Vintage Pineapple Finial Bed Painted Two Tone Pink

Another Paint Project That Went Sideways

As happens a lot this project took many twists and turns. But it turned out okay. The vintage twin bed has those pineapple finials I love so much. They look great painted and distressed. But guess what…..I didn’t distress the paint. I did something different.

I gave the bed a two tone paint finish in shades of pink but that wasn’t the original plan.

The original plan was light pink and lightly distressed paint.

I bought the bed at my favorite junk shop. The price was $25 and that included the original wood rails.

Since the finish was all scraped up and uneven I decided to give the bed a coat of gray primer so I could start with a nice solid color foundation.

I laid the headboard and footboard out on a drop cloth and handy dandy paint pyramids (to protect the paint on the backside).

I found a gallon of oops paint in light pink on my paint shelf. Perfect….or so I thought.

The pink was very very pale. In the photo above the headboard on the right is painted with the pale pink color. Almost looks white doesn’t it?

I found a gallon of dark pink paint and mixed the two paints together to make a darker pink which you see on the footboard on the left in the photo. Once the paint dried it was the color of Pepto Bismol. Not pretty.

I mixed up more paint adding red to the pink to make a darker pink color with a dusky rose look.

I grabbed a clean sponge, wet it down, and dipped the sponge in the paint on the paper plate. You just never know what I’ll use to paint with….and neither do I.

I wiped the paint on the bed in small sections. (paint with the grain not in circles like I did in the photo above)

Then I wiped the paint off with a damp rag.

I did the same thing with the spindles. Sponging on the paint then taking some off with a damp rag.

The photo above shows the footboard with the sponged on paint and the headboard with just the Pepto Bismol color paint. What a difference.

Now this is where I try to explain what I did without photos. I put the rose color on the footboard first. Then moved on to the headboard.

When I finished the headboard and compared it with the footboard there was a difference. The headboard was darker than the footboard. The spindles on the footboard were really light and I liked the look. So….

I went back over the headboard with more paint to darken it like the footboard. Next I wiped paint off of the headboard spindles so they would be really light like the spindles on the footboard. I purposely made the solid wood panels on the pieces darker than the spindles.

Now that you are thoroughly confused!! See the finished look. The photos explain the difference in colors better than I can. I love those pretty spindles and the pineapple finials.

I think the two tone paint finish and the shading on the solid panels make a nice contrast. The bed definitely isn’t flat Pepto Bismol color anymore.

Perfect colors for a little girls room. Now that I’ve finished the bed and know the process I can go and paint the wood rails. See how I made my DIY Eucalyptus Wreath here.

Let me know if you like the look. As I’ve talked about before if you paint something and don’t like it then try something different. Either repaint the piece, white wash it, color wash it, distress it, age it, or do something totally new….and you.

Pineapple Finial Bed Painted Pink

If you have time leave a note. I would love to hear from you. Have a great week and weekend, Kathy

Kathy Owen

Website

Author: Kathy Owen
Kathy Owen is the founder of the home decor blog Petticoat Junktion where she shares tutorials on painting furniture and upcycling thrifty finds into unique home décor. Her DIY projects have been featured on the Home Depot Blog, Plaid Crafts, Behr Designer Series, and in numerous magazines. Kathy’s newest website is HappyHomeDIY.com