The Platform Bed My Hubby and I Built.

Our daughter and husband just bought a new home. My husband Bob and I decided to build them a platform bed as a house warming gift. They love the Industrial rustic Modern decor that is so popular. So I decided that the bed should look like rusty galvanized metal. I woke up in the middle of the night with my gears turning and figured out how I would do it. Here is how I went about it.

I started with the base which is four 2x8's cut to size for a king size mattress. You want it to be 3" less than the size of the mattress on all sides.

Spray paint the boards with Rustoleum pewter hammered spray paint. Let dry. Mix about two tablespoons white acrylic art paint with water, enough to create a watery milky liquid. Dab watery white liquid onto boards. Keep dabing and turning the rag as you go.

Be sure you dab until the paint is well distributed and creates a marbleized look.

Now after that has dried, mix about a tablespoon each of brown, yellow and red acrylic art paint. Mix well and then add enough water to create a liquid that is not quite as watery as the white paint. Dab that on with another cloth, a piece of an old terry cloth towel works well.

When dried, dab on another coat of the white liquid to block out some of the rust. Makes it look more natural.

We built a frame to attach the boards for the headboard. We built it out of 2x4's We made it an inch smaller all around than the intended finished size of the headboard. We drilled holes into the ends of each board and used the screw in type bolts that are 2 inches long. I gave them a rusty look with the paint I had mixed. We slipped the bolts through the holes and then screwed them into the frame. We did all of the prep work at home in our garage and then took it to my daughters new house and assembled it in the bedroom. My son-in-law helped us put the base of the bed together.

So there you have it, the housewarming gift complete.

Original article and pictures take http://www.hometalk.com/12550971/the-platform-bed-my-hubby-and-i-built site