter Charles Faudree

Another great purchase I made last Christmas was for five amazing Charles Faudree French Country decorating books:

In Canada, each book sells for more than $45. I bought all five for $14 each on eBay! I use them for reference and found the beautiful headboard on page 48 of Charles Faudree Interiors (see below) which is where I got the inspiration for my headboard design.

I photographed as I went along - so here are some pictures of the painting and re-covering project. Hope you enjoy looking at them. It is so easy to do and the whole project took less than 12 hours.

Painting the headboard

Here's a photo of the original headboard. It had a dull walnut finish.

After the first coat of Annie Sloan Old White Chalk paint, it wasn't looking too good.

 

After three coats of paint and the lavender Martha Stewart paint applied.
Please excuse the unmade bed - when I'm on a roll, nothing else around the house gets done!

 



Here's some photos of the finished headboard, after paint, gold leaf and wax have been applied.

Gold wax has been rubbed on.

And some pictures of the final headboard - with the new padded inserts added. To make the inserts, I just glued the Waverley La Petite Ferme fabric onto the old padded inserts and applied piping.

Yet another shot:

And the final - this time the bed is made (sort of):

So that's the end of this project. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. It matches the lined curtains that I made last week. Apologies for my bad photos .

I'm still working on our bedroom. I have blinds to make, throw pillows and a bench yet to cover. I'll start that today and post more pictures.

As usual, your comments are appreciated.