Bedroom makeover and how to build a four poster bed for 40€

 When we moved in our bedroom was only just that - a standard bedroom with quite boring wallpaper. The picture below is from the prospect, and all furniture belongs to the previous owners. 

I quickly painted the walls white and some months later we whitewashed the ceiling. This is what is has looked like for the last two years (with some minor changes every now and then).

I really did like it as it was, but lately the house has felt a little bit too white (it might have something to do with the fact that everything outside has been covered in snow for the last three months. Even if I love white there is a limit on how much of it I can take.). I wanted to make the bedroom more cozy.

This is what it looked like when I was done. Not bad, huh?

I originally planned to paint the wall dark grey because I thought I had several containers with that shade, but upon opening them I found out that they were all light grey. Indeed they were exactly the same shade as the hallway, even though that one is called grey and these ones were dark grey. Oh well... 

Off to the paint store I went and looked at the samples. Unlike some more profesional DIY-ers I hardly ever have the patience of bringin home paint swatches and trying differend shades. I'm definitely more for panting first and thinking later.

I chose between dark grey, dark navy and brown and in the end I decided on brown. I thought that would make the room more cozy, yet elegant.

Halway through it looked like this. It felt strange to use such a dark color because I usually only paint white or other light colors.

I was a bit nervous about what Darling would say when he got home, but after the first shock he like it. This is what it looked like then when I had also changed the fauteuil for a dark one and moved the (terrible) cow skin from the living room.

However, I was not done!

I have been dreaming of a four poster bed since forever, and I am really in love with the modern one that are basically just four posters, no drapes, nothing. I have been looking for one, but as our bed is 180cm, it is almost impossible to find a moderately priced one. IKEA has a nice one, but that one is only 140, which is not enough for two people and a couple of cats.

The next day I continued my make over with a trip to the lumber store. It always make me a bit nervous because the guys there are not really used to (fairly) young women buying lumber on their own. I also could not fit the original pieces into my car so I had to cut everything right there, but maybe that was just as well because that meant I did not have to do it at home.

This is my bed-to-be, for less than 40€.

I began putting the pieces together like this. Basically, what I had was four posters of 2,4 m (I simply decided that was good height), 4 pieces that were the length of the bed (one up on top and one down to keep it steady) and 4 pieces that were the width of the bed (same thing - two on top, two bottom). I later realized that the "bottom ones" were to high on this picture, because it meant we would sit on them when we got into bed and they could not take that pressure, so I moved them further down.

The mattresser are still standing on their own legs, the frame is simply built around them and does not support anything.

Next part was the beadframe. I chosed unpolished planks that are usually used outside the houses (but without any chemicals - of course), cut them the same width as the bed and nailed four of them together using these little metal brackets.

Then I put it up and fastened it with long screws (it will be agains the wall so it does not need that much support) and began painting the whole thing.

The finished result looked like this.

In daylight.

I am not a photographer, so the colors arent the best, but I am quite satisfied. The whole project took me maybe 1,5 days and cost less than 50€. That means I will not have to feel bad about it if I throw it out in a year, but before that I hope to add some curtains to the frames and turn it into something more romantic for the summer. Stay tuned for that.