As promised in yesterday’s post about our cardboard kitchen cabinets, today is a totally non-related-to-the-kitchen post. For this post, we’re jumping all the way from one end of our house to the other–our bedroom!

Yup, we bought a headboard this week. It was totally unexpected and totally awesome.

To back up and tell the whole story, I’ve been scanning Craigslist several times a week for items for the kitchen we could score secondhand. So far, I haven’t had much luck, but I happened to see that someone was selling several new-in-box Target headboards…in fact, the were selling the exact Target headboard I’d admired several months ago when we bought our new bedding.

And it was half the price of retail.

So, we set up the meeting, inspected the insides of the package when we got there (the box was damaged) and sweetly offered a lower price, just in case. She met us somewhere in the middle of the two numbers and we scored a new-in-box headboard for only $140!

Now, originally, we had wanted to make the headboard ourselves because Wyatt has plans to make the bed himself and it just made since to do the whole project at once. However, since we have yet to even remotely plan or start the bed project, I don’t feel bad about going ahead to get a nice new headboard. Plus, it’s pretty unlikely we could make a headboard for this price. I’m estimating it would take us about $200+ in supplies (wood, padding, fabric, etc.) to create a similar design…not to mention our labor and the fact that we already have a ton of other projects on our to-do list.

We are still planning to make the new bed frame ourselves, when the time comes. But it will be easy enough to use this headboard with it. Or we could always sell this and make our own if we decide we just HAVE to DIY the entire thing. (I’m fairly certain that won’t happen.)

We used the trailer to haul it home. (Handy we had it because otherwise, this would not have fit in Harvey or Rhonda!)

Then, Wyatt got to work putting it together. He worked at a furniture store all through college so he has a lot of experience in that type of thing. I used the time to put away all 7 loads of clean laundry I had done that day, which is why there is such a mess all over the bed.

He did discover a few very minor little imperfections (see the crooked brace board on the left side in the below photo?) as he was putting it together, but nothing worth fussing about, and a few hours later (after a break to eat dinner) we had a new headboard, all ready to be installed as soon as I got all the clothes hung up…

Wyatt was worried it might not fit the bed frame we currently had, but it went on perfectly in only a few minutes. (How’s that for some good DIY karma…maybe the universe is paying us back for our recent troubles?)

I am pretty enamored with it. We originally wanted a darker gray color for the headboard, but after going with the charcoal-colored bedding, I think this lighter greige (beige+gray) color is perfect.

Plus, it almost perfectly matched the little swatch we had semi-selected last year when we first started talking about this project. Crazy huh?

Anyway, here’s how it looks in the room now:

You’ll notice we had to move the mirror over our bed. We knew that would happen and I was actually looking forward to having it over my dresser. Hubs got to work and moved that for me while I finished putting away the laundry. I think it looks great over there–it’s the perfect size.

(And yes, I just saw those dusty fingerprints. Ugh. Just when I thought I had dusted the whole room…time to go get my rag again.)

I do love that mirror, but we’ll find something else to go over the bed now.

In the meantime, we should paint over the holes left from the mirror anchors…but they aren’t too noticeable, so they might get ignored for awhile.

And even though the room is still not finished (we want to gradually update this room to feel more luxurious and “hotel” like to make it our little retreat), the headboard really makes the room feel more grown up!

I have to admit I feel fancy crawling into bed each night, and it’s so pretty, I’ve been motivated to make the bed every day we’ve had it so far!

I just think it’s lovely. Fancy but not too feminine.Now to find some wall art and Hubs a new nightstand…among other things.

(Here’s the Target link if you want to buy one for yourself. Of course, you’d be buying it full price from Target unless you live in the KC area. I think the seller had a few others (other colors) left if you were local and wanted one yourself at this discounted price.)

So, there’s our little break from the kitchen project. I think it turned out to be a great little unexpected update!

Sometimes the unplanned projects are some of the fastest upgrades. Ever have a similar experience? I know I have a friend who keeps unexpectedly collecting old musical instruments–such fun–so we aren’t the only ones who sometimes make impulse buys for the house…