Beautiful! Those beds are so unique, she did a really great job.

so beautiful! I love it. Would be perfect for a guest room

WOW!!

Sigh. Your restoration is fun but I really loved the original wood - just look at the depth of that original finish.

Noooooooo!

I knew when I saw the bed that the comments would be divided. I think it looks amazing and I think if you had kept the wood and changed the fabric it would have looked amazing too.

Er, let me explain my Noooooooo a little, though it's probably quite obvious why those who wouldn't like this wouldn't like this: The gorgeous wood is painted and the elegance that was watered silk is now a pop print.

Please, please, if any readers see furniture like this - vintage and rare - please just restore it, or leave it for someone else to purchase and restore. There's lots of used IKEA out there to mess with.

"...a bed that had somehow been overlooked by antique hunters earlier in the day."

No one else was buying it. At this price, some people would just dump it if it didn't sell.

I love it! Great make-over... and an INCREDIBLE yard sale score!! Great job!

Well, I really like this!

I truly respect the "don't ruin an antique" philosophy, but... the original beds, with their mismatched wood, were not examples of good design. That's why antique dealers didn't snap them up, even at that astonishing price.

I usually never have a problem with painting furniture. This is an exception, they were beautiful before!

These were a 25-dollar purchase at a yard sale. This woman bought them and that made them hers to do whatever she wanted with them. There are no rules about what people can and cannot do with yard sale purchases. She's supposed to stick to cheap mass-merchandised furniture if she wants to paint it? I'm sorry, but no. Yes, a difficult, smelly furniture restoration would have been beautiful, but let's open our minds a bit and see the really nice beds she created quickly, easily and inexpensively for her daughter's room.

I think they turned out great, and when you tire of the bright print, you can remove it and insert something different. :)

I really like the transformation; they look so much better now. I think it's funny how worked up people get over pieces of furniture they don't even have to live with. If you want to paint and reupholster a piece, and if doing so will make you enjoy it more, I say go for it!

Even looking at the after photo, I feel like the beds would have looked great using the same fabric but left with the wood. They are beautiful this way too, and that was an excellent yard sale score.

@ELLABEE, I disagree. The fact that she even said that antique hunters would even be interested in these beds tells me that even she saw value in the furniture pre paint.

Love these-she's taken a pair of dreary, old-fashioned beds and made them contemporary and useable again. Pretty sure if these had been worthy of restoration they would have been snagged early in the day, so well done for a great job and keeping more stuff out of landfill.

oh yes! love it. Especially the choice in fabric.

Very cute!

Fun, cute, and gorgeous! Where did you get that lovely fabric???

@Lorenski, rest assured that her children down the road will strip the dated paint and fabric off these fine pieces of furniture and restore them to their original state.

I say this from experience. My ex's mom painted all her great furniture - all of it. She handed the furniture that occupied the basement on to my ex and once we stripped and restored them, ex-mom said, "wow, I didn't know I had such beautiful furniture!"

I'm in the why-did-you-cover-the-wood camp. Furniture does not have to be "important" or precious to have character worth saving. I've done extensive cleanup and restoration of average vintage and antique wood furniture. There is a lot you can do before you resort to paint.

The beds were nice before, but mismatched. I like the after a lot better, considering it's all uniform. If the beds uniformly looked like the same wood and grain as the original footboards, I wouldn't have done anything with them, but the mismatched wood pieces leave much to be desired.

I think painting over furniture; whether antique or plain IKEA can sometimes ruin it's character so I did perfer the before. I might have just changed out the original fabric on the headboard.
In saying that, I do appreciate the work she put into these and they do look cute in the room.

You can't get that type of taffeta anymore...

I prefer the before. They still look great,though. I see why she painted them for a girls room.

I like the before look better, but I defend the right to paint. You can't tell from the photos what shape the wood was really in. Stripping and refinishing is a toxic, nasty process. However, if the teen owner later decides she wants something more classy and grown-up, the original wood is still there, waiting to be uncovered and restored.

Painted antique furniture can look really chic! Think of Sister Parish's white washed furniture. She was a master and understood that sometimes you have to sacrifice the old for the new. No, You can't get that taffeta anymore. No, the bed's probably won't ever be the same. But still, she stuck to her aesthetic and got the look she wanted!

It's pretty, but...... :(

Have to agree. This is a pretty, but...
That wood was gorgeous.

@KCKo - No, but who says she would want to? People like different things. I don't like the taffeta; obviously the owner didn't either, or it was in bad condition.

I am usually in the "don't paint quality wood" camp, and I do think the beds would've been nice with just a change of fabric (I'm sorry, the before fabric was really dated and stodgy, regardless of the quality of it), but I think these look really nice afterwards and are a beautiful fit with the room. I say great score, good work, and congrats to your daughter on having such a stylish room and lovely beds.

Thank you for all of the Thoughtful and heartfelt comments above. Wow, I was so excited to see my beds and my work and my home on Apartment Therapy but now I am feeling sort of crappy for painting the beds...oh well, I too have restored furniture my Mom painted, I guess maybe this will be a great restoration project for when the kids are gone I am an empty nester. I had NO idea about the taffeta...OMG I would have given it to the antique store down the street...Next time, if there is one, I will make sure to do a bit more homework. I was just so excited to have "new" beds for my daughter who is 14 and has been sleeping in our broken IKEA bed that I just did what I do.... I made it work for us!

Despite the alleged abundance of "character," the unpainted beds were going unused and clearly unappreciated. The painted beds are being used and enjoyed. That is character.

What a gracious response. Although I also preferred the originals, you and your daughter are the ones who are living with them, and the new version is also beautiful. Enjoy :)

i think it's awesome!
yes they would have been great restored but hey, she didn't want to do that on these pieces and i think that's just fine. her purchase. her decision. they look beautiful! and i bet her daughter is absolutely in love with them!!

Come on, people. She did it for her teenage daughters, who probably aren't huge fans of musty taffeta.

@lorelski: "Please, please, if any readers see furniture like this - vintage and rare - please just restore it, or leave it for someone else to purchase and restore. There's lots of used IKEA out there to mess with."

Umm, really? That's just snobbish. Not to mention - a person can't win. On a recent post, commenters were adamant that nobody should buy IKEA furniture, because it's poor quality. In which case, where would these mountains of used furniture to 'mess around with', come from? Someone has to buy it new.

Also, by your logic, nobody who doesn't like a certain aesthetic (unpainted wood) is 'allowed' to own sturdy second-hand furniture.

Do you even know that this stuff is 'vintage and rare'? (Newsflash, by the way: 'vintage' is just another name for what we used to call 'second-hand', which doesn't sound nearly as cool.) Not everything second-hand is attractive, good-quality, or worth restoring to its original state. They also made crap last century, believe it or not.

@Leslidevito - don't feel bad. You took some dingy, unloved pieces of furniture and turned them into something bright and fresh for your daughters to enjoy. Top job.

The wood isn't mismatched; it must be how the light is hitting it. These beds aren't my style, and certainly the owner has the right to do with them what she wants. No one is saying otherwise. But good Lord--the after is going to be dated in about a year or two. Natural wood has a timeless quality that can be hard to recapture with restoration because the original finish and patina are usually not recoverable.

Five years from now all the Before and After features on AT are going to be from people who bought these ugly, dated, white-painted because someone was obsessed with ikea, and restored the natural wood.

"There are no rules about what people can and cannot do with yard sale purchases." Not true. There must a harsh fine or imprisonment somewhere given to people who commit this crime. Maybe even Martha will come out to your home in person to slap you.

That said, the owner's response was quite gracious. And, as someone who grew up with my mom's hand-me down antique matching twin beds, I gotta say it is great for a girl to have two beds in her room for sleep overs.

@J_White - What's IKEA got to do with it?! Maybe she just likes white. And 'dated in about a year or two' - what the...? That doesn't even make sense.

She owns the beds now. They're in her house. It's her taste that matters.

@Leslidevito, you are a classy lady and you did a great job!

I think the beds look beautiful, especially with how this room is decorated. They can always be stripped later. They can also always be repainted another color later, with a different fabric headboard. I think they will be fun to change as times and decorating styles change.

Just because something is old does not mean that it is valuable. Antique collectors already passed them over earlier in the day-- let her have her fun and paint them.

No! No fun allowed! (sarcasm)

Oh, wow! What grumpy, moody adolescent wouldn't like this?

@J_White - They won't be dated in a year or two, and even if it takes 5 years for them to be dated, who cares? People are free to enjoy different things.

I'm usually in the "don't paint that antique" camp, but honestly these look nice. Two twin beds are not a valuable commodity these days, so she reused something that wasn't going to appeal to a whole lot of people. The only thing I would have done differently is to paint the cool detailing on the foot board in a contrasting darker grey or blue - would look so cool!

No one here knows whether the veneer was in decent shape, but you can tell that silk was pretty beat. Not everything deserves saving just because of it's age.

Ya know, folks, people can state opposing opinions and ot's okay. It's called a conversation. These beds got a Serena and Lily makeover, for pocket change rather than the few thousand dollars they would have cost from that retailer. She did a great job. It's okay to mourn the demise of the original.

I'm not a big fan of painting antiques but those turned out super cute. And besides, in 5 or more years they can be dipped and striped of the paint and turned into a more sophisticated stained wood piece for a guest bed in her first apartment. All is not lost.

I'm not sure why people are saying you can't get silk like that anymore. My Mother gave me draperies she had custom made in exactly that style of silk weave, except it is peach colored. My family works in the textile business. You CAN get this fabric.

I like the after better. The painted beds are so much more fun for a 14 year old girl. I can't imagine a teenage girl getting excited about wood grain and taffeta (I still don't)..... So congrats on an amazing makeover!
I will never understand the responses on this site regarding painted furniture. This woman put so much work and love into the beds for her daughter and the daughter likes them, yet you people feel the need to ruin it for her with your snarky comments. What's the point of that?

I also have a feeling that the teenager prefers the refinished beds with paint.

There's a reason they don't make that kind of taffeta anymore. It's looks dark and dirty and awful and not like anything most teenage girls would want in their room. Just because you like painted furniture does not mean you should be forced to resort to cheap furniture. Buying an Ikea bed for the same purpose would have cost several hundred dollars for a much less quality product. In 2012 twin beds are only going to be of use in a child's room. Nothing about that previous finish said child or teen. It said Grandma.

Well done. I would have done the same (and sort of have when I made off with an Ethan Allen desk at a yard sale that I quickly repainted green for my guestroom. I love it. The original owners never need to know).

I think the beds look AMAZING!!

I gotta tell you, I get so tired of the "don't paint wood" crowd who think that those of us who enjoy painted wood should be relegated to only buying cheap IKEA crap. If you don't want us painting wood furniture, then get your lazy bums out of bed every Saturday morning and make the rounds to all of the yard sales, flea markets, etc., to save your precious wood furniture before we can get our hands on it. But I HATE people thinking they can tell me what to do with the wood furniture that I DO buy and that I use in my OWN home. Sorry to come off like a complete *itch, but I've grown so incredibly tired of this stupid debate. Saying you would do it differently for YOUR OWN home is one thing, but making people feel guilty for doing it differently for THEIR home is quite another.

I agree with @Rural and Rueful,

While I'm saddend that those really beautiful antique beds were painted, I think they look good the way she did them. The fabric isn't my style, but I think it works well for a teen.

I would never never paint something that looked like the before unless they were damaged beyond repair.

I think any re-use of old furniture some one was trying to get rid of is wonderful. And the finished room is beautiful, fun, and chic! Beautiful job on the whole room

Yes they were cheap. Yes, they were her's to do with as she wanted.

That said, this is still a forum where all of us are allowed to state our opinion. My opinion is that while "cute", I would have much preferred she either refreshed the original finish and reupholstered with a fabric of her choice, or left them for someone else.

It is a shame she had to slather paint, and I am not a "never paint anything wood purist" by any means.

We shouldn't pretend these beds were worth more than the $25 she paid for them. Not everything old is valuable, and not everything old is in the best condition. More to the point, it's a free country and people paint over real wood furniture ALL. THE. TIME. It happens. Not always to the best effect, but a lot of people do it.

This breaks my heart.

It looks great. GREAT. I want to grab a girlfriend and a bucket of nail polish and have a slumber party in there.

Beautiful vision and fantastic execution. They're *your* ($12.50!) beds, do what you want with them!

If you want to paint your furniture, then by all means do :)

If you don't, then don't.

I think the makeover is fantastic.

You know, that painted furniture gives someone else a strip & restore project down the road... so it's all good!

I'm not a fan of the change, but its a free world. Hope they love them - and I'm glad to be able to register my personal dismay.

For those of you who feel "heartbroken" and "devastated"...may I respectfully suggest you get involved in some non-profit work, or perhaps volunteer for a political campaign?

I am a born and bred, third-generation vintage enthusiast. I love old wood. I love painted wood. But mostly, I love people buying second-hand goodies and keeping them out of the landfill. This is a win in so many ways, whatever your opinion about the style of the bed.

The current trendiness of racism breaks my heart. Child abuse breaks my heart. The cycle of buy-consume-toss breaks my heart. That this woman shared a yard sale find she painted and fixed up for her daughter? Not so much.

Having said that, everyone is entitled to their opinion, but c'mon...let's not make this a moral issue.

I think they look lovely in wood and in white, and I can't believe she only paid $25 for both of them. What a great find.

@Addicted2Decor...agree 100%

@Chenell...make that 200%

BTW the fabric on the originals is a watermarked or 'moire' fabric..might be silk taffeta, might be grosgrain, might be silk faille, but it's certainly easy enough to get hold of new.

Look at the room they're in. Look at the colors. Had she chosen to keep the beds in their original condition, the room wouldn't have tied together as beautifully as it does. I say, BRAVO!

I bought a bed several weeks ago that is an antique like these two beds are. Mine is fairly rare in that it has a curved footboard. It has a matching dresser, and the wood is very pretty--however, the finish on the bed is in pretty rough shape. My parents have strongly encouraged me to do nothing with either of these pieces--to leave them "as is." Because, you know, according to Antiques Roadshow, if you alter an antique you ruin its value. However, I'm just not a fan of the original finish (I'm over the "distressed" look.). So I started doing some research. And one thing I read was that, sure, if you have a rare Chippendale from the 1700s, you probably want to leave it alone. The key word in that sentance, though, is RARE. Is the piece truly something that is one-in-a-million, or is it something that, if you wait a little bit, you can probably find something similar to it on ebay? But if you have something that's not totally uncommon, you retain and/or increase value by restoring it--but even restored, it's been forever altered. As someone said above, you can never recapture that original color and patina after you've restored a piece. So you have to ask yourself, "Will I be in the market to sell this one day in hopes of making a profit?" If not, keeping the "value" of a piece really isn't that relevant is it? Who cares if it depreciates--you're not going to sell it anyway. And if you aren't going to sell it in hopes of making a profit, then you might as well enjoy it to the fullest, right? And if that means restoring it, go for it. If it means painting it, go for it. If you enjoy the dinginess of the original finish, then go for it. You're only "out" if you don't enjoy the furniture as much as you possibly can.

P.S. I'm seriously, seriously considering painting my pieces black--or at least refinishing them a dark ebony color--TOTALLY not period appropriate. But frankly, I could care less. I'm going to have this stuff for the long haul--no plans to sell! So I'm gonna do what I need to do to fully love these pieces!

Aww, no why did you have to paint it?

Great job! Remember, when it comes to style, there's more than one right answer.

I think they look much better. I don't get all the naysayers. You found it, you bought it, it's yours. If you want to paint, recover, stain, or even set the pieces on fire, that's your right. Sure, sometimes I prefer the "befores" but that doesn't diminish the owner's right to change things if they want.

Judging from all the indignant reactions, there must be a lot of homes out there with some seriously ugly, outdated furniture.

Wow! What a beautiful room! I love the colors, the textiles everything! I understand where people are coming from with their fear of painting wood, but it doesn't ruin the wood which is still there. I have noticed the people who paint wood fearlessly have more beautiful homes than the purists. Their lack of fear in general lets them see past a lot of things that hang up others. As long as the piece has no great historical importance, if it is yours and you want to paint it go for it. I upholstered over the mahogany headboard on my plantation bed to revive it and my mother had fits over it. I love the luxury of reading in bed and it softened the look and updated it. When I converted a chest of drawers into a bathroom vanity, even the carpenter who did the job argued with me. When he was finished and saw it in place, he saw the light. As far as that fabric goes can you imagine all the mites it might harbor? As someone else said, they absolutely still make silk taffetas- prettier than that stuff which looks like faux moire circa 1990 to me. Even if it were worth saving which I doubt, it needed to come off those beds. Thank you for showing us the room and for being so gracious with people's comments and criticisms. The beds are gorgeous and so is the room. Your daughters must be thrilled.

I bet if they hadn't included a before picture, everyone would love these beds and ooh and ahh and gush over how well they work in the room.

Congrats on the feature! What an amazing find for such a price and what a great mom you are for all the hard work you put into this totally cheerful and age appropriate room for your daughter! It saddens me that people are so aggressive about this paint or no paint issue and don't see the love that went into this. I am a no paint girl but considering who it is for and the look you were going for with the rest of the room I think it was a good choice. Well done!!! :)

Your daughter's room is really cute. I love all the fabrics you've chosen.

I don't know about you guys, but I see a hell of a lot more painted and "refreshed" furniture at the dump than I do wooden furniture. Maybe it's because once we've painted something like this, we feel like we've given it the very last leg of its life, and once we're through with it, there's no harm done in disposing of it. Maybe it's because I live in the prairies and we tend to cling to (and charge an arm-and-a-bloody-leg for) old furniture. I'm not sure. What I do know is that the beds were in solid enough condition for her to buy them and trust them to do the job for her kid. I wouldn't question their condition. But since they are HERS, she can do whatever she bloody likes with them, and as fellow members and followers of this blog, we can voice any opinion we please, thank you very much. She seems like a terribly sweet lady and I commend her for saving the beds and making them over for her daughter. They're still darling pieces of furniture. But as someone who's been looking for an "old" bed for years and can't find one at anything close to 25 dollars, I'm bummed. Can you imagine one of those beds sanded a bit, stained a dark mahogany, and that headboard upholstered with mens suiting fabric? I die. I die!

That shade of white looks amazing with the deep, marine blue on the walls. Very cute. Congrats on a job well done!

Even as someone who prefers a more old-world look in my own home, I think the painted and reupholstered beds are just adorable. I love antique furniture and am continuously educating myself about it, and the before versions of these beds do not scream "rare" or "fine quality" to me. They just look nice and solid, with some charming details that did not suffer for the paint job. I say excellent job!

I think they look way better in the after picture. Antique wood is fine if that's your style, but it's always better to conform the furniture to the person's style, not the person to the furniture's style. Don't listen to the naysayers, your makeover is awesome!

The beds look amazing repainted and I absolutely love the fabric! I would have loved this at 14. Good job!

What Duane Hill said.

I think the makeover is beautiful. Those beds absolutely MAKE the room.

I think people here might like to remember to voice their opinions believing the owner might read them -- it's fine to not like something, but maybe you can phrase your opinion politely, not hurtfully. (Say it like to you are talking directly to the owner and remember that your opinion is ONLY an opinion, not gospel!)

I also think we might all take into consideration that a small photo on a computer screen might not divulge all the repair work that would be necessary for restoration -- there can be good reasons for paint vs. stain.

As for alternative designs (@Shane101), personally I WAY prefer the white and yellow look to the mahogany and men's suiting look that you would love. It's all personal taste.

Sure they were wood and vintage, but they were also pretty ugly and didn't match her decor at all. Just because something is vintage doesn't mean it's worth saving.

I think those beds are gorgeous now! Great project.

ugh! beauty lost... kids can learn to live with gorgeous antiques. SMH...

That room is super cute! Great job! I agree with chenell - anyone who thinks this is "heartbreaking" needs to go volunteer in a children's hospital.

What a great deal that looked great!

D:

I really don't get why you wouldnt just get something that was bland to begin with and freshen that up, rather than ruin something that would have been absolutely beautiful just about anywhere. It looks fine as a finished product, but a cringe-inducing waste nonetheless, especially given that most teenagers will turn around and think that is tacky in a couple of years, anyway.

Thumbs way, way down.

Well, I think it looks great. I don't think it's waste at all; the wood wasn't high quality and those who are saying it is aren't really understanding what high quality wood is all about. The finish before was ok, not great and it's two pieces of furniture being re-purposed which I'm all for. When the teen/s are older, they can have fun stripping it and if it's good wood, then they can re-stain it.

It's furniture, people. It's not alive and it's not that important - literally or historically.

I adore this makeover!!! The fabric is a great pop of color!

I like the after but the before! I would have LOVED the before at 14, but then I've always liked "period" stuff. I actually got to use a gorgeous antique bed as a teen and would still use it if it weren't an odd size and could accomodate my man's over 6 foot height.

geez Louise, people!

Virtual cookies and ice-cream if anyone can tell us:

- when/where these beds were made ('antique' means 100+-years-old, remember)
- what kind of wood they're made out of
- what an antique dealer would actually pay for them.

I'll bet my IKEA Expedit that such information would put these 'gorgeous antiques' into perspective. ;)

Slapping white paint on veneered wood like that should be a crime, no matter how nicely executed.

Absolutely Gorgeous. Well done. Very,.

(and I'll double charlie26's offer:)

Eh? I had a garage sale armoire with the veneer lifted and splintering all over the place. There wasn't a way to fix it so I let it go and painted it. PAINTED IT.

I also painted my front door.

I love when things are not precious, so much freedom. Except maybe in this thread? Go, mom - that is a lot of work. Your daughter will remember you doing it for her, keep your happiness!

I 2nd the comments that it's a cute makeover and to keep your happiness.

I can't understand getting tied in a knot about what someone else chooses to do with their furniture, no matter how "vintage" or "valuable."

It's just "stuff."

After photos look great!! Thank goodness there are people out there that have vision and style. The beds before are the most hideous things I've ever seen. No wonder they were passed by so many other people. This makeover totally gives new life to those ugly beds and made them usable again!

Re controversy about painting furniture, a little reminder to those of you who are adamant that quality furniture should not be painted: a lot of original Louis XV furniture was painted white, pale grey.... So if valuable antique furniture has been painted why not cheap vintage furniture?

Cute cute cute, if I was a teenager I would love them. And I would think my mum was super cool!

I love paint.

I have an antique East Lake style double bed in my basement if anyone wants to buy it for $1000, otherwise I am going to PAINT it some day when we have a house with a guest room. It is in lovely condition but I hate the color of the wood finish. I love wood, I truly do, but the midtone finish just isn't my taste. It is my bed, I can do with it what I wish.

These beds belong to her, if she wanted she could have burned them in a bonfire. Everyone is entitled to their own taste.

And last time I checked, IKEA doesn't sell a single bed that looks like this for $25, much less a pair. So I'm baffled by that comment.

Nice transformation.

I, too, defend the right to paint. Anybody is entitled to change a piece to suit his/her style and taste.

The painted beds are cute! I would have loved something like this at age 14.

I luv it! Mom, you done good! I'm sure your daughter loves that she has a one-of-a-kind bedroom thanks to your hard work and creativity.

That old taffeta could have been dirty and grungy. The afters look fine & the whole room is bold and colorful without looking zany or cartoony. Good price & good (whew!) results. I 'get' the no painters, but these twin beds got a decent makeover.

I'll also sign on to what Chenell said about having some perspective here, and...

I'd love to see some of the nay-sayers pony up with an answer to Charlie26's question. Unless you can show that some actual and significant value has been lost, all you are saying is that the before looked prettier and/or had more potential _for you_. My guess is that this is a fairly standard department store set from the era, and if you actually go to the blog and look at the close-up pictures, the finish on these beds was not in great shape and would've taken some real effort to restore. So she put the effort in to make the beds look nice in a way that fit her home and her tastes. And, fwiw, I think they look great, and totally disagree that they will be dated in 5 years. Obviously the shape is classic, if you are all moaning over it, and white is a pretty neutral and classic color for furniture, and the fabric is lovely, but could very easily be changed out for something out if/when her tastes change. So ease up on the heavy-handed guilt trips.

*p.s. this is coming from a person who generally loves the look of unpainted, quality, vintage/antique wood. Even so, I can still recognize how great these turned out for her daughter's room!

Thank you Charlie26!!!!

I think what Lesli did with these beds is wonderful! These absolutely are not precious antiques, nor are they particularly well-designed or a good style exemplar. She raised them above their rather weak design origins into something much more interesting.

AT, why not do a post about painting furniture with some experts -- including antique dealers -- to bring some perspective to this on-going debate? Because frankly, it is getting more than tiresome to have the anti-paint chorus take over every.single.thread. in which a piece of humble furniture is painted. Remember all the naysayers on the thread about painted pianos? Finally, a person knowledgeable about pianos chimed in, and wrote that painting them is attractive, does not affect the sound, and actually preserves the pianos as it helps ensure they get used.

Please, please AT put together a post about when to paint, and when not to paint to establish a baseline. Because this is painful to watch, especially when someone's choices are so vilified and criticized. (I keep wondering why anybody would open themselves up to such criticism by submitting pictures; this has to be an issue for you AT).

I can't help but wonder if the naysayers are just jealous of the remarkable steal these beds were and some of the most ridiculous and rude comments I've ever seen in one place. We are not talking about world peace, we are talking about 2 beds found at a yard sale for $25! If YOU had found them, you could have done what you want. You don't have to like it and if you had nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all. To me, they look great and go wonderfully in the room.

I second the call for articles on painting furniture. Also, I forgot to say above that the finished room looks lovely, painted beds and all. It's fun and fresh, and perfect for a teen. Leslie's daughter is lucky to have such a creative, hard-working mom.

Its just a side note... I was the sort of girl that at 14 would have been excited for wood grain and taffita.

I understand both camps. And it is hard to judge when we have not seen or touched the furnature in person.

Plus I do think that its always nice to swap out fabric because of a cleanliness issue regardless of asthetics.

So much of the antiques available were Ikea equivalent in their day. Just check out an old Sears catalog!! Countering that, my parents antiqued (in off white) an inherited bed, dresser and rocker for me when I was tiny. It was pretty but when I was a teen, I stripped all the finish down to the bird's eye maple and gave it a clear coating. It was - and still is - beautiful.

I love the original wood of the headboards & footboards but geez louise people, one of the rails is red and obviously mismatched. It's not like she cut the headboard into pieces -- her daughter or grandchildren can strip&refinish if they want to.

Lesli, don't worry about the fabric -- moiré is still made & sold.

Trivia -- I have heard that this style of fabric originated as taffeta that was irrevocably watermarked when rescued from a shipwreck. And the ladies loved it, so manufacturers started making it on purpose.

RIDICULOUS! I think these beds look awesome painted. I thought they were ugly before and now I can really appreciate the shape of them with the clean paint. I feel bad that YOU feel bad that you painted furniture because of all of these silly comments. You turned ugly into pretty. I'm starting to hate the AT comments section...

I think they look amazing! I may not have chosen that fabric (for a guest room), but for a teenager's room - its perfect! Personal taste folks - cut her some slack!

Ummm - not a good idea to retain batting. It can harbor mites and mold. And second-hand mattresses are a potential health hazard. In addition to mites, mold and who knows what else, they can be coated with boric acid, which was used as a fire retardant.

I think those who argue about the "antique-ness" or not "antique-ness" of this furniture really don't understand the argument for not painting old furniture. For me it is more about the materiality or the essence of an object. A good design emphasizes the construction and material of so that we have an understanding of the value (not necessarily money) of the object.

When a piece of furniture is painted, it no longer needs to be wood, it can be plastic, concrete, fiberglass, etc. What makes wood so important you might ask? The wood from this period is old growth and it no longer exists in this country (unless you have a large sum of money to buy what remains of it). What is old growth? The older a tree, the tighter the wood grain and this tight grain makes the wood stronger and more beautiful.

So when you criticize the non-painters about being petty or negative, I want you to understand that there is a "value" in your furniture that you just hid from the world. There is very little of it left. Some of these non-painters take this personally.

Hey people. I love original work and antiques as much as the next AT person. That being said, it would be so refreshing to respect other's decision to do whatever they want with their stuff. They paid for it, they were willing to do the work, and quite frankly, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. This is not Pythagorean math. Taste and design are so appealing to us all because there are so many ways in which something can be approached.

What is a crime in somebody's eye, is a new life in somebody else's eye. Both perspectives have merit. And in the end, if need be, you can always strip it back.

So please, chill. Let the woman enjoy her new beds.

Duane Hill, that's just bizarre. Furniture has value beyond its aesthetics. A bed that's made of "plastic, concrete, fiberglass, etc" won't function at all in the same way as a bed that is well-constructed out of solid wood. A plastic or fiberglass bed won't last as long with regular use; a concrete bed would just be insane. Lesli now has a matched set of beds that are well-constructed from solid wood and will likely survive any abuse that her kids can dish out. The fact that the made-over beds are also gorgeous is a nice bonus.

And a lot of folks are making some major assumptions about the quality and condition of the original wood or veneer. Can one really tell from the original photos, which were clearly not intended to show the wood to its best effect, whether the wood can no longer be found? If so, can you then please answer Charlie26's questions about actual value of the beds, both before and after painting? The "before" photo looks like furniture that was sold in any ol' department store thru the 60s.

The room is AWESOME. Love what you did with the beds and your color choices. I'd be psyched to have you help me decorate. You have a great eye and those beds are terrific steals with interesting shapes. I think they were just ok before. Nothing to ooh and ahh over. And certainly dated and dusty looking.

@MCB in MD, thanks for NOT reading my post. I answered all your great questions if you go back and read it. :)

I love them and would have done the same thing... in fact i've been looking for a vintage bed to paint for my daughter who is ready to move into a twin bed. Don't ever feel bad for creating something you find to be beautiful and making your home YOUR own. I get constructive criticism but some people on apt. therapy are just rude. I would have loved these as a teenager, I had a bedroom set of old vintage furniture and hated it!

@Duane Hill: You raise a lot of good points, but I don't think that you really answered those questions. But I apologize for my really harsh comment - I phrased it a lot more aggressively than I'd intended! So I'll just say that I think Lesli made a couple of very charming beds that look like they'll be perfect for her kids, and leave it at that. :)

I think they are beautiful and I'm sure your daughter loves them. Don't feel guilty about painting the wood. You gave these beds a home. Clearly the owner didn't think much of them if he sold them for $25 so you probably saved them from the landfill or an even worse design fate!

Well. Just checking back in here, having read over 100 comments since my Noooooooo comment. I'm glad there are people sticking up for both sides, and Lesli sounds like a darned nice lady. Her kids will appreciate her hard work -- if not now, in the years to come.

I don't withdraw my opinion, though, that the "before" might have been lovingly restored/maintained by another person without the past being painted out.

And as for those like FROMAGE who said, "When the teen/s are older, they can have fun stripping it and if it's good wood, then they can re-stain it." ... Um. I don't know of anyone who has *fun* stripping wood. Quite to the contrary, they do it while cursing the person who painted the wood in the first place.

I have to laugh that a person would essentially make the claim that there's no difference between the look of painted wood, painted plastic, painted concrete, etc., and then claim that he can tell from that picture that those beds are made of some type of rare high quality wood that is no longer available.

Sorry...but if you can't tell the difference between painted wood and painted plastic, then I sincerely doubt you'd be able to tell the difference between quality rare solid wood, wood veneer, or that cheap plastic paper veneer with pictures wood grain printed on it...especially in a photograph like the first one.

She paid $25(!) for two beds and did a beautiful job of painting them to suit her daughter's room. She retained the character of the design, but added a punch of fun with her fabric choice. She should be proud!

Lesli, nice job for your daughter room and very nice colors for her room. The only opinions of importance are your daughter/s and her cat!

Perhaps the comment section should be reserved solely for comments on the project. Commenting angrily about someone's comment is simply arguing. Readers should be able to comment freely without being admonished or chastised by other readers. A healthy exchange of knowledge and perspective can be enlightening. Bickering is nonproductive.

@KRISTI@ADDICTED 2 DECORATING, I made no such claim. I ask you to take a deep breath and re-read my original comment slowly so that it sinks in.

@Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again - you are right, if you go to Europe, you will see plenty of painted wood furniture, and usually it's gorgeous. Maybe AT needs to feature some of that furniture to put some perspective to this debate?
I am partial to how the Scandinavians paint their furniture. I ask all the paint haters to google "antique Gustavian furniture" and take a look at the pictures.... furniture doesn't need to show wood grain to be beautiful!

gorgeous.

The fabric is a Premier Print called "Suzani" in CORN Slub and I got it at fabric.com for $8.48. I like the Premier prints, especially with kids, because they are a nice quality, fun prints, there is a color for everyone and most important...affordable, so when we change our minds...and we do...we have not spent an arm and a leg on fabric. I like too that in some colors you can also get different types of fabric, so for instance, the pink Suzani shams I made are just a cotton sheeting weight fabric , but the headboard is a heavier linen cotton. Thanks for All of the comments!

You painted over that beautiful wood! Oh my!
The fabric change is great, but... that beautiful wood! Oh my!

It does not show well in the photos, but the beds, when I got them were already painted, Avocado Green, on all the headboards and footboards posts and the strips of wood across them. The fabric on the headboard when I flipped it over was a soft pale green but on the outside looked deep gold, probably from all the smoking done in bed. We have lived in an 130 year old house for 8 years with an avocado oven, because we cannot afford a new one. My whole life and my blog is about respecting things that are old and preserving their inherent beauty. I could not do avocado green in my daughters room, or really anywhere. She needed beds. I painted them.

Wow. Stunning transformation and excellent inspiration. SO glad I opened this thread - almost didn't out of dread of the pettiness I knew would surely follow. I must add.. even more stunning than your project, is your graciousness. HOW REFRESHING.

Thank you, thank you.

Wow people are so extreme here. I love antiques and I don't like the before look at all. And in a teenagers room? Really? They look BEAUTIFUL after! Way to go mom!

My daughter and I am in love with this room and the beds and I am not ashamed to admit that we are going to get as close to it as we possibly can. We already have our list of the paint colors you used and are going to Benjamin Moore today. I even ordered the Breakfast at Tiffany's poster online last night. You've done a beautiful job, Lesli and I am stunned that so many people have come on here, made negative comments and tried to take away your happy. Thank you for sharing your lovely before and after and for providing the inspiration that has allowed me to finally convince my 14 year old that it's time to get rid of the grenn and yellow dragonfly theme. Woo hoo!

I like the after!! The before pieces was striking in it's own way. Lovely, but maybe a little...convent-style...which isn't what every teenaged girl really digs.

As much as I personally LOVED the "before" beds, design and living is about what works for you. And whoever bought these, painted them, put new fabric on them, and put them to good use certainly has the right to do what they please with them. And they did a good job. Nothing says they can't be painted another color or put new fabric on them to serve a new purpose down the road. That's the beauty of good design. It's versatile.

I was a teen a fairly long time ago, but even I remember what it was like. The makeover was not done to impress us, it was done to make a super cute and trendy-fun-now room for a teenager who will enjoy this thoroughly. I say the mom who redid the beds knows her child and did a fantastic job!

I normally jump on the painted wood hate train, but I think she did a really good job with these. At least she didn't cover up/ruin a precious, ridiculously rare, atrociously expensive veneer that some fools on these diy sites do, right? I am not a fan of her fabric choice even a little bit, it seems too trendy to last long, but I suppose it's easy to change out on a whim. These look like something you would find in a house tour in a magazne, not a $25 yard sale find!

this is not a fantastic job, and the person who tries to restore the pieces that everyone, for 100+ years, knew were nice as they were is going to be challenged to keep the veneer on. decent middle-class furniture now looks cheap. people will make poor choices, but why is this being promoted on a/t?

To be honest I would have just covered over the taffeta so if I hand it down the next person can play with it and I don't always agree with painting and yes that lovely wood will never be the same but their twin sized bed and children were going to be using them paint it protect so later on they can restore it to their taste. I own many a antique hand me down some I painted some I left alone with just some tlc.

In my neck of the woods, "refinishing" an antique means painting it hot pink and black and including rhinestones and zebra print. This is a clean, snappy re-do for not a lot of dough, and it looks lovely in a teenager's room.

Also: I have that same Breakfast at Tiffany's poster hanging above my bar, and I love how it looks against the navy blue wall. You've got me thinking, missy. The Gentleman is not going to be pleased when I tell him about our next project.

I love antiques with a passion but AT readers have some VERY passionate people who hate painted wood. and yes stripping wood is a nightmare, my last project did not turn out well with the citri strip stuff, i need to try something else. however for the room these went into they are a perfect fit. well done, i think it even enhanced the diamond pattern on the foot board. the previous fabric was nothing to cry about honestly, and I'm not a fan of that particular stained/veneer color. Lesli I wouldn't take too many of the negative comments to heart some pieces are worthy or staining some are not, I think these fall into the go ahead and paint them category honestly, and you did a lovely job with the paint and upholstery I'm sure it was time consuming. I painted my son's vintage wooden dresser which would make a lot of people cry but the stain was so dark and damaged and I was new to the whole refinishing thing plus the style is a dime a dozen so I don't feel so bad. it works for us and when it no longer does I will switch it up be it stripping it back down (most likely) or a repaint we'll see. So long as your daughter loves it who cares what anyone else thinks?

You rocked it out!

Someone mentioned the old SEARS catalogs---at the turn of the LAST century and a while after that wood was actually beginning to become scarce for these things and the huge population booms were making the old one of a kind craftsman built items hard to come by.

These "veneered" pieces were actually built from SCRAP WOOD in a lot of cases and covered over with more prettier SCRAP WOOD cut thin and GLUED on. IF you think about 100 year old HORSE HIDE GLUE flaking out there you might just run screaming for the nearest exit---or the nearest paint can.

Back in the 1970's the "Waterfall" pieces of the 1930's were being hauled out of Granny houses EVERYWHERE and picked up curbside and--horrors!! painted over. Because the veneer was coming loose; the glue was flaking off; they smelled from 50 years of smoke and cooking and perfume. The hardware had rusted and couldn't be matched IF you could get the old wood to accept new screws etc. My husband had one of these beds he got at college and hauled home for some reason known only to the Furniture Gods--and to irritate his mother. WE schleped it around the country side watching the veneer further degrade and fall off and look uglier and every time you went near the thing it BIT you from all the lovely jagged veneer edges. And underneath that jagged veneer was---bits and pieces of oddly assorted wood that would have looked ridiculous if we HAD decided to "refinish" it. And it would have been extremely difficult to paint it and NOT have the same thing keep happening. One night the entire thing collapsed and I can't say I was "sorry" that it did!

Now I KNOW from wood and at this very moment have several old UNPAINTED wood bed frames inc a 17th century four poster sitting on blocks in my basement storage room along with a rope bed made by my great grandpa with a solid one slice of wood for the headboard that is over 2 FEET wide--imagine THAT tree! --; an Adirondack PAIR of "tree beds" made of hemlock TRUNKS peeled with some of the bark on and varnished, with jute rope trimming--how up to THIS minute is THAT!!!---and probably at least one more I can't remember. And--we are not using ANY of these. First off getting the correct size mattress' are almost impossible and cost the earth. Second getting the Adirondack beds back together would require having side rails made for one of them and the hand made hardware would have to be replicated. I see them "someday" as a matched pair in a room with Hudson Bay blankets (I HAVE the blankets!) and--- well you get the point.

What DO we end up using? We had the Adirondack and the rope beds for the kids when they were smaller. But as they got older these were not practicle so they ALL ended up with Captains beds. Do I for ONE SECOND believe that THOSE beds will EVER be some sort of treasured antiques? Heck no! One has been "handed down" to our grandchild but---the kid is 6.

Furniture needs and styles and construction changes. And since these pieces do NOT belong in the Louvre---leave the poor woman ALONE.

And for the record--I LOVED the AFTER pics. The BEFORE pics were a great trip into Nostalgia Land. But--you could see a Martha Stewart Fire Pit in their futures if this woman had NOT happened by.

Haha @jerseygurl — you finally convinced me!