Just call me Martha Stewart, ya'll....

So that lovely little bit of brass in yesterday's post-- I didn't want to scare anybody more than my porch might already have, so I just showed you a little glimpse.  Here's the real deal, in all it's glory.

This is the Craigslist sellers picture-- I want you to especially note the curlycues in the corners.  Bee-you-tee-ful, I tell you.  It was the childhood bed of the young man who sold it to me-- and p.s., I'd forgotten what college bachelor pads look like.  He was really sweet to help me load this into my van-- I think I scared him when I told him it was going to fit.  He kept measuring the van and shaking his head.  Ha.  Little does he know what a woman on a mission can accomplish.

Those curlycues were the first thing to go when it got home.  He wasn't lying when he listed it as a "BIG brass bed."  This sucker is tall-- probably 5 1/2 feet?  I haven't measured it, but it's as tall as me, if not taller. 

Still pretty not-beautiful, no?  I paid $75 for it-- I kinda think that was high, but what do I know.  I'm under strict orders from the Hubs to list some of the junk around here on Craigslist asap to pay for it/make room to walk (it's really not THAT bad.  But it might be if I don't get to listing pretty quick.)

But, oh, how I love this bed.  And it's on sale, too.  Only $1300.  Totally in budget.  If you subtract that last zero at the end.

And I just cannot stop thinking about this room. 

I don't know what I love so much about it, since it doesn't really scream "me."  All that pine, the white wicker-- not exactly my taste.  But I love it, and I want to use the feel of it as a jumping off point for our guest room.  John Harper is currently residing in there, but we plan to move him into Grady's room over the summer, and I want to make a relaxing, enveloping space for our visitors.  (Does anybody have any advice on room sharing for a 3 and 1 year old?  It's either that our JH sleeps in the playroom in a pack and play every time we have guests or I give up the studio.  I'll let you decide which of these is the first thing that will happen.)

And here's the direction El Uglito is going....

Metalic spray paint can go really, really wrong really, really fast.  But I think I'm pretty happy with the finish on this-- more of the Valspar High-Gloss Laquer, this time in a nickled silver finish.  It's a pretty good match to real metal.  There are a lot of black undertones to it (be sure to shake the can after every few sprays or you get black blotches).  The bed got a coat of white primer first, and so far this is two very light coats of the silver.  I'm going to test a patch of wipe-on Poly to see if that helps with the finish I'm going for.  But it's gotten cold, wet and windy here (bye-bye, Spring.  Nice visiting with you) and my paint studio/front porch might be out of comission.  Oh, woe betide my poor, poor neighbors.  Their eyeballs might start bleeding soon.

More to come soon (I hope!)