DIY love heardboard: when the Biber's vacation

My parents came to visit this weekend and because I'm running a (secret) campaign to get them to migrate south, I wanted to impress them with Atlanta. Sure they've been here quite a bit, but for some reason I was on a mission to have a jam-packed itinerary with nonstop funness.

My list of options included brunch at Murphy's (one of my fav spots), shopping in the Highlands, the Atlanta Botanical gardens, Corks and Forks, a beer festival, a barbeque festival...and more.

I should have put money on it, though. Instead of choosing one of these relaxing activities, they had to take on a challenge. They're doers. And because I threw it out there at the end, "or we could try building this headboard I've been wanting to make..." they were ret to DIY.

My dad swears I Tom Sawyered him by saying things like, "you're so much better at things like this than me" and "Maybe you could just show me how to do this to get me started", but I don't really recall these things...

And besides, he is much better at things like this than me.

So, without further ado, our headboard project inspired by House Tweaking...

Essentially, we followed the same steps she did, except after digging around in salvage yards and some private property (where we got caught by the owner) we realized we didn't have the Atlanta awareness to know where to find old wood.

So instead we bought regular wood, which might not be quite as intense as farm wood, but hey, we're not in Indiana anymore.

From there, my dad white washed and sanded the wood to make it look rustic. He had the best luck when he spit on the section prior to sanding it - it gave it a much more authentic look.

He then used smaller slats of wood to hold them together...

My mom and I stood on each piece to make sure it didn't move...

And we used quarters to make sure the distance between each slat was equal.

And then I wrote love on it, because who doesn't want to sleep in a bed full of love every night?

Ta da....

It's all very exciting, seeing as I've been lusting after this love board since December.

You might notice that it appears that I left the D in this DIY up to my parents and, aside from taking pictures and writing love, you are correct. Which is why I wouldn't advise doing it unless you know, or have someone who knows, a thing or two about drilling, mounting and tooling to help you. For example, the original measuring was up to me and I accidentally thought the headboard needed to be 74, not 62, inches wide. I've never been one for measuring...

Needless to say, I certainly could not have mastered this project without my parents.