I mentioned in passing a few months ago that a family from our church gave me a French daybed for free. It was in their basement playroom and I spotted it when we were over at their house one day. I have a habit (and I’m not sure if it’s good or bad) of commenting on the decor and furniture in people’s homes. So, in classic Marian fashion, I just spewed out, “This is a really, really great piece.”
A few weeks later, my friend called with a “proposition for me”, as she put it. She gives me the French daybed for free and I get a free French daybed. That’s the kind of trade I cannot refuse. It’s been sitting in my family room since then, waiting for a makeover, and the lure became too strong to resist this weekend.
This is sort of how it looked when I got it. It had different pillows on it and fewer holes in the caning, but you get the general idea. It is wood, but it was painted in a faux graining, so I really wanted to repaint it.
And here is how it looks now…
The first thing I had to tackle was the holes in the caning. I was planning to recane the piece, but after my kids kicked additional holes in it and picked at them until they were ridiculously large, I decided that would be a source of frustration for me.
Although I really, really wanted to have a cane back, I decided to upholster it instead. I removed the old cane by cutting it with an Xacto knife.
Once the cane was removed, I painted the frame in Annie Sloan’s Old White. The “bed” part of the daybed was removable, so it made the painting step very simple. I decided to upholster it in ultra durable antique grain sacks, so I cut them and patched them together to fit in a way that looked nice. I then stapled the fabric to the underside of the frame.
I’m still working out the pillows, but I will definitely be using some of my new Ralph Lauren green pillows that two wonderful readers found and shipped to me.
More to come this week on my kitchen sources, paint colors, and the answer to the question that has been burning in the minds of many readers…
“Did you paint the inside of your cabinets and cabinet doors?”
64 Responses
Awesome Marian !! I really love the vintage feedsacks !!
Awesome! Do you ever sit down? I mean really Marian come clean ……are you running a sweat shop? Just kidding I think you're amazing. I love the daybed. Stop by for a blog visit I just completed a CP project. Looking forward to linking it here on Friday.
What a great piece! Also as I have said before, I love the blue and green together.
Another amazing transformation by you! Love what you did the daybed.
Absolutely beautiful. You are SO ultra talented. I would love to upholster some of my furnishings but I am too intimidated to do so. Same with slip covers…so scary! Thanks for being out there for all of us!! 🙂
Best to you~
Karen
What?!? I need to find me some new friends with fantastic furniture…..
What a lucky find. That is too bad about the caning but you're right, the caning is so delicate. Your after looks great.
Oh my soul! I just fell off my chair. That daybed is SO gorgeous it hurts!!! Super fab, Marian. 🙂
LOVE that daybed and the fabric is fabulous!! Martina
I love it!! I have been looking for grain sack or cofee sacks everywhere but they are Soooo expensive. I love the ones you use!!
Very beautiful makeover! Just divine.
I heart Miss Mustard Seed.
The bed looks beautiful !!! I love it. And free? How nice. Do you get all of your grain sacks at flea markets? I have never been able to find any at my local flea market 🙁
Love it.. Looks great without the cane…Amzing.. The colors look great too.
Karryann
LOVE IT!! Sooo pretty, looks nice with the upholstery instead of the caning, and the Old White looks amazing!! What a great piece!!
Marian every time I visit I am absolutely amazed!! Hey that was a pretty good trade I'd say, and you made it really beautiful!
xoxo
Karena
Art by Karena
I have a New, very fashionable Giveaway from the Shabby Apple on my site! Come and enter!
Very, very beautiful. What a great deal! I love the grain sacks with the green pillows. That green RL pillow might just make me a green person instead of blue. Gorgeous!
Where can I find some of these friends that giveaway free furniture? This looks fabulous – as usual!
Amazingly beautiful.
That's another wonderful makeover. I love your day bed.
The daybed turned out fantastic. I love the grain sacks on it.
I was curious about your question but I see now answers 🙁 I will definitely be painting the backs of my doors when I get around to my kitchen but not sure on the insides.
Marian I love it..Wished I lived closer to you..Would love to see your work in person and then buy it all..LOL..The pictures are awesome..
Janet
Really darling! Very impressive!
Truly beautiful. You did a marvelous job in making it functional and yet fabulous
Helen
This is totally gorgeous and inspiring! Thanks for sharing! I totally love the grainsacks!!
~JC
OMG~ You where reading my mind !!
I know you showed us how to brush those cabinets.
I just assumed you used your spray booth for the rest of them.
I don't have the energy to do the inside of my doors right now ..
All that clean, sand, clean, prime,wait, sand, clean, prime,wait, sand, clean, paint, wait, fix mistakes,wait, paint,wait,rehang,measure for knobs,drill holes,attach knobs,all the while yelling at the kids to not touch for at least a month.(These are my actual steps)
Maybe ALCP for the inside 🙂 Oh,and color !
I'm in awe of your talent – beautiful!
So talented, lovely transformation
You have fun, generous friends. 🙂 It looks great. Before it looked all grandma-y. It's beautiful now.
Dixie
This is gorgeous! I love how you incorporate the grain sacks. You always inspire me 🙂
I have been looking for a daybed for so long that isn't one of the metal jobbies and this one is awesome. What a terrific eye you have for re-creating. I love it and aspire to be more productive in my creations, like you are.
I can't stand painting the inside of cabinets, cupboards, armoires etc….but when I do, it just makes them irresistibly yummy. So I get over my aggravation with doing it and paint away.
Yay!! I've been lurking and lurking, waiting for you to post this project Marian! 🙂 I even tried doing some detective work in your Luckett photos to see if it was a piece you had sold! LOL! And it is just as gorgeous as all your pieces are! The french twin caned bed I have has faded jade green paint on it and I think it will look fabulous peeking through some of Annie Sloan's Old White chalk paint! I'm sooo excited now to start my project! 🙂 THANK YOU for blogging your projects Marian!! (And enjoy Orlando!)
So will you post how you ended up covering the back? What did you put in for support? Looks great! I need a few friends like that.
Looks great.How about making neck rolls out of the sacks and tirming the whole piece with a blue trim or white. I think the large white pillows maybe distracting from the daybed. Just a thought.Have a margarita at The Cheesecake Factory at the Mall of Milennia!! How nice of you to still post while on vacation.You probably knew we in blog land would go thru BIG withdrawls not seeing your posts.Thank you Marian,truely,you are a real inspiration.
Mary
RENONFL@YAHOO.COM
Beautiful! Would love to know how you upholstered the back after removing the cane.
That turned out gorgeous of course! Love it!
Norma Oliver
That is the sweetest day bed ever! You inspire MMS 🙂
Very cool piece! I've never seen one like it! …I didn't paint inside of my cabinets. Except, for the open cabinetry and I painted the inside of them an airy shade of blue.
WOW!!!! LOVE it!! Thats exactly what im looking for in my guest bedroom! Love the back upholstered too!! What a blessing to have such great friends.
Unbelievable! I absolutely love your transformation of this dowdy old daybed. Great idea to upholster the back too. I'm amazed! ~Delores
I bet the answer to that last question is.. NO ( in my case ) and YES in your case, hahaha!!
Good bones, great finish. Love those antique grain sacks and Chalk Paint.
– Joy
WOW WOW WOW! What a gorgeous bed!!! LOVE what you've done so far!
😀
It is lovely! I would be terrified to cut antique grain sacks, but you are the brave one. Seriously, it takes me a week to paint one window frame, and my four children are grown. How does Miss Mustard Seed do all of this???
Lucky you, what a great trade! The only thing I can say is: It's amazingly beautiful!
Oh I love it! You're finding all sorts of neat stuff to make my house pretty lol. What are the big pillows called & about how big are they? I went to a 1930s farmhouse sale & scored these really big pillow sham things but I have no idea of what to fill them with but I want to use them as couch cushions. Also scored a 50-60 yr old flatware set made during WWII at a factory that made utensils for Hitler. Finally headed to France this weekend & will keep my eyes open for you. Have fun in the sunshine
What a lovely site! I just discovered today! I just moved from Virginia to North Carolina. I had visited Luckett's often so maybe I saw some of your amazing pieces! Thank you for the inspirtation and beauty! I plan on coming back to visit often-
Happy decorating & living-
Megan
http://cottagebluedesigns.blogspot.com/
Love it! Gorgeous and fun. I spotted a cane back "french" chair with a horrible green and gold stripe terry cloth stripe fabric and thought of you of course! I know I could redo the seat. It's $35. I'm thinking about it…
I love it! I always think of Emeril Lagasse when I go from the before to the after pics…I just wanna yell; "BAM" 🙂 Corny I know!
You did an awesome job, looks like a great Sunday afternoon napping place.
Another gorgeous before & after – and posting while on vacation? Honestly, do you *ever* sleep???
Amazing – you really are an inspiration for this ol' lady here, lol.
BTW – I asked you on FB about sanding down (what I *thought* was) a veneer-top table. Upon closer inspection I saw that it's def not veneer – and def a hard wood, maybe oak. But I truly felt that painting the top to match the antiquing/distressing I'm doing on the legs….
After starting multiple layers of paint, I saw that, once again, Miss MS was right. Got me some Citristrip (as you suggested for the veneer I thought it was), and am just about finished destroying my work, lol. Ah… lesson learned!! But I think it'll be gorgeous in the end – solid oak or maple butcher-block top (the aged yellow coating made me think it was a cheap veneer, lol) with distressed legs.
When I get tired, I just keep plugging away, thinking, "What would my Miss Mustard Seed do right now…"
If I accomplish a fraction of that, I'll be happy, lol!!
Now – back to this latest project – I think you have kind, generous friends, who also recognize THEIR kind & generous friend!
(I'd also like to see it w/out the big pillows! I think they're hiding too much of her beauty – and your work – IMO).
This is awesome!! And are you going to use it as a seating option in your home?? I am in desperate need of add'l seating in my LR but I don't want a matchy matchy loveseat/sofa combo! I think a daybed option might be swell but is that "acceptable" or mostly silly to do that?! Your honest opinion welcomed!! =)
A beautiful job and a joy to follow your blog and also on FB. You are very talented!
Linda
http://Lindaburt.Willowhouse.com
Hello Marian,
Well..well…look at you and your bad self ;->
Once again you pulled off another fabulous makeover. I really love the grain sack treatment. Is their anything we don't like about Annie Sloan's paint??
I'm guessing you did not paint the inside of your cabinets. I know I didn't in the last two kitchens I repainted. No one even notices that they are not painted. I think your mind and eye (for some reason) does not even register the lack of paint inside. I did paint the backside of the doors.
I did a little test with a friend once. I asked her to get something out of my cabinet and after she had gotten the item, I asked her if the inside of my cabinet was painted….she could not remember what the inside even looked like. That was enough reason for me not to paint i side.
Well done on the daybed.
Janet xox
http://theemptynest-janet.blogspot.com/
Beautiful! You find all the good stuff! 🙂 Where do you find replacement caning for a piece? Could you maybe do one of your great tutorials some day on replacing caning? I love the look, but like with your piece, they older pieces are so often damaged. Thanks for posting!
Jennifer
How pretty! i love free stuff!!
Your daybed looks so comfy. I love it! How do you keep all that whitish fabric clean with kids. Are there certain rooms they're not allowed in?
Well, I'd have to say that was a great proposition, and if you ever come across another one that you feel you NEED to pass on, give me a call. 😉 Not that I would get it recovered AND painted this nice in a timely fashion, but I can pretend.
What a beautiful transformation, Marian! I love the fact that you used grain sacks!! You certainly breathed new life into that awesome piece! 🙂
xoxo laurie
what!?!?!? your kids ruing some of the caning on the back? NO! im SO shocked by this! (can you hear the sarcasm in my typing?)
but really- another GORGEOUS Mustard Seed Piece!
this turned out just plain awesome. i would love to know how you did the back because i have like the stepsister piece sitting in my living room…i repainted it with chalk paint and was working on slipcovering the bottom when my son kicked a GIANT hole in the back…and as much as i love love the caning, i know it is just not happening!! seeing yours gives me hope though, because i see how it could still look amazing!
Beautiful, great job, as always. Love your style.
Love, love, love. Only you could get someone to give you a French daybed. I'm jealous!
Ditto Ras Fam's question for me. How did you finish out the back?
There were so many wonderful projects. I am always inspired by all the fabulous creativity in your blog…
how come there are no photos of the daybed?