The thing about flea markets that excites us so much is that you never know what you're going to find! This was certainly true at the Lucketts Spring Market, so all we can do is keep our eyes peeled, as our mother would say. Anna knew that she wanted to create a new headboard for her bedroom out of old shutters, so we all kept our eyes peeled for great pieces at even better prices!
We ended up finding Anna's shutters, which we purchased for $12 each, and gleefully took them home (as well as a bunch of other great stuff, which will undoubtedly be the topics of future posts!). The paint on the shutters had great wear, and we knew that the first order of business was to give them a good cleaning. We simply used warm water, a drop or two of dish soap, sponges and old toothbrushes, and good ol' fashioned elbow grease to clean the shutters off!
The shutters after a good scrubbing!
After cleaning the shutters, we let them hang out for about a week as we thought about how best to attach them together to create the headboard. Our prayers were answered the following weekend when our mother's sister Patty, and our thrifty cousins, came to visit us from New York! Our cousin John is a spitting image of our grandfather, the King of the Junkyard, in that he LOVES finding junked furniture and finding new uses for them! He's also super handy, and helped us to attach the shutters together using three 1" h x 2" w x 8' l furring strips, which we purchased beforehand from Home Depot for only $1.32 each!
We essentially created a brace for the shutters, attaching them length-wise at the top and middle sections, and then created four supports out of the remaining pieces of wood. The whole process took less than an hour!
After attaching the shutters together with furring strips.
The headboard is now assembled, although upside down!
After we were done attaching the shutters together to create the headboard, all that was left was anchoring the piece to Anna's queen-sized metal bed frame, which we did using bolts.
The finished product, Anna's new headboard!
This entire project was very easy, and the materials were super cheap. We were so excited to be able to work together to create a piece that Anna will have for years to come. And we can't wait to head back to the Lucketts Spring Market next year! What are some of the best things that you've found while perusing the local flea market? Were you able to create something new out of your treasures? Comment below!
