You certainly are a perfectionist, I would have never guessed that you make everything in your room as it surely looks professionally make by a studio. Your talent just seeps out! Honestly your room is just gorgeous. It's nice you have a Dad with talent too. Thanks so much for sharing this lovely room, as you can tell we are all very impressed with what we have seen you do once again.

I'm also of the opinion that I would do something with the headboard before I would mess with the nightstands. I would paint the headboard the same color as the trim in the room (white?), so it would give the feel of blending in as a piece of architecture. With it white, it would be a blank canvas and maybe you could visualize it a pretty complementing color to the room later on. I think the color of the headboard wood looks a little dated, but the shape and form is simple and classic. That's my reasoning for painting. I would not paint the nightstands. I think the effect would be weird, and the shadows created would contrast too much right on the furniture. Nightstands would appear to be black and white because of the shadows created...they would not just look white (hope that makes sense). I like the nightstands, but they do have a complexity to them. I would be careful with adding cane or something on the doors. It wouldn't take much hacking to make them look like an overdone craft project. Also, I think the nightstands in their current color are great. With a white or very neutral blended headboard, you could really play off the darker wood nightstands with some decor pieces elsewhere in the room. Gayle

Hey walkin -- I'm *far* from an expert on this--people here helped me on the one I've done. I bought a kit of the precut wood and MDF parts, complete with screws and such, truth be told, just because I didn't want to have to do all the measuring and cutting--sometimes I hit "tilt" and have to take the easy way out. The kit was from eBay. We did buy better foam, however, than the kit came with. And we also wrapped it. Probably way overdoing it. It wasn't hard at all, in fact rather enjoyable in an instant-gratification kind of way (esp. since I didn't have to do the cutting :))--we did do two rows of staples, alternating spaces kind of like sewing stitches, because the fabric seemed to pull between the stitches so I wanted it anchored completely. We didn't edge it with wood, but we could--we just did a simple rectangle which extends 24" above the surface of the mattress (we have a high mattress--if you were to purchase the same set and not have as high a mattress setup, it would be taller unless you cut it down). We love the simple lines. It would be easy to put wood around this if we chose to, or to make a slipcover for it down the line.

Perhaps the most invalid analogy ever: "It's like when a soccer mom with 5 kids goes into a car dealership and the salesman keeps trying to sell her sport's cars when she keeps telling him she wants a mini van". More accurate analogy: It's like when a soccer mom with 5 kids goes into a car dealership and the salesman keeps trying to sell her sport's cars when she keeps telling him she wants a mini van. but she wants it to look like a sports car, get the mileage of a Prius, the longevity of a Volvo, the ten year warranty included..... for the price of a used Chevy compact,. The other difference is she may have the "good grace" to realize it's not possible. Politely stated, the above beds are West Elm and Ethan Allen respectively. I would suggest jumping by kiddies on either is not a great idea, and both will be in the vicinity of a grand. They will not jiggle as they are the entire bed, versus a headboard bolted to a hollywood frame. I would suggest the first, to avoid the "matchy matchy" which is to drown a room in dark brown furniture, in this case a dresser, two side tables and bed, all the same. The warm golden tone far more updated , especially in consideration with green......... I'll politely suggest a hardware change on the brown furniture should that be an issue.