Adventures in Rosemaling

I enjoy refinishing furniture as much as any other craft I am acquainted with. I finally got around to refinishing my daughter's bed. It was my bed when I was a child. It used to be a canopy bed. It was very plain. The posters were warped from time, and the color was too drab for her room. I decided to compliment our Norweigan heritage by trying my hand at Norweigan Rosemaling. I had to used colors that complimented her personality and the other items in her room. I forgot to take a before picture of the bed, but here is a picture of the matching dresser before I refinish it. They orginally matched. You can get an idea of how boring the bed was before it's transformation. I replaced the old posts with a ball top that I found at Home Depot. I had to used some wood filler to fill in the gaps. I used a flat latex off white for the base coat. I then did the rosemaling using an old family antique tine for a guide and some craft acrylic paints. I washed the entire headboard and footboards with an acrylic mixture of mostly brown/red hues that were very watered down to provide an antique effect. To finish I sanded down corners and strategic areas to make it look old and worn. It was such a fun project that now I am venturing to do the dresser to match.