Fence Post Headboard

I am starting the new year in a crafty way!
The bed in our guest room doesn't have a headboard, and I have always liked the 'picket fence' type. We replaced our backyard fence back in November and saved some of the old boards. I also had 2 posts that we got from Fred's brother when they moved. So I set off to create!

Fred gave me a small lesson on how to use the sander....

and then let me give it a try! 

this sanding business is messy!

Ready for paint

I wanted to give 'crackling' a try, so I started with a coat of black paint

I painted both posts black and let them dry. After that, I put on a coat of the 'crackel' solution. Had to let that sit for 2-4 hours. Didn't take a picture of that since it's clear... 

Finally, I put on a THIN coat of flat white paint. I have done this before and learned that if your top coat is too thick, you don't get a lot of the crackle effect. 

 You can see the 'cracking' of the paint almost immediately. It's very cool! 

 these go on top of the posts....

I now have the posts finished

 I will be starting on the fence. I originally was going to use the old fence boards, but Fred has a fence section left over and so it is saving some time and work to use it instead.

I will be doing the same process with this. Sand it down, paint it black, put on crackle coat, paint it white. 

I hope to get it all done so Fred can put it together for me this weekend. So excited!!!