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DIY Cane Headboard Makeover

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It’s another Jolie paint project day! In today’s furniture flip, I’m taking my friend’s old sleigh bed and giving it a modern makeover. The inspiration for this bed is those beautiful, neutral beds from Ballard Design, Pottery Barn, or Restoration Hardware beds that have that cane feature. So today, we are doing a designer dupe can headboard for my friend.

These beds are gorgeous, but they come with a high price tag of $1,500-$2,000. I was able to recreate the look for under $100…so I can’t wait to show you how it turned out!

Materials for DIY Cane Headboard

Jolie Matte Paint Farmhouse Beige

Jolie Signature Brush Large

Jolie Artist Brushes

Jolie Finishing Wax Clear

Jolie Regular Wax Brush

Jolie Pointed Wax Brush

Jolie Sanding pads

Decorative Cane Webbing

Shop towels

Wiping Rags

Painter's Pyramids

3M Household respirator w/ particle filters for sanding

Beddy's Luxe Line Cream of the Crop ❤️ Code: DISTRESSED for 15% off ❤️ 

Carhartt Overalls



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Designer Dupe DIY Cane Headboard Step by Step

Cleaned

First order of business, it’s time to clean the piece. I used some grease-cutting Dawn soap and was happy to find that there was no stain residue on the shop towel. This means that I won’t have any bleedthrough so no need for primer or stain block. 

Scuff Sand

This was a pretty shiny piece, so I did take a Jolie sanding pad to scuff sand the piece. I just wanted to make sure my paint had something to stick to. If you do scuff sand, just make sure to wipe back the dust before painting.

Mixed Jolie Paint

I pulled out my Jolie color mixing guide to create a custom color for this piece. I ended up picking a beige that was one part “Farmhouse” and four parts “Pure White.”

First Coat of Jolie Paint

For the first coat of paint, I used my large signature brush, which is a natural bristle brush. I did the classic style with my brush strokes meaning you are painting in every direction. This gave me just a little bit of texture, nothing crazy, nothing rustic, but it lent itself really well to all those little nicks and dings that this piece had. 

This is the same painting style that I used on a little entryway table that I did with Jolie paint recently. It’s also a style that I used on my bed back when the first time I ever tried this paint out. 

2nd Coat

After this first coat, the color is looking really good on camera, but in person it looked too white which is not what I was wanting. I wanted a wood-toned color.

So on my second coat, after that first one dried, I am doing Farmhouse beige straight… no mixing it with Pure White. 

I also added a little bit of water because I like my second coat to flow a little bit more, and I painted it on in the same style, in every direction with that classic finish. 

I definitely am liking this color better than the original color. So that was a good choice. 

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Cane for DIY Cane Headboard

Designer Cane

I’ve used cane before in my projects, and the one I’ve used is “real” cane…the kind suitable for furniture and chairs (strong enough to sit on). In this case, I opted for this “designer cane.” It’s faux cane that’s thinner, more flexible, and meant to be used decoratively. Plus, it’s cheaper!

Cut Cane

So I definitely made some stuff up as I went along.  I like to lay things out and cut them to size as opposed to measuring.  I just always feel like my measuring gets off and the way the cane is lined up, you can make marks and keep your lines really straight because of the way that it's woven together. 

Wash for Cane

After I got the cane cut, I decided I wanted to whitewash them because they’re actually very yellow. So I grabbed some of my Jolie Paint in Gesso White and made a wash out of it. 

So I did a 1:1 ratio with paint and water and brushed it on the cane wiping back all of the excess with a lint free cloth. 

This is where I continued to change my mind. After I got the first whitewashed cane piece up on the headboard, I didn’t like the contrast. So I decided I wanted to go more monochromatic.

So I ended up making a wash with the same Farmhouse Beige that the rest of the frame is painted in. I did the same wash technique…and it turned out just like I wanted it.

So now I’m finally ready to attach the cane!

Stapled

If you use this decorative cane, I did find that it was easier to attach when it was still a little wet with paint. You don't have to soak like regular cane, but having it wet helped me be able to pull it and get those wrinkles out. 

I'm using a Pneumatic staple gun because we have one. You definitely don't have to have one of those. You can just use a regular staple gun or you can use an electric one, but this one's super powerful, so I opted for it.

Another tip I have is to enlist some help if you have it. I had my husband pull the can taut as I stapled it.

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Painted Staples

Originally, I bought some woodline that I wanted to cover the staples up with, but I couldn’t get the staples close enough to the border for that to work. 

So plan B was to paint them. I grabbed some of my artist brushes and used the Farmhouse Beige to paint over the top of the staples to camouflage them.

And like I said, the cane can shift around a little bit while you're stapling it on, so I had my wash and touched up any little areas that were showing with that original color of the cane. 

Seal with Wax

Frame

To seal the piece, I used the Jolie clear wax. This is the same wax that I used to seal my bed, and it is holding up very well. 

I used a large wax brush to apply the way, but you could also use a lint-free rag to apply it if you don't have a wax brush. 

And I also used my small wax brush which has a little point on the tip of it that helps me get into the little recessed or detailed areas. So it is nice to have both to work with. 

Cane

When applying the wax to the cane, I didn’t want any globs or build-up, so I did more of a dry brush technique. I put some wax on the brush and wiped it back on a shop towel before brushing it on.

Finishing Touches

After taking the bed over to my friend's house, I realized I had a big “oops.” I didn't realize how thin the panel was and I didn't think about these staples coming through the other side. 

It’s ok…everything is fixable. I pushed the staples in with a hammer, put some wood filler in there, let it dry, sanded it down, and painted it.

So lesson learned…but smarter than me and make sure your staples aren’t going to go all the way through. :)

Also, once I got it in the room, I saw there was a little unevenness on the cane. So I took some of that Farmhouse Beige and did a dry brushing technique. 

After letting it set overnight, I added the new bedding. A special “thank you” to Beddy's for providing this set for my friend and this makeover. Beddy's is not just for kids! 

Price Breakdown

Cane - $65

Paint - $20

Wax - $5

Other - $10

All in, I used a hundred dollars in materials to dupe a bed that could cost anywhere from $1,500 to $2,000. So I think that's a total score.

Reveal

I can't believe how amazing this turned out. It's just so much brighter in my friend’s room… it’s just amazing! Let me know in the comments, if you'd be brave enough to tackle this. 

And now it’s time… here is our new modern classic sleigh bed complete with cane feature.

Watch the video tutorial on my YouTube channel!


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