A fairy play room part 3, a hand painted mermaid bed, with no sanding

As I was telling you last time, we did a few changes in the fairy grand daughters' room.  And of course, one change leads to another.  A fixed up area makes its surrounding areas look left out and forgotten.

Sugarwings loved that we were redoing her room, but as she looked around, she said, it would be nice to have a pink bed.  And pink curtains.

Well, I think I have some sheer pink curtains packed aways somewhere, I'll need to dig those out. But for now, I've been redoing her bed.

Very few things in my home are brand new.  But sometimes when you need something, you need it now, and don't have a few months to find the perfect vintage piece. So, we bought this bed for our little fairy when she outgrew her tiny bed, and had declared herself too big to sleep there anymore.

Little did I know, she was just making a play to sleep downstairs on the sofa... and didn't sleep in her new bed for a year after I got it. I guess I could have searched for the perfect vintage piece after all.

Anyway, it was creamy white and was fine, but not to the taste of Sugarwings, who thinks the entire world should be pink and has taught Dewdrop to ask for pink in everything too.

First step, NO sanding. I hate to sand.  I use Glidden Gripper bonding primer under my interior wall paint and never have a problem with peeling. 

There are multiple posts about how I paint furniture, you can get step by step instructions here.

I chose Ballerina Pink from Glidden to paint the whole thing.

After the base coat, I added a blue background in the oval and color to the trim, plus some roses on the sides.  I was too lazy to paint the foot board, it is just base coat pink, no flowers on it.

This little girl loves mermaids and has been a huge fan for almost her entire life. If I had it to do over again, her whole room would be an under the sea theme.  But then, Dewdrop would feel left out because she loves fairies and "honies" (My Little Pony, or unicorns).  And I like the fairies that are already there.

Since the room is such a jumble of choppiness and different things going on anyway, I went with mermaids in the woods with the fairies for her.  We'll just call it a fairy tale theme and not worry about the details.

 I painted a mermaid in the center of the oval.  She adores Ariel, but I went anti-disney.  Plus, I wanted a sweet little girl, not a teen.

And I know, I should have added a crown, but didn't feel like going back to do it later when I thought of it. At that point, my paint plate had dried out over night and I wasn't up to mixing up the colors again. You can't just slap a crown on, you have to blend it in with the right shadows and make it look like it is actually sitting in her hair. 

When she (sob!) gets too old for mermaids, it will be easy to paint over this oval and change up the bed for a more grown up look.

Over everything but the portrait and the flowers, I painted on and wiped off white glaze.  I mixed one cup of clear glaze with one 2oz. bottle of white craft paint.  I made sure I got it down in the cracks and crevices really good, and wiped it off the high points.

Now, where are those pink curtains at? I'd better go look through the closets, I know they are hiding somewhere.

Comments

[Debra Leen]

wow...you are SO talented....and your granddaughters are so lucky to have you for their Gramma! :D deb

[Becca]

It is wonderful!
(I especially like that first photo, wonder why? ;)
P.S. I am now step-grandmum to a 7 yr old girl who also loves mermaids.
~Becca~

[suzeeez]

WOW Karla .... Amazing work ! What a dream bedroom for ANY little girl !

[Yvonne Welty]

How adorable! You are blessed with a wonderful talent. Alas I don't have a lick of painting ability in me. But I can junk it up with the best of them. Just love decorating!

[Diane]

Karla that room is a masterpiece! I love every bit of it! The bed is just perfect I wish you were my grand when I was a little girl. Keep updating us once you get the pink curtains up. Hugs, from California

[pam Call]

WOW!!! What a blessed girl. Sugarwings a beautiful nickname given with much love. Sweet dreams and memories she will carry for the rest of her life. It doesn't get any better then this. You are richly gifted from above. Dolly

[Jane]

How beautiful! Your granddaughters have the most amazingly talented grandmother ever!!!

[Leann]

I agree with everyone else - you are soo durned talented! I absolutely love everything that you do, this room is amazing!!!

[Gloria McAllister]

Sweet!

Gloria in Virginia

[Jill]

Why does this bring tears to my eyes?

Hearing so much gloom and doom in the media, it's so nice to come hear and look at pure beauty. Thank you!

[Laura Strack]

Who needs Disney when they have you? I think the mermaid fits in nicely with all the fairies. Mermaids are the fairies from the seas. You make painting look so easy. Sugarwings bed is just lovely.

[Karla Nathan]

The fairies of the sea, I like that.

Karla Nathan
www.karlascottage.typepad.com
www.karlascottage.com

[bobbie]

What a delight-full room to grow up in!!!

[Mitzi Curi]

Wow, I love the bed....what a wonderful transformation!