This antique headboard turned bench DIY was a great way to repurpose a broken bed frame that still had a lot of potential.
I saw this headboard and footboard at my local Restore. One of the legs on the footboard was worn and put back together with a metal piece (It is on the back side). Because of that, I knew people wouldn’t buy it as a bed but I knew Matt and I could repurpose it into a bench that someone would buy.
Since I was pretty confident no one would buy it as it was for a bench, I took my chances and waited for the three weeks until the bed would be 75% off.
I was right! No one wanted it as it was.
I was able to snag it at 75% off and bring it home to breathe new life into it.
The headboard was beautiful and had so much detail. I knew it would make a beautiful backdrop to a bench.
You can see my full tutorial on how we do these “bed-t0-bench” projects HERE. I won’t go into every detail here as I did in that post, but I will walk through the general steps.
Steps to make the bed into a bench.
The first thing we did was cut the footboard in half to create the sides of the bench.
Then, we cut down the legs on both the headboard and footboard to get the height we wanted.
After that, it was time to build the platform that the actual bench would sit on. Matt used scrap boards in the garage for that.
He made a rectangle with four pieces of scrap 2x4s we had in the garage. Then, he added four “crossbars” in the middle of the rectangle with more 2×4’s. This ensured the base was strong and able to support any weight put on the bench.
Once that base was made, we attached it to the headboard and then attached the cut footboard sides to the ends of the base.
When that was all done, we used some more scrap wood from the garage and added a slatted seat to the bench.
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That was it! The bench was created.
Now, it was time for all the prep work before paint.
I sanded the entire piece. Then, I gave it a good cleaning and made sure to get rid of any sanding dust.
Then, it was time to paint. I did not prime this one. It didn’t need it.
I chose one of my favorite paint colors from Dixie Belle Paint, “Drop Cloth”.
Bed to benches are the perfect upcycled project.
The paint brought out all the details and unified the antique headboard with the scrap boards we used for the seat.
After I put two coats of paint on the bench, it was a little too stark for me. I wanted to distress it just slightly to add a little more character.
I took a 120 grit sandpaper just over the edges of the bench. It distressed just the right amount and gave this bench a little more charm.
I love benches made out of other things. This headboard and footboard combo were the perfect candidates for a bench. The fact that the footboard was broken made it an inexpensive set to pick up. Once we cut down the legs, the broken part was taken care of and it is now a bench that can be used for years to come.
Do you like repurposed projects like this antique headboard to bench as much as I do?
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