I wasn’t shopping for beds for my boys room. Truly I wasn’t. It wasn’t even on my mind……I was looking for a nightstand for my oldest boy who we just moved into his own room. Up until now my 3 boys shared a room but now the oldest has his own.
I had a nightstand or two that I could have put in his room but to me they looked feminine in design so I thought I’d look for one on Facebook Marketplace. I looked alright. For about a week and there was never anything that was even a possibility.
But then?
Then I saw them.
The most perfect antique twin bed frames you’ve ever seen!
Two of them.
Hand carved.
Solid Mahogany.
All the parts were there, nothing missing.
I was in love.
I walked away from my laptop and tried not to think of them anymore but I couldn’t get them off my mind so I decided just to peek at them again.
And then I sent a message to their owner to see if they were still available. I was certain they weren’t. I am famous for never getting to the pieces I really love on Facebook Marketplace in time. If they are really amazing and a good price (my area is always overpriced for everything) they are gone before I ever get a chance at them.
I waited for a few hours and was sure that this meant they were already living their best life in someone else’s house.
I held my breath when I heard the familiar sound that meant I had gotten a response to my inquiry. I took a deep breath and prepared to read the words that she was waiting for someone to come pick them up or that they were already sold and she just hadn’t taken the listing down.
I couldn’t believe it when she said they were still available and did I want to come see them?
Did I?
You bet!
I could barely wait until the agreed upon time to rush over to her house and take a peek.
Were they as amazing as I thought they were?
They were better!
Whenever I buy anything vintage or antique I always like to ask the former owner about their story. Sometimes they don’t know about it but sometimes they do!
As for these beds I met the sweetest lady you could ever hope to meet who was very sad to part with these beds. They had belonged to her and her sister since they were children and she had been moving them around with her ever since. She said when her mom bought them for her and her sister they were already quite old and very treasured. She said she knew they were over 100 years old at this point.
I assured her that they would be treasured in my home and that we would take very good care of them. I held my breath as we loaded them in my van and I drove so carefully all the way home!
My youngest son was so excited about the “new” beds that he insisted on sleeping in one that very night so I carefully took apart the bunkbed that was in their room and put together the antique mahogany beds.
They were even more stunning when I put them together and once I had carefully wiped them all down with some furniture oil?
Wow!
Of course having 2 beds in this room, which isn’t large to begin with, created a bit of a challenge because I had to make all their existing furniture work in a much tinier space. Or at least as much of it as I could.
Time to get creative.
I moved the dresser into their closet since they have a large closet and only a few hanging clothes. This freed up the space where the dresser used to be for my youngest son’s treasured desk!
Yes, I know I still need to put the wood flooring in the closets. It’s on my To Do list!
But of course when I moved the desk from it’s spot beside the window to the spot where the dresser used to be, that meant all the decor on the walls was all wrong!
And since I had taken out the triple bunk bed, I had some patching to do where it had been bolted to the wall for safety! Might as well patch all the nail holes at the same time, right?
Everything came down off the walls but then I realized how much more wall space I had to work with now that there wasn’t a huge bed blocking one entire wall. That meant I didn’t have enough things to even put on the walls and that I would HAVE to do some more treasure hunting!
I mean, what’s a girl to do when she has spaces that MUST be filled?
I also didn’t have the right bedding for 2 matching beds. I had the comforters but nothing pretty and decorative so I needed to work on that.
This meant making some shams for both boys and buying another throw pillow so both beds were symmetrical. You know what else it meant?
It meant that the nightstand that was in my boys room from day one, didn’t fit anymore. It was too wide to go between the two beds and I didn’t have any other spot to put it in the room either but it houses a lot of very important toys so SOMETHING needed to be put where it was supposed to go.
This meant I was now in search of a DIFFERENT nightstand because….
Well…
Because the nightstand I was originally looking for when I stumbled across the beds I wasn’t looking for, was no longer needed. Because the nightstand that I couldn’t fit in the room that the beds I wasn’t looking for were now in, could go in the room that I was looking for a nightstand for oriiginally.
Made perfect sense.
But now I was looking for another nightstand. A tall and skinny one. I could picture it in my mind but for some reason I couldn’t find anyone that would sell me one for really cheap.
And while I was looking for one on Facebook Marketplace I stumbled across a full size antique bed that was being sold off for a steal of a deal that I wasn’t looking for to put in my oldest son’s new room!
I’m starting to feel like the old lady that swallowed the fly except I’m not old and I didn’t swallow a fly exactly.
I’ve been working on the bedding situation and the wall decor situation and I need to work on the steaming of the curtain panels situation BUT……I can’t tell you about the other situation. Not this week.
Because that would spoil what I have to show you next week.
Something I still can’t believe I did and I’m so excited I’m tempted to tell you but I won’t.
I’ll take another sip of coffee and go put a couple more pumpkins around the house and then maybe I’ll feel better……
Emily’s Inspiration
To distract myself so I don’t spill the beans lets go look at what Emily is sharing with us this week…..just click on the photo below.
This post was featured…
I loved everything about your post today. It made me smile from beginning to end. It all made perfect sense to me. I love it when that happens. Hugs to you.
I am so glad it made sense to someone other than me! lol. I mean the number of times that all my plans change and get totally turned upside down based on a find that I can’t resist…..haha I’m in good company. So glad you stopped by, Renae.
perfectly gorgeous beds!! I am green!
To be perfectly honest, I am too! lol. I told the kids that they have so much nicer beds than I have and will ever have since my husband insists on a kind sized bed and all the really amazing beds are typically full sized. Thanks so much for stopping by.
Beautiful beds! When I first saw your bed pictures I knew they were the beds that my father-in-law had in his vintage home in Berkley, CA. And sure enough they are the exact same bed! Mahogany, pineapples and all!
Great score!
Wendy The Inspired Eater
That is so neat! The beds are amazing and the boys are so incredibly proud of them. I’m so glad you stopped by…
I love these beds so much!!! They donโt make things like they used to! The details are exquisite!!! Their room is looking so cute!!!!
I love them too and the boys are over the moon about them. It’s the cutest thing to see them, especially one of them, get so excited about their bedroom.
[…] also shared the saga of what happened when I accidentally discovered these antique mahogany bed frames and the domino effect that came about as a […]
[…] And because we all love a good find… Tara from Stilettos and Shiplap went looking for a nightstand and… came home with these!!! {Be still our French-antiques-loving-hearts!} ~ French Vintage Friday: It All Started With a Nightstand… […]
Tara, Oh, my!!! What great finds! I can imagine the boys are all excited to move into really cool antique beds… I miss recreating my kids’ bedrooms. Our youngest turns 27 this week, actually (our son). Have fun working on their rooms and figuring out how to arrange them. Just a thought… You could turn one bed sideways and but the two together at the headboards… I’ve done that before when our daughter and son decided one summer to share a room and use the other as a play room. <3
Hugs,
Barb
P.s. Happy to share this post at Share Your Style #316 tonight!
It IS so much fun to work on kids rooms and that’s why I have done my kids rooms several times each and have yet to finish my own! Why are the things that go in there rooms so much easier and more fun to find??? Oh well….I like the idea that I am “forced” to look for a few more treasures to hang on their walls. I did think of putting the beds like you are suggesting but according to the measurements I took they won’t fit. It seems like they can only fit the way I have them currently but it’s working. Besides it also “forced” me to build them some nightstands so all is well that ends well! haha
Thanks so much for featuring my post. It’s truly an honor.