Dumpster to Designer Architectural Features

One day I see a discarded poster bedframe with ornate features beside the curb for the garbage man. Inspiration struck and I immediately had an idea for its second life. Here is that story.

Dumpster found bedframe columns to be reworked, a power Phillips Screwdriver, Palm Sander with 120 -320 grit sand paper, Bandsaw, Bondo bodyfiller, liquid nails adhesive, 4" grinder with 36 grit pad, angle duplicator and sand blast cabinet with crushed walnut hull media, primer and paint to suit

The discarded bedframe was in rough condition and had been tossed aside without care at someones curb. This was treasure to me as I wanted them for use inside my house as focal points of detail in a couple different rooms. Whats the big deal you may be thinking... Well, if you price premade fiberglass or wood columns with ornate details you will quickly find how expensive they are. Literally hundreds and sometimes into the thousands of dollars each! Not to mention most on the market lack any "personality" which these will bring. This was a great find for me - Cha-Ching!

Upon getting the bedframe back to my shop I found it had many scratches, cracks, warps and other defects including large holes.

I completely disassembled the column into its most basic of sections to make sanding, repair and refinishing easier. At the same time this was a good opportunity to better access the condition of each and if it would be viable for my intended use as a focal element in our home.

Many of the parts had undesirable holes, and slots that were previously used for the bed frame rails to attach to. The fluted bodies of the column also had cracks. All of these had to be filled. For this I used automotive body filler (aka Bondo). To suit my use, each column had to be a specific height. I quickly determined that the base of the column was easiest to modify to adjust the height to suit. So to do this wood was added or removed at the bottom of the base. To finish sand the more intricate parts such as the ornate top and transitions I used my blast cabinet with ground walnut hulls as media. This is a huge time saver and produces fantastic results!

You may have already noticed in my photos that some of the parts have a notch cutout. This is so that it can overlay an "Outside" corner and will then appear to be part of the structure. This is where the adjustable angle duplicator comes in. Each corner was measured to ensure that the cutout would fit snug and with little gaping. NOTE: If you are very careful when making these notch cuts, the cutout can be used to fit into an "inside" corner and makes a very nice addition to match! There is an example of this at the end with the conclusion pics.

With all parts notched, modified for height, holes and damage repaired and sanded smooth they are ready for final finishing. For me I used a basic wood primer and a finish color to suit the location of installation. I pre-primed and painted each part before assembly, then assembled each column in the shop so that I could verify the fitment to the wall and finished height in the house. I found that not only are walls not perfect angles, but they are also not flat top to bottom (some have high spots, especially where the drywall seams are). Using a 4" grinder with a 36 grit pad, I ground each high spot on the column to match the wall so that the fit was without any gaps.

For the final installation I simply used "liquid nails" structural adhesive. I applied a 1/4" bead along the inside notch cuts of the columns, top to bottom, where they contact the wall. I then leaned a chair back against each column to keep it in place for a few hours until the glue set. Here are photos of the finished product. As you see they make a significant difference in how the room looks.

Another mans trash can easily become another mans treasure. In this instance I was able to save a significant amount of money, add some cool features to our home, saved some space in the landfill and all with little money out of pocket and only a few hours of work. Try it, with a little ingenuity ("out of the box thinking") its easier than you may think...!